no.189 newsletter of the weka pass railway inc p.o. box 127

No.189 Newsletter of the WEKA PASS RAILWAY INC P.O. Box 127, Waipara, 7447, NZ August 2015

2 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Contents

Diary of Events and information......................................2

Up and Down the line......................................................3

Chairmans message.........................................................4

AB 608’s planned itinerary at WPR...................................4

A Workday with a Difference...........................................5

Locomotive and Engineering department report............6

Carriage restoration report (A 1730)..... ..........................7

After Dark – Mid-winter Night Train 2015.......................8

Adventures in Gatekeeping............................................10

Rail Safety week 2015....................................................11

Addington Happenings..................................................12

Relocation of the Mina / Glenmark station....................14

Books for sale at Glenmark Station shop.......................17

Acknowledgments.........................................................17

Tired Axles IV.................................................................18

WPR Rolling Stock register 2015....................................20

Bygone Diesel days from North Canterbury..................24

Front Cover:

All lit up: A 428 prepares to depart Glenmark

Station with the mid-winter night train on the

20th of June, 2015. Turn to page 8 for more

photos from this evening.

Photo: David Oakley.

The Frog Rock Times is printed by:

The Weka Pass Railway is a registered charitable entity in terms of the Charities Act. Our registration number is CC11237. For more information visit the charities register at www.charities.govt.nz

Diary of Events

August 2015 Sunday 2nd Public Running Day Sunday 16th Public Running Day

September 2015 Sunday 6th Public Running Day Sunday 20th Public Running Day Sunday 27th Daylight Savings Starts

October 2015 Monday 4th Public Running Day Sunday 18th Public Running Day Sunday 25th Public Running Day Monday 26th Public running Day (Labour Day)

November 2015 Sunday 1st Public Running Day Monday 2nd – 8th Steam Inc at WPR Friday 13th Canterbury Anniversary Day (No trains) Sunday 15th Public Running Day

Public trains run on the 1st

and 3rd

Sundays of every month as well as most public holidays. Trains will usually be hauled by our 1909 built “A” class “Pacific” steam locomotive, A 428. However, A 428 may be replaced by our heritage diesel locomotives during occasions when unforeseen circumstances arise or when the fire-ban is in place.

Mid-week work teams: Department Day Contact Phone

Track Wednesday Gary Kelly (03) 389 4078

Carriage Tuesday Peter Gibson

(03) 354 9009

Engineering Tuesday & Saturday

Paul Markholm

(03) 313 9059

Please contact the above people if you intend on attending for the first time.

The Frog Rock Times is the newsletter of the Weka Pass Railway and is published 3 times a year – April, August and December. We welcome contributions from all our members. Please send to: Frog Rock Times C/O Weka Pass Railway P.O. Box 127 Waipara, North Canterbury, 7447, NZ Or by e-mail: [email protected]

Editor: Scott Eastwick Proof-reader: Isobel Whyte Closing date for contributions for the December issue is 30th November.

http://www.charities.govt.nz/

mailto:[email protected]



3 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Up and Down the Line

New Members

The WPR welcomes the following new

members to the society and hopes that you get

enjoyment from your membership: Michael

Early, Garry Keane, Julian Stone, Charles

Babbage, Michael Latham, Alf Large, Lyn

McLure & Bruce McNeil.

Engineering Workshop on Twitter

In addition to our ‘general public’ Twitter

account of https://twitter.com/wekapassrailway,

WPR also has an engineering workshop Twitter

account to keep members up to date:

https://twitter.com/WPR_Workshop .

There’s no need to sign up to view photos on

these Twitter accounts if you don’t want to, but

if you wish to receive regular updates, then you

will need to subscribe to Twitter.

Rolling Stock Shed

Last year, the Executive Committee appointed a

sub-committee for the planning and funding of a

much-needed Rolling Stock shed comprising a

mechanical and carpenters workshop. Headed

by Andrew McKenzie, the sub-committee is

currently in the early planning stages of this

project. A major hurdle in this will be the need

to move the power lines that run through our

Waipara depot. We will keep you posted with

developments. If any member has specialist

skills that they would like to offer this project,

please contact Andrew McKenzie at

[email protected]

Volunteers wanted If any suitably qualified staff would like to be a

part in the operations during Steam Inc’s visit in

the first week of November (see the planned

itinerary next page), including shop keepers,

ticket sellers (for some days) and gate keepers

then please contact roster clerk Neville Tobin

asap at [email protected]

Defibrillator available

The Waipara Fire Station has an Automated

Electronic Defibrillator (AED) and is available

for us to use, should the need ever arise. The

best way to access this is to dial 111. Waipara

Hills Winery, on State Highway One, also have

one for use and have trained first aiders on-site

who can operate the defibrillator.

