The Roundhouse WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 1 Welcome to the Newsletter of the NRMNZ. This newsletter is intended to help keep you informed of progress and developments of New Zealand’s National Railway Museum. If you are not able to read the email or have trouble opening this newsletter, please let us know so we can modify your subscription settings so you get a plain text email with a link to the newsletter. CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE Hello again! As you can see from the pictures in this edition of the NRM newsletter, we are continuing to make good progress on the project on several fronts. The most obvious of course is the work on finishing up the installation of the turntable. (It sure is impressive when you see it in person!) The embankment for the feeder rail line is now nearly complete as well. It will soon be time to lay track and get connected to the Ferrymead Railway infrastructure. Once this is all finished we can move on to starting with the piling and foundations for the roundhouse itself. Our collection continues to grow as well. The most notable recent addition is the remarkable donation from KiwiRail of electric loco Eo 45. It was recently removed from service and is the last remaining of that class. She also looks great in her KiwiRail livery. This gets me to the main point I wanted to cover in this message. The National Railway Museum has been truly blessed in having received help from many, many people and organisations. Some, like KiwiRail have made substantial donations, and others have contributed with doing all kinds of things for us either at discounted rates or as “favours”. It is time we thank each and every one of them for their generosity and support of the NRM project. It is not only fair, but absolutely accurate, to say that we could not build this Museum without these contributions, large and small. We sincerely appreciate each and every contribution and look forward to the day we can all come together and enjoy what we have all worked so hard to build. John Peterson Chairman RECENT PROGRESS NEWS FROM THE MUSEUM As John has noted much has been achieved in the four or five months since the last newsletter in April. It may be recalled that in April the centre pivot foundation of the turntable had been constructed and the concrete poured. Since that time Martin Civil Construction have constructed and poured the outer Newsletter of the National Railway Museum of New Zealand October 2013 With the news in this newsletter of the arrival into the museum collection of Toshiba built Eo locomotive No.45 of 1968 it is perhaps interesting to look back at the early days of this five member class. In late 1968 three of the class (then classified Ea) are at Lyttelton on a test run from Christchurch. Photo Gary Cosgrove. (NRMNZ archives)
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National Railway Museum of New Zealand Newsletter Oct 13
The latest newsletter of the National Railway Museum of New Zealand under construction at the Ferrymead Historic Park in Christchurch , New Zealand. For further information contact the editor Gordon Bartram [email protected]
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Transcript
The Roundhouse
WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 1
Welcome to the Newsletter of the
NRMNZ. This newsletter is intended
to help keep you informed of
progress and developments of New
Zealand’s National Railway Museum.
If you are not able to read the email
or have trouble opening this
newsletter, please let us know so we
can modify your subscription
settings so you get a plain text email
with a link to the newsletter.
CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE
Hello again!
As you can see from the pictures in
this edition of the NRM newsletter,
we are continuing to make good
progress on the project on several
fronts. The most obvious of course
is the work on finishing up the
installation of the turntable. (It sure
is impressive when you see it in
person!)
The embankment for the feeder rail
line is now nearly complete as well.
It will soon be time to lay track and
get connected to the Ferrymead
Railway infrastructure. Once this is
all finished we can move on to
starting with the piling and
foundations for the roundhouse
itself.
Our collection continues to grow as
well. The most notable recent
addition is the remarkable donation
from KiwiRail of electric loco Eo 45.
It was recently removed from service
and is the last remaining of that
class. She also looks great in her
KiwiRail livery.
This gets me to the main point I
wanted to cover in this message.
The National Railway Museum has
been truly blessed in having received
help from many, many people and
organisations. Some, like KiwiRail
have made substantial donations,
and others have contributed with
doing all kinds of things for us
either at discounted rates or as
“favours”. It is time we thank each
and every one of them for their
generosity and support of the NRM
project. It is not only fair, but
absolutely accurate, to say that we
could not build this Museum without
these contributions, large and small.
We sincerely appreciate each and
every contribution and look forward
to the day we can all come together
and enjoy what we have all worked
so hard to build.
John Peterson
Chairman
RECENT PROGRESS NEWS
FROM THE MUSEUM
As John has noted much has been
achieved in the four or five months
since the last newsletter in April.
