AA1068: a step back to 1908

I was at Motat last Sunday to gaze fondly at trams -- but I found this along the way. The engine is, quoting the information sign: "a small industrial steam locomotive of the 'Haig' type." 'Haig' is one of the narrow guage types built by Kerr Stuart in Stoke-on-Trent, England, named after this bloke -- Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig (1861-1928). This engine was built in 1926, two years before Haig died. Its career in New Zealand was with Kempthorne & Prosser, shunting wagons from the NZR sidings to the company's warehouse in Westfield here in Auckland. Motat received it by donation from the company in 1966 where it steamed until the license ran out. Storage was its fate until 1987 when it was leased to McDonalds (of the golden arches fame).

The carriage, however, is the main topic of this post: AA1068, built in 1908 for the brand new Auckland-Wellington North Island Main Trunk Line open the same year. It was built at the Petone Railway Workshops as a second class smokers carriage, seating 46 passengers, with a toilet in the centre (relocated 1931). It featured electric lighting, steam heating and emergency braking for extra safety. It saw service on Auckland's suburban railway lines until withdrawn in the late 1970s. It was then destined for the Auckland Railway Yard, where they removed it from the wheels, set it up on blocks, and used it as a store and workshop. It was purchased by a private individual and donated to Motat in 1984 -- and used as a store for three years before it was leased, with the 'Haig' engine, to McDonalds. Both returned to Motat in 2008. The carriage was restored by Gulf Motor Bodies Ltd, and once more shows its original NZR livery.

I stepped inside.

 

A theodolite and other surveying gear. This was placed in here in reference to the surveying completed for the Main Trunk Line from the 1870s.

Foot-warmers. Here's what the info panel says:

"Foot-warmers such as these were used on the first train to travel the newly completed North Island Main Trunk Line. Its prestigious passengers [my note: they were mainly politicians from Wellington, heading up to Auckland to catch a peek at the American Great White Fleet] were provided with foot-warmers to keep them from freezing in the chilly central North Island plateau. Even so, the Evening Post reported on August 10th 1908 that 'our breath was like smoke and any finger or foot outside rugs grew numb. The panes indide were coated with frost and outside was white.'

"Filled with hot water and acetate of soda, foot warmers were hired at a small cost from various stations along the line ...[They were] filled with boiling hot soda and placed on a special trolley on the platform just prior to the arrival of a train. When the train arrived, station staff quickly exchanged cold foot warmers with piping hot ones. Between stations, passengers could also reactivate some of the heat by simply shaking the foot warmer, which restarted the chemical reaction."

A lovely NZR tea service. Towels 6d, enquire at the office.

 This notice caught my eye.

No expectorating, please, in the interests of public health.

And none of this carrying on, either! I hope those politicians and dignitaries, wrapping their feet around the foot-warmers, didn't get up to such behaviour.

Mainline Steam, Parnell

This year, there was an open day at Mainline Steam on the 25th September, in conjunction with the Auckland Heritage Festival, and this year I was thankfully able to get there.

Ja1275, which was the commemorative engine for the reopening of the Onehunga branch line. Dates frrom 1951.

Ba552 next to it is an old timer from 1912.

Main attraction of the open day were the rides behind the 1932 Bagnall Tank Shunter (which has a double life as a Thomas the Tank Engine impersonator). A video can be fiound here.

What to do with old bogies? Turn 'em into sculpture.

And what to do with old freight wagons? Turn 'em into sheds (I wish I had one out back of my place!)

Inside the workshops. These were originally workshops for diesel engines, built in 1956 by New Zealand Rail. The buildings, with railway cutbacks, have been leased to Mainline Steam Trust from 1990.

Reminded me very much of Meccano sets I used to muck about with in younger days.

Ja1267 seems to have been purchased in 2008 from the NZ Railway and Locomotive Society in Waikato, one of the series built at the Hillside workshops between 1946-1956, according to an auction notice found online.

Garratt englines from South Africa.

Outside and at back -- a world of rust and graffiti. Here is the largest folded airplane I've ever seen.

Where old boilers hang around.

This bit above dates from 1877, constructed in Manchester, according to its casing.

This seems to be part of a turntable, an essential in the days of steam. Pleasant Point Railway still use one, I know.

Countdown to ...

... the Rugby World Cup. Oh, yay ... (not).

A collection of digits, spotted at QEII Square, outside Downtown Mall, Saturday morning.

St Ninian's of Avondale: Restoration in the Spring

As a friend gave me a lift home on Wednesday last, I noticed scaffolding at the old church building. Friday was the first opportunity I had to check things out.

Yes, indeed -- in the last days of the Auckland City Council, they are indeed getting on with restoring this, Avondale's oldest building.

I ended up having a bit of a chat with the foreman, who asked about the age of the building (1860), the cemetery (1873), and he advised that the roof over the front porch was down for replacement, the broken window was going to be good as before, and rotted timber on a sill was to be replaced with kauri to match the rest of the structure. I understand from what someone else has mentioned that the work is due to be completed in November.

And then, to my surprise and delight, I was invited in to have a quick peek inside -- the first time I'd been in the building for at least four years.

Top to bottom, they're getting the old paint off. That haze in these photos is all the dust in the air -- I wasn't there long, I can tell you. My thanks for the foreman for permission to take these photos.

Back outside ... the blue is the paint stripper applied to the timbers. They're working on roof leaks as well. All in all, the old lady of St Georges Road looks like she's getting the attention she deserves. I'll try to take more photos as work progresses.

C 472 -- A History

While I was at the opening of the Onehunga Train Station today, I spotted a man with a bundle of booklets in his hand. Heading over to him, I asked him what he was selling, and he told me. I bought one.

What I bought was C 472, A History by Jim Hansen, written sometime after 1996. Usually, the glamour of steam railways goes to the engines. In this case, a six-wheel composite carriage has the limelight.

C 472 was initially a second class car, ordered by NZ Railways in 1879, and ran on the Onehunga line until 1894. It was then transfered with two other C class carriages to the Kaihu Valley Railway in Dargaville. There, C 472 was upgraded to a composite car : one containing two compartments, first class and second class. First class get the padded seats, second class the plain wooden ones, both bench style under the windows. It remained in service until written off in 1933, and sold, along with C 474, to the Donnelleys Crossing Axemen's Association in Kaihu for use as a grandstand for chopping events. C 472 survived the elements mainly because it had been given a corrugated iron roof -- the other carriage wasn't similarly clad, and so rotted completely away.

That said, C 472 was in a very sorry state when the Donnelleys Crossing Settlers Club donated the carriage to the Railway Enthusiasts Society in 1988. It took until 1995 for the Railway Enthusiasts to receive Lottery Grants funding for the carriage's restoration -- but they did a wonderful job. A colour photo of the restored C 472 is here.

The booklet, 16 pages, A5 size, is I imagine available from the Railway Enthusiasts Society.