Board Appointments The Executive Committee have appointed the

following people as head of their respective

departments:

General Manager: Gary Kelly

Operations: Tony Whyte

Training & Certification: Neville Tobin

Track & Structures: Gary Kelly

Buildings: TBA

Locomotives: James Whyte

Rolling Stock (pass.): Peter Gibson

Rolling Stock (freight): Neville Tobin

Trolley Supervisor: William Stringer

Shop: Andrew McKenzie

In addition, Andrew McKenzie chairs the

Marketing sub-committee.

Waipara Vintage Festival

In an effort to avoid the wet and windy Spring

weather, the biennial Waipara Vintage Festival

will be now be held on Saturday 16th and

Sunday 17th of April, 2016.

Condolences WPR extends its sympathy to Mike Tobin and

family for the recent passing of Mike’s father

Dave Tobin.

https://twitter.com/wekapassrailway

https://twitter.com/WPR_Workshop



4 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Chairman’s Message

In this, my first message as Chairman, I want to

pay tribute to the continued work of our

members on workdays, to those who take up

rostered duties on running days, and perhaps

most importantly, to those whose activities are

often done behind the scenes at all times of the

day and night.

We rely totally on our volunteers to run our

railway, and are very lucky to have such a range

of people and skills to draw upon.

Running day numbers continue to slowly climb

from the low experienced in January, and

revenue has increased accordingly. However,

your Committee has introduced measures to

restrain spending, restrict it to that necessary to

ensure our trains run safely and effectively, and

to increase our savings to deal with any issues

that may arise in future. We should be aiming to

have a surplus of income over expenditure

every year. These economy measures will be

with us for some considerable time.

An example of the kind of rather unexpected

expenditure we face from time to time is the

recent failure of the Dsa. This loco is essential

to our operations, and must be repaired.

However, this is going to be quite a lengthy

process, and probably an expensive one too! As

well as dealing with this, we need to source a

replacement loco for the meantime.

Your committee is working through these

issues, and I am confident we will be able to

achieve both goals in good time.

However, these are good examples of the kinds

of things that can pop up where vintage

machinery is concerned, and we must expect the

unexpected!

It’s not all doom and gloom - we are in good

heart, and what we do is valued and of value.

Neil Burt

Chairman

AB

608’s planned itinerary at WPR

As mentioned in the previous Frog Rock Times, recently restored AB 608 ‘Passchendaele’ and Steam

Incorporated’s associated heritage carriages will visit WPR as part of their South Island Centennial

Tour. The tour, starting in October, will be a comprehensive rail tour of the South Island rail network to

mark 100 years since World War One memorial locomotive AB 608 was built at the Addington Railway

workshops. While subject to change, the proposed itinerary while it is at WPR is:

Monday 2nd November (pm): Arrive at Waipara / WPR.

Tuesday 3rd November: Rest day (no trains).

Wednesday 4th November: Railfans excursion, departs Glenmark at 2pm, returns at 5:15pm.

Thursday 5th November: Railfans excursion, departs Glenmark at 2pm, returns at 5:15pm. As well as

a night train, departing Glenmark station at 7:30pm, returns 10:15pm. AB 608 will be leading.

Friday 6th November: Rest day (no trains).

Saturday 7th November: A brief public ceremony in conjunction with several North Canterbury RSA’s

will be held at Glenmark Station, starting at 9:30am, before the train departs at 10am. There will also

be a public afternoon train, departure time TBA. Standard WPR ticket fares apply for this day.

Sunday 8th November (am): Departs for Picton.

Almost all trains will be double-headed with A 428, with alternate turns of each organisations carriage

fleet. While every endeavour will be made to run trains as advertised and intended, it may be necessary

to amend the running of trains for any unforeseen operational reasons.

5 - FROG ROCK TIMES

A Workday with a Difference

A chance meeting of Andrew McKenzie and one of his workmates had the eventual outcome of Weka

Pass Railway acquiring a free 6 x 4.8m tilt-a-door garage. The catch? It had to be off the Shirley

property within a week. A plea for volunteers quickly saw a group of members turn up on a fine 23rd of

May to take the garage apart so it could be easily be transported on a trailer. Andrew is currently storing

the garage while it is decided where the best location is to erect it at WPR.

1. The garage before dismantling.

Photo: Andrew McKenzie.

2. The demolition in full swing.

Photo: Norm Dix.

3. A side of the garage being

removed.

Photo: Christine Rietveld.

4. The happy crew.

5. & 6. Maurice Fenton and

Christine Rietveld showing their

expertise with their hammers.

Photos 4 – 6: Norm Dix.

1. 2.

3. 4.

5. 6.