It may be recalled that in April the
centre pivot foundation of the
turntable had been constructed and
the concrete poured. Since that
time Martin Civil Construction have
constructed and poured the outer
Newsletter of the National Railway Museum of New Zealand October 2013
With the news in this newsletter of the arrival into the museum collection of Toshiba built Eo locomotive No.45 of 1968 it is perhaps interesting to look back at the early days of this five member class. In late 1968 three of the class (then classified Ea) are at Lyttelton on a test run from Christchurch. Photo Gary Cosgrove. (NRMNZ archives)
The Roundhouse
WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 2
ring foundation that carries the ring
rail supporting the ends of the table.
The turntable centre pivot and
bearing cap were also placed into
position on the central foundation.
On Monday the 20th of May, Smiths
Cranes were contracted to lift the ex
Auckland 70ft turntable into the
newly prepared turntable pit, a
major milestone in the museum
project.
After a short hiatus during the worst
of the winter weather and while
Martin Civil were occupied with
other city contracts, during July the
ring rail was installed. Following this
the newly manufactured ‘locking
blocks’ that will align the turntable
with the radiating tracks were
installed to the foundation. These
blocks were designed and installed
with the assistance of Andy Rowe of
Steam Solutions. With the ring rail
installed the turntable is now able to
live up to its name!
Following a period of particularly wet
weather when the turntable pit
resembled a large swimming pool, a
submersible pump has also been
fitted to the central pivot foundation
to aid drainage.
Since the beginning of August Frews
Construction had been working hard
on the construction of the access
embankment across the horse
paddock from the Ferrymead
branchline. This involved crushing
the large piles of broken concrete
from city demolition sites and laying
this over the paddock with repeated
rolling every couple of hundred
centimetres to provide a firm and
strong foundation for the access
track. The embankment is now
complete from the Junction with the
Ferrymead Railway branchline to the
turntable wall and now awaits
sleepers, track and ballast. Due to
the generosity of KiwiRail the track
and a secondhand turnout for the
connection are already on site. We
also acknowledge committee
member Colin Barry and Clive Davis
of the NZRLS for arranging transport
from Wellington for the turnout track.
The track installation will now wait
until after the Rail 150 celebrations,
as a number of visiting items of
rolling stock will be accessing the
Ferrymead site using the branchline
from the Christchurch to Lyttelton
mainline.
The completed approach embankment awaiting tracklaying on the 21st of September. Photo Gordon Bartram
Away from the turntable
construction, the committee has
authorised the purchase of a 40ft
grade A highcube container (with
end windows and door), for archives
storage. This will be fitted with
sectional shelving of a type which
will eventually be transferable to the
permanent archives section of the
Museum building in stage two of the
museum development. This will
hopefully be on site in the not too
distant future.
The turntable is gently lowered onto its central pivot by Smiths Cranes on Monday 20th May. Photo Colin Dash
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WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 3
The NRMNZ has been offered by a
private individual a former
“Southerner” buffet car. The carriage
is currently lacking wheels and
windows and some committee
members are to travel to inspect the
vehicle before any decision is made.
Transportation to Christchurch
would be a relatively costly exercise
but at the same time it would be a
valuable addition to our collection of
historic carriages from the 1870s to
the 1970s
It may be recalled that in the April
newsletter I noted the generous
donation of a Victorian ‘Cowans
Sheldon’ built goods shed crane
from Steam Incorporated at
Paekakariki. This has now also
arrived on site at Ferrymead and
again we should acknowledge Colin
Barry and Clive Davis for arranging
transport for this historic item which
will be one of the oldest artifacts in
the museum collection dating from
1874.
On the more administrative side of
the project our chairman John
Peterson has compiled four different
funding applications to various
trusts and he has spent a significant
amount of time on the Museum’s
Standard Materials “. This is needed
to conform to the Te Papa
‘Framework for Successful Museums’.
John has also met on several
occasions with KiwiRail
representatives in preparation for
the Rail 150 celebrations in October.
Peter Soundy our treasurer has also
been working on the Museums OSH
certification and contractors
insurance.
THE BIG MODEL TRAIN
SHOW 2013 AND RAIL 150
Over the coming weekend of
Saturday the 19th
and Sunday the 20th
of October, the NRMNZ shop will
again be attending the annual Big
Model Train Show at Pioneer Stadium,
Lyttelton Street, Spreydon.
