From issue: Winter 2003
Fight to Keep Rail Heritage on Track
by Paul Titus
The state of New Zealand's rail heritage is a classic good news/bad
news story. A report on the vision, enthusiasm and challenges surrounding
the campaign to ensure a living record of a passing age is preserved.
 |
| Climax
Geared Steam Locomotive - 'Bachmann' Model. It represents a 25 ton
class 'B' Climax designed for NZ logging operations over steep grades,
tight curves and light rails.No. 1203 is the only Climax currently
working and can be seen at 'Shantytown', south of Greymouth.
|
Efforts of community groups, businesses and government have ensured that
a remarkable amount of New Zealand rail heritage survives. Throughout
the country - from Southland to Northland and from rural branch lines
to the urban Main Trunk - rail enthusiasts have restored historic locomotives,
carriages, stations, signalboxes and engineering features such as viaducts
and bridges.
The chairman of the New Zealand Rail Heritage Trust, Euan McQueen, said
that at one time 1400 stations were dotted throughout the country (though
many of them were no more than small shelters). Now, fewer than 100 were
left. Even more dramatic was the loss of associated structures such as
goods sheds, stockyards and loading banks. Nevertheless, good representative
examples of all major structures and rolling stock remained.
|
|
Errand
boys of the rails. Entering service in 1955 these work horses carried
people, luggage, mail and freight.This articulated railcar is enroute
from Napier to Wellington, seen crossing the Waikanae River.
Picture: New Zealand Railways |
"We have significant structures from rail's engineering heritage,
including tunnels and key viaducts on working rail lines.We also have
the key station buildings in Dunedin, Auckland,Wellington and Christchurch.
Elsewhere, stations have been restored and are used for different purposes,
including information centres, restaurants, bed and breakfasts and garden
centres," McQueen said.
"We also have four rail precincts - at Ormondville,Waverly, Carterton
and Moana. They are like time warps because, along with their restored
stations, they have the original tracks, stockyards and goods sheds. And,
except for one that got away, we have examples of every type of wagon
that has run on New Zealand's railways."
|
|
| Radio
on the rails. The poster was discovered in a Helensville antique shop. |
An initiative called the Great New Zealand Rail Heritage Trail underscores
the extent of New Zealand's rail heritage.A marketing programme to link
and promote rail heritage for domestic and overseas tourists, the rail
trail will include 200 of the top rail experiences on offer.
The driving force behind rail preservation comes from volunteers. During
the 1970s and 1980s, the railways moved to new technology and rationalised
services. It was left to volunteer groups to salvage and restore equipment
and buildings that were being scrapped.
These groups can be as modest as a handful of people who look after a
rural railway station, such as Opapa Station in Hawkes Bay, or as large
as the Railway Enthusiasts Society in Auckland, which has 500 to 600 members
and runs the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. Some operate as museums, others
run tourist ventures. Some operate restored locomotives and carriages
on rail lines they own; others run on Tranz Rail's network.
|
|
Above
and below: Ngaio Railway Houses
Photos: Justine Lord |
Among them is successful high-rise construction engineer Ian Welch, who
has sunk millions of his own dollars into restoring steam locomotives
in Auckland,Wellington and Christchurch. For those familiar with the scene,
the scale of Welch's commitment is not surprising. Vintage rail generates
real passion among its devotees, and theirs is a very, very expensive
hobby.
As Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand executive member and
founding president Paul Dillicar explains, everything touched when working
with rail is heavy. So it requires heavy lifting equipment and extensive
workshops.
"It is heavy, ugly, skilled work. It is not for everybody but there
are people who love the mechanical challenge. Some community-based groups
come up with great ideas but, when it comes to the physical stuff, they
don't last the distance. You just have to get behind a jackhammer and
compact ballast on a rail line to know how hard it is," Dillicar
says.
Although they focus on their own individual projects, these local groups
are not alone. The federation is a national umbrella group that facilitates
the work of vintage rail groups. It represents its 58 member organisations
in Wellington, advises them on their legal and safety obligations and
helps them source spare parts and specialist machinery.
The New Zealand Rail Heritage Trust is another facilitative body that
helps local groups. An independent, charitable trust that receives funding
from Tranz Rail, it maintains a register of buildings, structures and
relics worthy of retention and gives assistance to groups working to conserve
them. Through the trust, Tranz Rail has donated 150 heritage wagons to
community rail organisations, given grants of money and materials and
provided the plans of historic stations.
Government is in the picture too. Some major rail initiatives are joint
projects of community groups and local government. These include the Taieri
Gorge Railway, which runs from Dunedin to Middlemarch, and the Port Craig
tramway walk in the deep south, which crosses four wooden viaducts including
the spectacular eight-storey-high Percy Burn viaduct. The Taieri Gorge
trip is considered one of the world's best vintage railway excursions,
and cruise ships visiting Dunedin regularly send all their passengers
on it. It is a joint initiative of the Otago Excursion Train Trust and
the Dunedin City Council, while the Port Craig tramway involves two local
trusts and the Southland Regional Council.