6 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Locomotive & Engineering report

A 428: After an extended period in the shed,

due to the drought which saw parts of North

Canterbury record their lowest rainfall for

January to March since 1972, A 428 made its

first scheduled public running outing on

Sunday, 17th May. Prior to re-entering service,

the boiler passed its inspection undertaken by

SGS Ltd and the loco has been giving sterling

service during the winter.

DG 770: Work continues on replacing the air

brake system on this loco. It is also awaiting

overhaul of the distributing valve, located in the

nose compartment.

DG 791: After being our main public running

and excursion train locomotive over the

summer, 791 has been given a well deserved

rest. It recently passed its annual mechanical

and airbrake inspection. Samantha Pansters has

nearly finished painting the interior of the cab.

DSA 276: If ever there was a ‘problem child’ of

late, then this locomotive would certainly be it.

DSA 276 has suffered a couple of major oil

leaks over the last couple of years and is in need

of a major engine overhaul which will be

undertaken by a Rangiora diesel mechanic. The

board has identified that the repair of this

locomotive should be the top priority for the

society. The Executive is currently sourcing a

temporary replacement loco, so our operations

can continue while this loco is out of service.

EL197 Diesel Crane: The crane rope has been

greased and adjustments made to the gears and

operating drums. Alister Hyde is making great

progress in the painting of this crane.

International tractor: This useful piece of

machinery has been fitted with a front end

loader and will eventually have an extension

fitted to the loader frame so it can load coal into

the tender of A 428 directly from the coaling

pad.

Back in Action: After a longer than usual summer break, A 428 was photographed approaching Frog Rock hauling its first public excursion for the season on a sunny 17th May, 2015. Photo: Nigel Hogg.

7 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Carriage restoration report

(From the diary of Peter Gibson)

May:

Despite a smaller team of regulars, good

progress continues on 50ft passenger car

A1730, with the luggage racks nearly

finished. Some painting of the end walls is

still required.

Mike Ball beavered away in the vestibules

cleaning up the floors, and took another

door home to refurbish.

Warren Campion has done a good job

clearing out the saloon area. The next task is

to give the workbench a good tidy up, and

find a (well organised) home for all the

screws that were in the carriage.

Above: Christine affixes a coat hook on the 19th of May. Photo: Christine Rietveld Collection.

June:

The past few weeks have seen steady, if

unspectacular progress on the rebuild of

carriage A1730, with the regular team up

every Tuesday.

Some of the team have been working on the

vestibules, which includes tidying up and

repainting the lining panels.

The flooring is also being repaired in the

vicinity of the four outer doors, as a

precursor to laying new flooring vinyl.

A lot of work has been done to clean all the

old glue etc off the flooring in the

vestibules, and in the main saloon area. This

has been a hard slog, with various methods

tried. It was found that softening it up with

mineral turps seemed to help. All that is

now required is to give it a good wash

down, and give the walls another coat of

paint.

The carriage, plus the toilet compartment,

have been largely cleaned out of tools and

other bits to facilitate this work.

This has led to another clean up of the

workbench area to rehouse the stuff out of

the carriage, yet to be completed.

Mike Ball is doing a great job refurbishing

the doors, with them being taken home to be

worked on, well done Mike. One more to go

I believe!

Alister Hyde continues to make good

progress with painting the seat frames.

These will be repainted shortly.

July: Mike Ball has now completed the second-

to-last door restoration for this carriage and

they are all looking superb. The floor was

prepared for machine-sanding and Tony

Atkinson did a ‘last-minute’ wash of the

floor before the hired sander was used on

the 21st of July. About two bags of dust

were removed. The vinyl and adhesive are

on site and will hopefully be laid by

professionals in August.

Restoration of this carriage will slow up

over the next few months as a couple of the

carriage team will be going on well-

deserved holidays, while others have pre-

arranged appointments.

Above: A frogs-eye view of the empty interior of A1730 shortly after the floor had been sanded in preparation of the vinyl being laid. 21st July, 2015. Photo: Scott Eastwick.

8 - FROG ROCK TIMES

After Dark: Mid – Winter Night Train 2015

Following on from last years’ successful event, WPR held another mid-winter night train on the

20th of June. Ninety-three passengers, including some who ventured from places as far away as

Auckland, Wellington, Greymouth and Geraldine, endured a cool and sometimes wet night on

what was a great social outing. While not specifically a photographers event, many passengers

had their eyes firmly affixed to the eye-piece of their image recording device as A 428 left

Glenmark Station in a blaze of camera flashes and also again at the old and current photo-stops.

Paul Markholm handled the regulator with flawless skill, despite the often wet track, and James

Whyte worked the coal shovel and injector, assisted by Trainee Fireman Peter Seatter. Mike

Tobin was Guard, with Maurice Fenton as Assistant Guard.

Above: Waikari at Night: A 428 poses for photographers at Waikari station. Photo: David Oakley.