With the Rail 150 celebrations being
held at Ferrymead the following
Labour weekend (Saturday 26th
to
Monday 28th
), we will be showcasing
this year a range of clothing and
souvenirs branded with this
anniversary as well as new NRMNZ
branded items. We hope to have a
range of Christmas Cards on display
with different locomotives from the
CRS collection.
We will also have the full range of
2014 calendars and the latest issues
of the rail magazines available for
purchase. We look forward to
seeing you at one of these two
events .
NEW ROLLING STOCK
ARRIVALS
Since the last newsletter in April the
NRMNZ has been donated two
further items of historic rolling stock
for future display in the Museum.
Both of these are 1500V DC
overhead electric powered units
adding to the existing impressive
collection of electric power already
onsite with the Canterbury Railway
Society Collection. This includes
examples of every single 1500v DC
electric locomotive class purchased
and operated by New Zealand
Railways and their successors since
1923.
The completed turntable outer block wall on the 21st of September. Photo Gordon Bartram
The Roundhouse
WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 4
The two new items are the English
Electric Unit DM
16 and D 162 (TMS
No. DM216 and D2687 respectively)
known as “Phoenix” dating from
1949, and the Toshiba Heavy
Industries Eo (originally Ea) class Bo-
Bo electric No.45 (originally Ea 2) of
1968, for the Arthurs Pass to Otira
section.
The Dm and D car multiple unit
“Phoenix” was one of the forty motor
cars and 71 trailers ordered in 1946
and delivered in 1949, for the
Paekakariki Line services. These
followed earlier English Electric DMU
orders in 1938 and 1942 for the
Hutt and Johnsonville lines.
While the CRS collection already
holds a Wellington unit, (DM 27 of
1951 and DM 163 of 1953), Phoenix
has a number of variations including
electrical circuits, seat squabs and
the later twin unit headlights
retrofitted to most of the class later
on in their service.
The unit was withdrawn from service
in 2001 and after storage at Hutt
workshops, it was overhauled and
reinstated by the Greater Wellington
Regional Council and Tranz Metro in
2008, due to a shortage of rolling
stock. Finally withdrawn again in
December 2011, Phoenix has been
donated to the National Railway
Museum by the Greater Wellington
Regional Council who wished to see
several of the surviving English
Electric units be preserved in
recognition of their decades of
service to Wellington commuters.
After storage in Wellington the unit
was shipped over Cook Straight on
the 7th
of August and railed to
Christchurch from Picton on train
729 on the 8th
of August. Committee
member Peter Soundy has arranged
insurance cover and storage off site
until space becomes available at
Ferrymead in due course. A
container of spare parts for the unit
has been also been donated by the
GWRC.
The Toshiba Heavy Industries Bo-Bo
Eo 45, was one of five locos
imported in 1968 to replace the
original English Electric Eo class
locomotives of 1928, which after 45
years of hard service on the 1 in 33
grade between Otira and Arthur’s
Pass were worn out. (Eo 3 is
preserved at Ferrymead in the CRS
collection).
At 55 tonnes and 1290hp (960kw)
output they were roughly twice as
powerful as the original Eo class.
The locos were originally classified
as the Ea class until the 1980s when
they were reclassified Eo.
The class operated on the Otira to
Arthur’s Pass section from 1968
until November 1997 when the
increasing export coal tonnages and
the worn out state of the Otira
overhead electrification and
powerhouse led to the
decommissioning of the electric
overhead and the installation of
doors and extractor fans on the
Otira tunnel to enable modified Dx
diesel electric locos in multiple to
power trains though the tunnel.
While at Otira Eo 45 along with two
sisters no. 51 and 74 was involved in
the Goat Creek derailment of 21st
of
May 1980 where the 3 locomotives
ran into a washout due to flooding
of the Otira River. Locomotive
Engineer Owen Fitzgerald sadly lost
his life in this accident.
Following withdrawal from the Otira
section the five locos were stored
Phoenix' photographed at Redwood on the 28th December 2008 working a special service for a post Christmas event at QE2 Park. This was obviously prior to the requirement for full yellow ends! Photo David Parsons
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variously at Linwood depot,
Ferrymead Historic Park and Picton
locomotive depot. In 2007 the 3
locos stored at Picton, (Eo’s 45, 51
and 74) were moved to Hutt
workshops, where they were
refurbished by Tranz Metro for use
on metlink suburban trains using
refurbished ex British Rail SE class
carriages. This was a stopgap
messure to increase capacity on the
network until the introduction of the
Matangi EMU’s in 2010. The
remaining two locos stored at
Ferrymead (Eo 39 and 68) were also
moved north to Hutt workshops but
were not refurbished and were used
as donors for spare parts.