The Department of Conservation also holds significant rail heritage sites.
These include a number of walking tracks that follow the routes of old
tramways and railways. Prominent among them are the Otago Central Railway
Track, a three-day cycling track along the old railway route from Middlemarch
to Clyde, the Rimutaka Incline outside Wellington and the Piako County
Tramway at Waiorongamai,Te Aroha.
Despite these successes, more effort is needed to stoke the boilers and
keep the rail heritage engine moving forward. As in most areas of historic
preservation, one of the biggest problems is shortage of funds for restoration
and maintenance.
The features editor of New Zealand Railfan magazine Reid McNaught says
lottery grants and community trusts are vital sources of funds for vintage
rail groups but the money available through them has declined and the
number of applicants chasing it has increased.
Although it takes a lot of money to restore a locomotive or carriage,
the initial expense is just the start. Maintenance is also costly, and
a host of annual fees are required for locomotive boiler surveys, engineering
reports, licences, insurance and the like.
"Virtually every vintage rail group lacks adequate covered storage
for its artefacts. Some groups have significant collections of rolling
stock that are left in the open to face rain and wind. Sunshine can also
be a problem because red is the traditional New Zealand Railways carriage
colour but it is vulnerable to ultraviolet light," McNaught says.
"For example, Steam Incorporated in Paekakariki has 12 carriages
and Weka Pass Railway at Waipara needs to house six. The average length
of a carriage is 15 metres so we are not talking about small structures."
For those groups who run their vintage locomotives or carriages on the
national network, another financial woe is the high access fees charged
by Tranz Rail and the rail passenger service Tranz Scenic. McNaught says
that, over the years,Tranz Rail has treated not-for-profit groups as cash
cows. Ian Welch and Paul Dillicar echo his sentiments.Welch says he has
been priced out of using the Main Trunk because the average person in
New Zealand cannot afford to pay the price of tickets required to cover
the cost of operating on it.
"The charges Tranz Rail has imposed have failed to give vintage
rail operators adequate margins to provide for future maintenance or cover
their substantial overheads,"Dillicar says. He is concerned that
the vintage rail sector is becoming fraught with two other big issues.
One is the dwindling number of steam-qualified drivers who can operate
vintage rail on Tranz Rail's network.While those who run steam trains
on their own railways can drive locomotives themselves, all steam trains
on Tranz Rail lines must have one of the company's drivers and boiler
operators. No new drivers are being trained so their availability has
dropped and the cost of using them can become prohibitive.
"Another issue we are concerned about is the new Health and Safety
in Employment law because it puts an enormous burden for accident and
injuries in the work place on people who have put up their hands to be
leaders of voluntary groups. In part, it is a response to Tranz Rail's
ghastly safety record but the safety record of heritage rail groups is
superb.We are afraid the bureaucracy doesn't understand how these compliance
costs will affect community organisations."
While rail enthusiasts have put in plenty of hard work to restore and
maintain vintage rail cars and stations, the Historic Places Trust would
like to see the scope of what constitutes rail heritage expanded. Heritage
adviser Robert McClean says that, while district councils have made inventories
of historic sites, they generally emphasise buildings such as churches
and Victorian villas. He wants to see councils give more weight to industrial
heritage, including rail, and expand their horizons to include heritage
landscapes in their planning.
McClean says a good example of this is the way the Wellington City Council
has protected the Tarikaka St railway housing settlement in Ngaio. Modifications
to the buildings and their settings are designed to protect the historic
features and it has become a fashionable neighbourhood. "I am also
impressed with the Ruapehu District Council's initiative to change its
plan to protect two railway housing settlements, Railway Row in Ohakune
and Sunshine Settlement in Taumarunui. Some owners of the houses in the
estates are supportive of the idea and others are not. So, it will depend
on how courageous the council is whether the change goes through."
Significant sections of the Main Trunk such as the Raurimu Spiral are
another feature of the rail landscape McClean would like to see registered
for their historic value. General manager of the Historic Places Trust's
central district Yvonne Legarth goes further. She would like to see the
entire Main Trunk registered with the Trust.
She said the proposal was not really an extreme one. It would simply
mean that the historic value of the various parts of the Main Trunk would
be assessed and then Tranz Rail, or whoever owned the line, would get
advice from the Trust when it wanted to make major changes to minimise
impact on areas considered most important. Any decisions would be made
with full knowledge of the impacts on the heritage values of the main
trunk line.
Paul Titus is the principal in Titus
Writes , a network of freelance writers, photographers and graphic
artists.
| 