Left: The Workers Up Front: Driver Paul Markholm, Fireman James Whyte uncoupling the engine from the carriages at Waikari and Trainee Fireman Peter Seatter adding more coal to the fire. 3 Photos: Scott Eastwick.

9 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Above: It’s not called mid-winter for nothing: A passing shower did nothing to dampen the enthusiasm for the photographers at Waikari. Photo: Scott Eastwick.

Above: It’s the end of the night. The locomotive has been turned on the turntable and is about to reverse onto the carriages so as to shunt them to the carriage shed at Waipara depot. William Stringer swings the hand lamp, signalling the locomotive onto the carriages at Glenmark Station. Photo: Scott Eastwick.

10 - FROG ROCK TIMES

Adventures in Gatekeeping

Text and photographs by Eleanor

McDuff

On Sunday, April 19th, I turned up at Weka

Pass Railway expecting a usual day of gate-

keeping. Listening for anything I should

note on the radio transmissions, dutifully

putting out the green flag for the oncoming

train, doing a bit of hut housekeeping, but

otherwise amusing myself playing spider

solitaire on my tablet, or perhaps just

admire the scenery.

But things didn’t quite go to plan, as when

we (Maurice Fenton, Stationmaster Waikari,

Alister Hyde, trainee Stationmaster, myself,

Number 1 gate, and Neville Tobin, Number

2 gate) arrived at Number 1 gate in the

Wickham inspection car, it was evident that

there was a problem. A young bull had

arrived ahead of us, and didn’t look too

amused by our arrival. I was quite willing to

try my hand at bull management, but

Neville, ever the gentleman, insisted HE

would take over Number 1 gate, and the

bull, while I did Number 2 gate. That being

settled, the rest of us went on our way, and I

was dropped off at the hut, only to find that

I hadn’t escaped livestock – this time in the

form of some sheep, who were finding the

land around Number 2 gate preferable to the

paddock they were supposed to be in. More

watching the line and less spider solitaire

for me, with the occasional update on the

situation to Train Control at Glenmark

Station! The situation ebbed and flowed

during the day, punctuated by the

occasional “ping”, as another sheep treated

the boundary fence as a gate. Such cheek

from sheep (not my favourite animals) was

not to be tolerated, and they were given to

understand that their place was off the line

and preferably back in the paddock.

By this time my interest in playing card

games had quite disappeared, and I was

content to spend the rest of the afternoon

just watching the world go by. And

something did go by – a ladybird resolutely

plodding down one of the rails in the

direction of Glenmark Station. Not, I think,

a likely addition to Weka Pass Railway’s

assets!

Above left: An interruption: The bull, Wickham & Neville at Number 1 gate. From all accounts, both survived the day unscathed. Above right: Just a wee way to go! The ladybird makes its way to Glenmark from Number 2 gate.


Rail Safety Week 2015

Rail Safety Week is an annual Australasian wide initiative where rail operators and other

organisations across New Zealand and Australia, including Weka Pass Railway, come together

to raise awareness about rail safety and encourage safe behaviour around trains and tracks. This

year, Rail Safety Week will run from 10-16 August and the theme is 'Expect Trains'. The

campaign will include billboard, radio, print advertising, social media and public events.


Addington Happenings

The Christchurch suburb of Addington has

been synonymous with Canterbury

Railways for nearly as long as the railway

line itself. Two railway icons at Addington

have had interesting developments lately.

First up, is the oversized Fob (pocket) watch

in the carpark of the recently opened NZ

Blood donation centre on Lester Lane,

which was built on land that was formerly

occupied by the massive Addington

Railway Workshops which closed in 1990.

During recent development, archaeological

excavation of the site uncovered many

remains of the original railways formation

as well as objects associated with the use of

the railway and adjacent workshops during

the latter part of the 19th century and early

20th century. These items have been

integrated into this symbolic art work as a

lasting memory of the sites history.

Above: The fob watch in the NZ Blood service (Christchurch) carpark. The Fob watch shows the time of 12.51, the

moment that the 6.3 magnitude earthquake

struck Christchurch city on February 22nd,

2011. This Fob watch had been

commissioned by the new land owners,

Ngāi Tahu and was constructed by local

wrought-iron company, Ironic Art, in

December last year.

It is well worth a visit and you’ll no doubt

recognise some historic railway artefacts

such as buffers, tools and bedplates to name

just a few. While you are there, you may

feel the urge to drop off a quick pint…..

Secondly, is the Addington signal box

which controls all train movements within

Christchurch Station Limits that extend

from Annex Road in the West, Fendalton

Road on the Main North Line and Ensors

Road in the East. The signal box has

succumbed to the advances of technology

and KiwiRail’s ideology of centralising all

of its Train Control operations in

Wellington.