Rarely used after September 2011,
increasing unreliability of the Eo’s
and the progressive arrival of the
Matangi EMUs saw their withdrawal
from service in November and the 3
locos were hauled out to Hutt shops
to join no. 39 and 68.
Scrapping of four of the remaining
locomotives started in May 2013
with the unrefurbished pair of EO 39
and 68 the first to be scrapped on 1
May. EO 51 and EO 74 were
scrapped on 15 May and 7 May
respectively.
The decision was made by Kiwirail
that one locomotive was to be
preserved and Eo 45 was selected to
be donated to the NRMNZ and is
now stored on site at Ferrymead
until the NRM roundhouse is built.
Once on display it will be an
interesting contrast to the English
Electric Eo 3 of 1923 and it will be a
memorial to the final class of 1500v
DC electric locomotives built for this
country. Thanks to Peter Soundy,
Dave Hansen, David Parsons and
Wikipedia! for the info on these
units.
HEISLER LOCOMOTIVE
WORKS NO.1450 OF 1922
The National Railway Museum of
New Zealand will naturally have a
strong focus on the history of New
Zealand Government Railways and its
successors. However we also aim to
tell the story of the numerous
industrial railways of New Zealand
including collieries, the meat
industry and of course the numerous
Bush Tramways that once dotted the
country.
The Canterbury Railway Society’s
collection that will provide the bulk
of the display for the NRMNZ holds a
number of these former industrial
locomotives in long term storage.
From the meat industry came
Manning Wardle 0-4-0T no.1841 and
from the Christchurch Gasworks
Bagnall 0-4-0T no.1857. (I discussed
plans for the future display of this
loco in a previous newsletter). The
timber industry has provided three
former bush tramway survivors.
From the Lake Brunner Sawmilling
Co at Ruru came the remains of 0-4-
2T Barclay No.1894 of 1926 and the
final two came from the New Forest
Sawmilling Co tramway at Ngahere
between Stillwater and Reefton.
These were A & G Price built CB
No.113 of 1924 and the subject of
this article Heisler Locomotive works
No. 1450 of 1922.
(It should be noted in passing that
several other locos in the CRS
collection came from industrial
service after being sold ex New
Zealand Railways, including Wd 357,
F12 and D 140).
Heisler 0-4+4-0 No.1450 stored at
the back of the Ferrymead Railway
locomotive shed for the last 30 odd
years, is one of only three survivors
from seven examples of this famous
geared loco design imported to New
Heisler 1450 shunts at the New Forest Sawmilling's Ngahere Mill in July 1967, its last year in service. Photo D.L.A Turner
The Roundhouse
WWW.NZRAILMUSEUM.COM 6
Zealand from the Heisler Locomotive
Works, Erie, Pennsylvania between
1903 and 1924. It is also notable
as being the very last geared steam
lokey to be used in the timber
industry, finally retiring in March
1968.
The Heisler was one of the three
main types of geared logging
locomotives designed and
manufactured in the United States,
and the last of the three to be
developed. The other two being the
Climax Manufacturing Co, of Corry,
Pennsylvania and the Shay
Locomotives manufactured by the
Lima locomotive works of Lima, Ohio.
Charles L Heisler received a patent
for the design in 1892 following the
construction of a prototype in 1891.
The design was quite similar to
a Climax locomotive, but the Heisler
did however have several design
advantages over the Climax.
The transmission was a much
simpler concept. The crankshaft was
incorporated directly into the
lineshaft, eliminating a set of gears
and much vibration. Further, the
lineshaft was connected to just one
axle on each bogie, replacing two
further set of gears with simple pairs
of side rods and avoiding the
complicated skew bevel gears. This
gave the Heisler the best riding
qualities and the highest top speed
of the US logging lokeys.
Moreover the gears were totally
enclosed in a housing which
provided constant lubrication and
excluded water and grit.
On the downside the Heisler truck
was poorly sprung relative to the
Climax reducing its flexibility on
uneven track.
