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.

The new Onehunga Train Station

Once upon a time, a part of Auckland called Onehunga had a railway station from 1873. From that point, the Auckland to Onehunga line was said to be the only railway line in New Zealand which spanned from coast to coast (due to central Auckland's geography, and that we're on an isthmus.) Passenger services lasted around 100 years, and then things were shut down during the 1970s.

Local campaigning this century, however, has led to a grand re-opening today of the branch line, slightly altered, but now leading passengers straight to the Onehunga Mall, heart of the local shopping centre. I could not miss the opportunity to see the action.

Or the very cool photo reproductions they've placed on the fenceline along Onehunga Mall and Princes Street. If things look a bit "rough and ready" with loose and bare soil, implements lying around, bits of wood -- that's because they still hadn't quite finished the landscaping today. The bitumen in the carpark was still spongy. The rollers, trucks etc. were still parked there this morning,  an hour before ceremonies began.

"A Monday morning scene on Onehunga Wharf circa 1880."

"The first bank of Auckland in Onehunga."

"Shunting in Onehunga 1954."

"The Public Library and Post Office Hotel on Queen Street, Onehunga (now Onehunga Mall) circa 1879."

"The SS Wanaka and other sailing boats at Onehunga wharf. Mangere Mountain in the background."

"Sections of the original Onehunga station on the move to the Rail Enthusiasts Society site in Alfred Street, 1962."

"The first timetabled train to Onehunga, 24 December 1873."

"A painting, possibly by John Kinder, of Onehunga looking south west."

"L" class locomotive used on Onehunga line, circa 1906."

"Looking south down Queen Street, Onehunga, towards Mangere Mountain with a trolley bus travelling past the State theatre."

"Manukau to Onehunga Train route following the foreshore, 1954."

"The first 'South Auckland tour' rail fan special train arriving in Onehunga."

"The C852 engine at Penrose island platform getting ready to go to Onehunga."

"1908 - Queen St tram at Onehunga wharf."

"Onehunga station, looking back on to the Borough Council chambers building, 1954."

"An Epsom-Onehunga tram and a horse and cart travelling along Queen Street, Onehunga."

"A tram on Queen Street, Onehunga, 1908."

"The staff of Kauri Point Sawmill and their children gathered outside the premises on the corner of Beacroft and Princes Street, Onehunga, 1882."

I just love the horse in the photo. Lived a hard life, standing ever-so-patiently for the photo.

End of the line. Just beyond this point, according to a member of the Onehunga and Fencible Historical Society, the old station master's house used to be. The platform for the new station, by the way, is too short, according to news reports.

Taking photos of the trains on the platform proved difficult -- narrow platform, lots of people, wrong angle. I'm glad they sent an ordinary diesel along at first. It gave me the opportunity to scout out an alternative vantage point.

Board for those to inscribe their name for posterity, I suppose. No, I didn't sign ...

In case you come off the train and don't know where you are (despite all the blue and white signage) -- here's an extra clue.

There was a PC Plod on patrol, complete with truncheon.

The cutting for the old wharf connection still exists, along with the Neilson Street overbridge ...

... said bridge used for a local politics protest today, over the enforced acquistion of the Catholic school's land at Monte Cecelia by the present Auckland City Council.

More heritage stuff for folks to view.

At this point, I found my new observation site -- up on a bank, between a three-rail pipe fence and a hurricane wire fence. Despite the fact that I'm a 47-year-old overweight train-loving history buff, I made it over the pipe fence, and so was able to take the following shots.

Steam engine JA 1275 from Mainline Steam hauling two Tranz Scenic coaches, and backed by a diesel. Worth the two hour wait.

Looking at the shots here at home, I realised I had luckily caught these two characters as they disembarked from the train.

Also, another surprise -- a cool Chevrolet truck on the spongy bitumen.

And an older form of transport doing a circuit up and down Onehunga Mall.

Auckland's Chinese community in 1919

Back to another of my underlying interests. Completely by chance, I spotted the article below as I was looking through newspaper files yesterday at the Auckland Research Centre at the central library. 1919 was just under 60 years after the first indications of Chinese residency in Auckland, so this gives us an interesting (albeit European-focussed) view of the community six decades on, in the midst of a post-war rice "famine" in Auckland. "For the last few weeks there has been a rice famine in Auckland. The leading wholesale and retail dealers have been literally without a grain in their establishments, and the position has resulted in a good deal of hardship for those who formerly made rice one of their staple articles of diet. The situation has been relieved to some extent, for both the Niagara and Malcura have brought a considerable quantity of Ace from Sydney."(Evening Post, 11 September 1919)

From the NZ Herald, 29 August 1919.