It was de-commissioned, or in railway

terms, ‘switched out’ on the 1st of August,

2015 and placed on remote control, from

Wellington Train Control. The building

will remain for the immediate future as it

houses the relays on the ground floor.

The Signal box was built to replace the

original wooden signal box that was beside

the Lincoln Road crossing. This box had a

wire cable that was wound out with a tablet

attached for trains going up the main north

line. The Mackenzie & Holland lever frame

was installed when the old brick Middleton

box was built in the 1930’s but this box was

closed with Middleton yard during the

depression and the frame was removed and

put into storage. When the

current Addington signal box was built in

the late 1950’s replacing two earlier signal

boxes at either end of Addington, the frame

was reused here.


Above left: Some of the artefacts welded onto the fob watch. Above right: Manual levers on the McKenzie & Holland lever frame inside the Addington signal box. Photos: Scott Eastwick.

Above: As it used to be. The Addington Signal box and Station in 1968, with J 1217 (ex-North Island) passing by hauling a special phosphate train from Lyttelton to Kempthorne Prosser Ltd at Hornby (It was ‘Ec’ hauled from Lyttelton to Christchurch). To the right, a Dsc locomotive in the yard was replacing a ‘C’ class loco as the other ‘C’ class loco was away at Middleton transferring wagons. At this time there was always 2 ‘C’ class locos on the Addington shunts. To the left, is the Tai Tapu Butter factory and the Main North Line. Photo: Paul Markholm.


The Relocation of the Mina / Glenmark Station

Text and photos by Glen Anthony.

The workday on 20 June 1986 was different

to most. The instructions were to bring a

carpenters hammer with you because we

would be demolishing parts of the Mina

station. After briefly meeting at Waipara,

we car pooled and set off another 50km

north to Cheviot. Well, actually our

destination was Mina (3 km away from

Cheviot – the same distance as McCaskey’s

Dam is to Waipara). This is the closest the

railway came to Cheviot due to the hills in

the area, so Mina was actually the main

station for the town of Cheviot. Because

Mina was still an official stop for the

passenger train to Picton (still called the

Picton Express back then), a small

passenger shelter had already been built to

replace the old station building.

The job for the day was to prepare the

building for transport back to Waipara.

Because it was going to be cut into two

pieces and transported on trucks,

appendages such as the veranda and south

annex had to be removed off it. The iron

was taken off the veranda and loaded onto

someone’s trailer. Bob Blaikie’s truck with

“hiab” crane proved valuable for pulling out

the heavy veranda posts and transporting

them back to Waipara. I don’t think the

posts were in very good condition, having

been in the ground for 75 years. In any

event, they were not reused when the

veranda was rebuilt at Waipara, and I’m

actually not sure what happened to them.

Maybe they ended up as firewood for

Ja1260, which visited WPR soon afterward.

The other big job was the removal of the

small annex (formally the women’s toilets)

at the south end. I have a vague memory

that Gordon Richards arranged for someone

to turn up with a small truck and some (or

maybe all) of the annex was loaded on and

taken away to be used as a shed. Anyway,

the photo taken at the end of the day shows

that the annex was gone.

I also remember someone spent most of the

day chipping away at the concrete around

the safe in the old Station Masters office.

The safe was a smallish metal box

surrounded by a very thick layer of concrete

with some old light-weight rail for extra

reinforcing! The safe was not needed, but

because it protruded up into one of the

internal walls, it was preventing the building

from being shifted so it had to be removed.

At the end of the day when the steel box

was finally extracted out, it was

triumphantly thrown on the scrap pile by the

person who had spent all day removing it.

There were also many other little jobs done.

The platform edge had already been graded

away and one set of chimneys had been

removed before we got there.

The building was later cut into two parts

and transported to Waipara on trucks. This

was the year of the extremely wet winter

(that also brought down several slips along

the line). The hurried attempts by Kevin

East and Bruce Holgate to get the new

foundations ready in time had to be

abandoned when the concrete mixer got

stuck in the mud trying to reach the site. A

truck and a tractor had to be hitched on

before it could be towed out again.

So the two pieces of building were left

sitting on ‘pig sty’ supports in an old

transport yard at Waipara for six months,

waiting for the ground at the new station

site to dry out. During the move, the name

board (with “MINA” on it) become

detached at one end and was left hanging at

a 90o angle. It remained like this for the

duration of the stay at the old transport

section, and led to various puns at the time

which played on the word ‘Mina’ being


pronounced the same as “minor”. Such as:

“Have you seen the mina mishap?”

The two pieces of building were reunited

together again on the new foundations in

January 1987. A bee’s nest had to be

removed from the old chimney cavity in one

wall. Over the next year a new roof was

constructed and an open fire was built in the

back wall to cover the hole where a rear

door was (also the place where the building

was cut in half). Some of the internal walls

were reconfigured or removed to create a

larger open space inside and windows

recovered from the old Heathcote Station

were fitted to each end to give better views

along the track.