The first Heislers were built from
1891 by the Dunkirk Engineering
Company of Dunkirk, New York, at
the time producer of their own
design of geared locomotive (called
naturally enough “the Dunkirk”), of
which the Heisler could be
considered an improvement. They
did not adopt the Heisler design, but
in 1894 the Stearns
Manufacturing Company of Erie,
Pennsylvania started to produce
Heislers, and built them until 1904.
Reorganised as the Heisler
Locomotive works in 1907, it
produced locomotives of the Heisler
design until 1941 when development
of internal combustion designs
caused the company to cease
producing locomotives. The very last
Heisler geared lokey was
manufactured in 1939; works
number 1627, for logging in the
Phillipines.
In 1943 Ogilvie and Co Sawmillers
of Hokitika wished to order a Heisler
locomotive for their Gladstone
tramway, but as Heisler had gone
out of business two years previously
they placed an order instead with A
& G Price of Thames.
The resulting locomotive, maker's
NO
148 of 1944, was the last Heisler-
design steam locomotive to be built
anywhere. It followed Heisler
practice closely but with the addition
of a Belpaire firebox and front-
mounted water tanks that with a
unique curved leading edge. This
historic locomotive survives at the
Canterbury Steam Preservation
Society at Mcleans Island behind
Christchurch Airport, and has
recently received a thorough
overhaul to full working order.
The subject of this article, Heisler no.
1450, was ordered in 1921 by the
Bartholomew Land and Timber
Company for their Te Whetu timber
tramway between Tokoroa and
Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty. This
company had commenced operations at
Te Whetu in 1910 and was one of
Heisler 1450 at Ngahere in August 1966. Photo R.P.Barker (NZRLS Collection)
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the largest native timber producers
in the North Island.
The loco operated here between
1923 and 1950. After a couple of
years out of use it was purchased by
Ogilvie and Co Sawmillers of
Hokitika and shipped to the West
Coast in 1953. Here it operated on
this company’s extensive tramway
operating from their mill at
Gladstone between Greymouth and
Kumara Junction until the late 1950s.
The main part of the Ogilvies Tram
closed in 1959 but the extensive
yard around the mill and some
smaller spurs survived into the mid
sixties. No 1450 was used to lift
parts of the top end of their tram
during the early 60s and was then
laid up at Gladstone with two of their
other locomotives. The Heisler at
least still had a boiler certificate.
Another West Coast Sawmilling
operation “The New Forest
Sawmilling Co” had used a number
of locomotives to shunt their mill at
Ngahere between Stillwater and
Reefton after their own tramway to
Nelson Creek and beyond had closed
about 1955-56
The history of this company is
quite complicated. It started with the
Forest Sawmilling Co that was
formed in 1913 by J Nyberg and
others to run Nybergs mill at Nelson
Creek. Reese Brothers from
Christchurch in 1916 purchased a
major interest in the company and in
1918 the mill name was changed
from Nybergs to Forest Sawmilling
Co. The mill closed in 1922 and the
company went into liquidation in
1929.
The New Forest Sawmilling Co built
a mill at Bell Hill in 1922 using
equipment from the Forest
Sawmilling Co Nelson Creek mill.
This burnt down prior to 1929 and
was rebuilt near Nelson Creek. In
1937 the Nelson Creek mill burnt
down and a new mill was built at
Ngahere by New Forest Sawmilling
Co. Obviously mill fires were not
uncommon in the timber industry!
A second similar mill unit was
added shortly after the main mill was
built and this operated periodically
until about 1950. The main mill
eventually closed in 1974 when the
company took up shares in Hokitika
Bandmills and transferred their
timber cut to them.
New forest Sawmilling had used an
eclectic band of locomotives on their
tramway including a Johnston 16
wheeler, Heisler 1494 (now
statically preserved on display at
Shantytown) ex NZ Midland Railway
(and NZR) La 314 and Dubs C 802 a
former Westport section C class 0-4-
2. They also operated several
internal combustion locos including
a Dispatch log hauler , two planet
locomotives and three petrol
powered railcars.
In 1965 the boiler of New Forest’s
Heisler 1494 was finally condemned
(after operating at 110 1b since
1962). The company still required a
shunter to transfer wagons from the
mill to the NZR Ngahere yard about
half a mile away. They came to an
arrangement to purchase Heisler
1450 from Ogilvie’s for this purpose.
After it was trucked from Gladstone
to Ngahere, it shunted the mill there
from mid 1965 until the 29th
of
March 1968 when it was finally
retired. It thus became the final
geared steam lokey to work in the
New Zealand timber industry and is
therefore historically important.