CHINESE IN AUCKLAND.

GLIMPSES OF THEIR LIFE.

OLD TRADITIONS FAILING.

INFLUENCE OF THE EUROPEAN.

Although the sight of the Chinaman working industriously in his trim garden, reckoning change with amazing accuracy in a fruit shop or handing out the week's laundry, is a very familiar one to Aucklanders, comparatively little is known of the local conditions under which these sons of the Celestial Empire are living. There are at present about 400 Chinamen in Auckland, and perhaps 10 Chinese wives. Nearly all the others, however, have wives and children in their own land, and are patiently adding day by day to the little board that will some day enable them to go back to their homes and families. The family tie is a very strong one with the Chinese, and their sojourn in a foreign land usually but the stepping-stone to a return home and prosperity among their own folk that it would be very hard to obtain in the ordinary run of life in China.

The ancient traditions of the Chinese still hold strong sway in some respects, but in others even the manners and customs of the oldest Empire are waning and undergoing the change inevitable when Occident and Orient come into close and continuous contact. The pigtail has gone, and the quaintly-trousered women, with shy eyes and tiny sandalled feet, have given place to smart young misses wearing tailored skirts and French heels. But the average Chinaman is still the frugal, industrious worker of the age old East; even in prosperous Auckland he still lives mainly on rice, although his needs in this respect have gone unfilled for some time past on account of the prevailing acute shortage.

Chinese Delicacies.

An inquiry made yesterday as to how local Chinese residents were faring in view of this dietary difficulty resulted in some interesting information being given with regard to the general trend of life among Chinese in Auckland. As in other respects, the Orientals are conforming more and more to European ideas with regard to foods and, although rise still is, or was until recently, their staple diet, the white man's menu is gradually being adopted by the Chinaman. A few traditional Chinese dishes are still regarded as a great delicacy: dried sharks' fins are in strong demand, and luxury fare is provided at the banquets occasionally held in Auickland.

A glance at a list of delicacies forwarded from China for local consumption revealed some weird and wonderful dishes. An item of dried shrimps and oysters looked more or less familiar, but sugared watermelon rind, fishes' eyes in vinegar, onions in treacle, bamboo shoots in syrup, beche-de-mer or sea-slugs brought to mind visions of a banquet truly Oriental. Other items were:- Chinese medicines and wines, canned bean cure, salt cucumber, hen albumen, and a quantity of the "Asiatic egg" so well known to local pastrycooks.

The Chinese are not given to riotous living but, by all accounts, local banquets lack few of the traditional delicacies associated with these sumptuous repasts, allowance being made, of course, for those dishes requiring ingredients which China alone can produce.

Keeping in Touch With Home.

There is in Auckland a strong branch of the Chinese Nationalist Society, which receives all the newspapers and current literature of China. This is widely read by local Chinese residents, who follow the occasionally-stormy course of home politics with keen interest. There are also two Chinese "Freemasons' " societies in Auckland, in which the trend of politics is reflected, although party feeling is apt to be a little less pronounced than is sometimes the case with regard to local politics. That is to say, the Celestials usually agree to differ politely.

One interesting point mentioned yesterday by a well-known Chinese resident was that the ancient dread of surgical operations is to a large extent dying out among Chinese living abroad. The Chinese physician is traditionally a herbalist; amputations were unknown in China until students of the present generation migrated to the West, where they learned Western methods of healing and treatment of the sick. Consequently Auckland doctors frequently tend Chinese patients and perform operations and send them to the General Hospital in a way that would have been undreamed of among the Orientals of a past generation.

At the same time, the use of herbs is still very popular, and the only Chinese herbalist in the Dominion, who has a shop in Wellington, does a fairly wide trade among his fellow-countrymen.

Another point of interest, as showing the general acceptance of Western ideas, is that the old tradition that the bones of every Chinaman must be taken back to his own land is not so inexorably observed as in the past. During the epidemic about ten Chinese residents of Auckland died; some of these were buried in the ordinary way and will rest forever in alien soil; but the others were embalmed and provision made for shipment of the remains back to China. This cannot be done, however, for at least one year after interment, and even the ultimate carrying out of the old tradition will depend very largely upon prevailing shipping conditions.