A platform was built up along the front

(although not the full length it is now) and

by January 1988 the new veranda was being

built. The annex was also later rebuilt, and a

telephone exchange moved into it.

The station was never officially opened, but

its first public use was Easter weekend

1988.

This piece is only meant as a few notes and

not a thoroughly researched article, so

apologies if you helped and I missed

mentioning you. Most of the work was

done by a team referred to at the time as

‘The Building Department’. At that time it

was Kevin East, Bruce Holgate and Reg

Baker. Merv Knowles transferred across

from ‘the track gang’ half way through the

restoration, and Merv and Reg did a lot of

work mid-week unseen by many people.

It would also be remiss not to mention Dr

Richard Haythornthwaite and the good

people of Cheviot who contributed most of

the money to buy the building and shift it to

Waipara.

Top left & top right: Ready for removal: Mina Station as it was when we arrived on 20th of June, 1986 to prepare it for removal to Waipara. Above Left: The new shelter built to replace the station is in the foreground, and Bob Blaikie’s truck is lifting out the veranda posts in the background. Above Right: One of the building pieces in the old transport company section in Waipara, where it sat for 6 months.


Top left: The building was shifted onto the new foundations in Jan 1987. This photo was taken a few weeks after the move. Top Right: A year later (Jan 1988) the platform has been built up, a new window is in the end and the new veranda is under construction. Above left: Bruce Holgate (left), Kevin East (standing) and Reg Baker working on the roof. Above Middle: Bruce painting the veranda. Above Right: Noel Horsham (left) and Gary Kelly lifting iron up to Reg on the roof, while Kevin East's children play on the platform. Below: Reg Baker (left) and Bruce Holgate remove boxing after one of the concrete pours for the new platform edge. The building still has the original window in the end which was later replaced with one recovered from Heathcote station. Photo taken mid-1987.


Books for sale at Glenmark Station shop

Above: Two railway books have recently been published and are now available for purchase from our Glenmark Station shop.

AB 608 Passchendaele. By Steam

Inc. covers the history and

restoration of New Zealand’s war

memorial locomotive. Includes

many photographs not previously

published. A4 size, 40 pages.

Price: $20.

A West Coast Engineman. By

Ian Tibbles. A4 size, 252 pages,

98 colour and 158 B&W

photographs (including some by

our own Paul Markholm). A very

interesting text detailing the

various West Coast lines and the

locomotives that were worked on

them during the 1960’s.

Price: $60.

Acknowledgements

The Weka Pass Railway is grateful to the following Trusts and Societies for funds received.

Without their generous support, these projects and purchases listed would not be possible:

Canterbury Community Trust for:

The purchase of a portable

petrol-driven impact wrench.

Reupholstering the seats in

passenger carriage A 1730.

Mainland Foundation for the

purchase of railway sleepers.

The Southern Trust for the

purchase of railway sleepers.

Air Rescue and Community Services for the purchase of track

ballast.

Brian Mason Scientific and

Industrial Trust for the purchase

of a DG locomotive brake kit


Tired Axles IV

Text by Cameron Smart

In recounting the story of understanding

axle fatigue failures we have seen the efforts

of engineers in England, Scotland, France,

Germany, America, and Japan. As far as I

know, no New Zealand engineer has

contributed to the theory, but several have

had to deal with the problem in service. We

have not been immune.

There were several derailments and

collisions during the days of the Canterbury

Provincial Railways, but none resulted from

axle fatigue.

Geoffrey Churchman1 reports an axle failure

in 1956 when electric locomotive Ed 101

derailed during a shunting operation in

Wellington. He shows a picture of a wheel

lying under the front left corner of the

locomotive, and writes that the “axle

snapped”.

As the loco derailed it hit and splintered a

wooden passenger carriage, which

fortunately was unoccupied at the time. To

re-rail the loco it was necessary to

disassemble its front end and dig trenches,

presumably to provide space for the jacks

needed to provide lift.

Other derailments occurred, and in 1977

NZR Inspecting Engineer (Mechanical) RJ

McCarten published a paper in which he

described the reasons.2 He did not mention

axle fatigue, so we must conclude that this

was not high on his list of problems.

Enquiries amongst present-day KiwiRail

engineers show that axle fatigue is still not a

big problem, perhaps because of our modest

axle loads and low speeds. But failures do

occur, as Bill Hudson has reported. All of

the following incidents occurred in 2008.

Figure 1: Different designs of hi-rail excavator axles. Left: Fixed axle 45 mm diameter; Right: Rotating axle 80 mm diameter. Both images courtesy of KiwiRail.

Figure 2: Fatigue failures on hi-rail excavators. Left: Fixed stub axle with bending loads in vertical direction. Right: Rotating axle with bending loads in all directions. Both images courtesy of KiwiRail.