Another view of Heisler 1450 shunting the New Forest Sawmill at Ngahere in July 67. Photo D.L.A Turner
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In the late 1960s the Canterbury
Branch of the NZ Railway and
Locomotive Society (Now the
Canterbury Railway Society) were
actively seeking locomotives and
rolling stock for their proposed
“Ferrymead Railway”. While the
focus was predominantly on
redundant NZR equipment the
Society approached Reese Brothers
the owners of New Forest Sawmilling,
who generously donated for
preservation Heisler 1450 and A & G
Price built Cb 113 of 1924, that had
been derelict in the gorse and
blackberries at Nelson Creek since
the mid 1950s.
The Cb was transported to
Ferrymead in February 1968 and the
Heisler followed over Lewis Pass on
the 6th
October 1968, again
transported by the late Tom Gilroy’s
heavy transporter. Tom performed
many valuable movements for the
early Canterbury Branch NZRLS.
On arrival at Ferrymead the loco still
held a boiler certificate, and was
steamed on two or three occasions
before this expired in January 1969.
(See the Wilson Lythgoe photo with
this article). Following the expiry of
the boiler certificate the late Garth
Beardsley and some other members
stripped off the boiler backhead
fittings and the boiler cladding.
However this was as far as work
went and the loco sat in open air
storage until the new locomotive
shed was built in the 1980s. Since
then it has sat forlornly at the back
of the shed keeping company with
other out of service or unrestored
engines including C 864 and Wf 893.
One or two items from the Heisler
including the steam brake, appear
to have disappeared over the
In mid 1965 the Heisler is transported through Greymouth on its way from Gladstone to New Forest's mill at Ngahere. 'Inksters Photo' , NZRLS collection
Three years later on the 6th October 1968 the loco is on its way from Ngahere to Ferrymead after being donated to the Canterbury Branch of the NZRLS. Photo Ken Philpott
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intervening years but given the
amount of “stuff” in storage at
Ferrymead it is not out of the
question that these may turn up
eventually.
It is fair to say that the Heisler is not
high on the list of priority
restorations for the Cantebury
Railway Society, as they already have
the restored Cb as an example of
Bush Tramway technology and the
generally worn out condition of the
lokey would make a return to steam
expensive and time consuming. Like
the Cb loco it would also be too slow
for normal passenger services.
For the same reasons, it will
probably not initially at least be an
exhibit in the National Railway
Museum when it opens, but given its
inherent historical importance as the
last operating geared bush lokey and
as one of only 3 surviving Heislers in
New Zealand, one hopes that
eventually when funds become
available the Heisler may be
statically restored for display in the
new museum.
I’d like to thank a number of people
for their help in providing
information for the preparation of
this brief article and also for the use
of their valuable photographs
including; Colin Barry, Ian Tibbles,
Alan Burney, Murray Blair, Keith
Brown, Ken Philpott, Bill Prebble,
D.L.A Turner and Jim Staton.
New Zealand Railscene
2014 Colour Calendar and DVD
Blackfish Publishing and
Majik Video Systems
This calendar features the photos of
Janet Weir with text by Lindsay
Benbrook. The extremely clear and
well reproduced images cover a
range of both contemporary KiwiRail
Scenes and images taken on a
number of our heritage railways. It
covers everything from Standard
Railcar Rm 30 at the Silverstream
Railway to a shot of a pair of
KiwiRail’s new Chinese built DL
class heading a train on the North
Island Main Trunk for driver training.
The accompanying DVD by Lindsay’s
Majik Video Systems covers a range
of mainline steam trips over the
previous year including (amongst
others) the Waikato Explorer, the
first run for Ja 1240 since
restoration and a special run by Wab
on a private charter to Hamilton for
the “Lodge Tawhiri” Centennial
celebrations. Other items include a
Kiwirail segment , the GVR railfans
day and a feature on the “Forgotten
World Adventures” operating
converted golf carts on the former
Stratford to Okahukura line west of
Taumaranui.
For those familiar with Lindsay’s
Railscene DVD’s, this is a very
similar format produced to a high
On the date of perhaps its last ever steaming, the 25th
January 1969, the Heisler shunts now unique horsebox Ug 137 at a very undeveloped Ferrymead site. Photo Wilson Lythgoe.