In the fixed axle the failure has started close

to the welded fillet radius. The stresses

were high, so the crack could not propagate

far before the remaining material could no

longer carry the load so it failed in a sudden

and brittle manner.

The fact that the crack started at the top, that

is the compression side of the bending, is

unusual. A possible explanation was

revealed at a conference on ocean

engineering in Shanghai in 2010.3 The

researchers showed that a fatigue crack can

start and grow from a notch even when the

load fluctuates from mild to severe

compression. They showed residual stresses

from welds (notice that the stub axle is

welded into its sleeve) were very important

in making the crack grow. They used finite

element analysis to compute stresses near

the crack tip, Irwin’s concept of the stress

intensity factor (see Tired Axles III) to

predict whether the crack would grow, and

compared their predictions with experiment.

Agreement between theory and experiment

was impressive.

A more serious axle fatigue failure occurred

in August 2008 near Dunedin when the

leading axle on the trailing bogie of a flat

wagon failed.4

Figure 3: Fatigue failure of flat wagon axle, 209 mm diameter at wheel seat. Both images courtesy of KiwiRail.

Here the axle has failed right at the edge of

the interference fit which fastens it to the

wheel. The crack started in the dark area

and progressed inwards, leaving “beach” or

“shell” marks as it periodically stopped

growing. The brown colour is rust on the

newly exposed surfaces. This axle could not

have been stressed very heavily, as the

crack was able to propagate a long way

before there was insufficient metal to carry

the loads. The shiny battered ring around

the edge is not commonly seen, but may

indicate a periodic opening and shutting of

the crack in the last few revolutions before

the wheel fell off. If so, the battering

destroyed the evidence of the exact starting

point. No one was hurt in this incident.

Estimated track repairs included 135

sleepers, broken rails, and a cracked points

frog, requiring 200 man hours of effort. The

brake rigging and many parts of the bogie

were destroyed, adding to the costs.

1 Churchman, GB: “Danger Ahead – New Zealand

Railway Accidents in the Modern Era”, IPL Publishing Group, 1991 2 McCarten, RJ: “Factors leading to railway

derailments”, New Zealand Engineering, (32,8) 1977 3 Huang, Xiaoping et al: “Fatigue crack growth ...”,

ASME Conference on Ocean Engineering, Shanghai, 2010 4 KiwiRail Incident Reporting and Investigating System:

Incident 082140.


Weka Pass Railway Rolling Stock Register 2015

We conclude our series on the Weka Pass Railway’s rolling stock with details of our freight and

track maintenance wagons from UB class to Z class. If anyone has any corrections or more

information on any of our rolling stock, please contact Scott at [email protected] . Dates

mentioned are specific to each individual wagon and not necessarily to the class.

UB 2351

Original No:

UB 491 To: U

B 618

(Sep 1910)

To: UB 228 (Jun 1978)

Bogie steel flat deck wagon

Built at Newmarket Feb 1908 to Diagram UB-1. Allocated to Auckland section. Written off at Addington Jun 1983. Arrived at WPR 10 Dec 1983. Incorrectly stencilled 2351. Oldest freight wagon at WPR.

UC 594

Original No: UC 860 To: UC 594 (Jun 1978)

Bogie tank wagon (Type: UC-4, capacity: 6,000 gal / 22,700

ltrs)

Built at Addington workshops Mar 1930. Overhauled at Addington workshops Oct 1945. Overhauled at Hutt workshops Aug 1960. Written off by NZR at Addington workshops Mar 1989. Stored derelict at Gracefield for many years 1 Sep 1999. Arrived at WPR 2000. Owned by RHT.

UC 1472

Original No: UC 1232 To: UC 1472 (Jun 1978)

Bogie tank wagon (Type: UC-16, capacity: 6,300 gal / 23,850

ltrs)

Built at Addington workshops 12 July 1947. Body: BP X.26780 Overhauled at Hutt workshops Sep 1962 and Jul 1979. Laid up at Mt Maunganui 15 Jan 1990. At Picton 16 Oct 1999. Arrived at WPR 30 Apr, 2001. Owned by RHT. Used as running day water supply for A 428 at Waikari c2002 – Jul 2009.

URT 304

Original No: UR 2275 To: U

RT 2275

(6/12/1975)

To: URT 304

(c1978)

Steel flat deck bogie log wagon

Built at Addington workshops 22 May 1965. Fitted with "USL" Type Log Cradles (since removed) & reclassified to URT 2275 at Addington workshops 6 Dec 1975. Arrived at WPR 30 May, 1989.



UD 1504

Original No: UD

1504 To: UD 61

(Jun 1978)

To: EWW 46 (Apr

1994)

Bogie Works & Way Well wagon

Built at Otahuhu workshops Apr 1953. (Bogies built at Hillside workshops). Arrived to WPR late 2000. Owned by RHT. By agreement, KiwiRail may use it, if required. Used by KiwiRail 2008-2009. Often used on work trains to carry digger to work site.

VR 137

TMS No: VR 1399 (c1978)

Bogie Steel Insulated wagon

Imported from Kinki Shanyo, Japan. Assembled at Otahuhu workshops Mar 1964. Body: BP X.27370, Part of a fleet of 128. Written off by NZR at Addington Jun 1983. Arrived at WPR 1983. Repainted early 2013.

XP 2754

Original No: XP 3226 To: XP 2754 (c1978)

4-Wheel Ventilated Box Wagon

Built at East Town workshops 1967. Body: BP X.26670. Designed to carry perishable goods. Written off by NZR at Addington Jun 1983.

Arrived to WPR mid-1983. Restored 1999. Repainted 2013.

YB 578

TMS No: YB 1247 (c1978)

4-wheel ballast wagon

Built at Hillside workshops 1942. Written off by NZR at Westport 20 Jun 1987.

YB 621

TMS No: YB 1656 (c1978)


Built at Hillside workshops 1942. Written off by NZR at Westport 20 Jun 1987.


YB 634

TMS No: YB 1783 (c1978)


Built at Hillside workshops 1942. Written off by NZR at Islington 20 Jun 1987.

YB

637

TMS No: YB 1817 (c1978)


Built at Hillside workshops 1942. Written off by NZR at Islington 20 Jun 1987.

YC 1716

Original No: YC 838 To: YC 1716 (c1978)

4-wheel central-discharging ballast wagon

Built at Addington workshops Dec 1960. Arrived at WPR 2007. Owned by RHT.

YC 1906

Original No: YC 856 To: YC 1906 (c1978)

4-wheel central-discharging ballast wagon

Built at Addington workshops Feb 1961. Arrived at WPR 2007. Owned by RHT.

YD 392

Original No: YD 1035 To: YD 392 (c1978)

Bogie side-dump wagon

Built by Differential Steel Car Co. Ohio, USA c1950. Arrived at WPR (by truck) 9 Oct, 2013.

YF 132

Original No: YF 909 To: YF 132 (c1978)

4 wheel side discharge ballast wagon

Built at Addington workshops 7 Nov, 1964. Body: BP X.26594. Arrived at WPR Aug, 2007.


YF 203

Original No: YF 916 To: YF 201 (c1978)

4 wheel side discharge ballast wagon

Built at Addington workshops 2 Jan, 1965. Body: BP X.26594 Arrived to WPR 2001. Owned by RHT. Incorrectly stencilled YF 203.

Z 1032

Original No: Z 356 To: Z 1032 (c1978)

50’0” Covered wooden bogie wagon

Built at Otahuhu workshops c1946. Written off by NZR at Belfast 1988. Arrived at WPR 1989. Originally purchased as a source of spare bogies for carriages.

Abbreviations: RHT = Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.

TMS = Traffic Monitoring System. (i.e computer based numbering system)

Sources: http://nzrailwaysrollingstocklists.weebly.com

http://www.nzrsr.co.nz

Juliette Scoble research notes at Alexander Turnbull Library

Various Frog Rock Times newsletters

WPR Rolling stock files

The Great Northern book (2001) by Leslie Dew

In the next edition: The Saga of Researching UB 2351.

PO Box 127, Waipara, North Canterbury, 7447, NZ

[email protected] www.facebook.com/wekapassrailway

www.wekapassrailway.co.nz twitter.com/Wekapassrailway

Left: The young and the younger. New member Harry Mathwin alongside WPR icon Harry Henderson on the 20th of April, 2015. There is 77 years difference between the ages of these two WPR members!

Photo: Brian Alderson.

http://nzrailwaysrollingstocklists.weebly.com/

http://www.nzrsr.co.nz/


http://www.facebook.com/wekapassrailway

http://www.wekapassrailway.co.nz/

http://www.wekapassrailway.co.nz/


Bygone Diesel Days from North Canterbury

A selection of photographs taken by Wilson Lythgoe of former NZR mainline diesel power

from our neck of the woods. All photos taken from a long ago 12th March, 1971.

2 McCarten, RJ: “Fac

Right: Seen here from the Nonoti Rd overbridge, Vulcan railcar RM 52 burbles along with southbound train 104 from Picton to Christchurch.

Left: The DJ and railcar must have crossed at Domett as soon afterwards, Mitsubishi-built DJ 1222 and train came along.

Right: Heading south and less than 37km from Waipara, DG’s 779 and 769 have just passed through the Ethelton gorge and crossed over the Hurunui river bridge.

no.189 newsletter of the weka pass railway inc p.o. box 127

Documents