Newsletter recipients will have noticed that there has been a Southern Colour Print on the back page of the newsletter for a number of issues. They are printing the newsletter at no cost, for which we are extremely grateful. However, there is quite a long "supply chain" between the creation of the Newsletter file and its arrival in your letterbox. Unfortunately our supply chain broke down which resulted in the newsletters and rosters reaching members some weeks after they were prepared. If you don't receive future mail-outs before the roster expires or the next General Meeting is imminent, please make contact as the members involved in creating the newsletter were quite unaware of the problem until a very late stage.
Progress has continued on Cattle Wagon T175. Following the completion of the centre partition, the longitudinal timbers on the "roof-line" have been fitted; the centre board being particularly heavy to lift into position. The ones along each edge had the opposite problem; being so light, they were easy to misalign. The last two drop doors have been reassembled and numerous small fittings, including handles, stops, latches and tarpaulin rings have been refitted. The bogie overhaul is now complete and they were reunited with the wagon under quite adverse weather conditions. Blocks of wood to stop the animals from slipping on the floor have been manufactured using donated timber. They are an accurate copy of the originals and each one is to the old dimensions and have champhered edges; quite a tiresome job. Specially shaped curved timber is being attached to the under-side of the roof beams, these are also copies of the original and designed to prevent the animals from hurting themselves on the exposed bolts. The brake cylinder and slack adjuster have been overhauled, Shane and Murray made quick work of this seemingly complex aspect. Special thanks are due to Shaun and Terry for donating the timber that was used for the final components on the wagon.
Ian has completed painting the roof and fascia of the trolley shed and it looks quite authentic despite its extremely low cost. Jock has had a very successful vegetation control campaign behind the carriage shed.
The mechanical work on the left hand vibrator unit on the MTM-401 Tamper is now complete and will return to the railway shortly.
The track between the carriage shed and the south double slip has been refurbished. This follows the overhaul of a trackset in that area about a year ago. The siding had been constructed over 20 years ago using dog-spiked hardwood sleepers that were in poor condition and the old track was made up of short lengths of mixed-weight rail on a poor vertical alignment. The new track is made up of 36' lengths of downgraded 56lb rail on screw-spiked TPR (Pine) sleepers. The work took a little longer than anticipated due to changeable weather and peculiar kinks in the rail that took a lot of work to resolve. However, a special thanks is offered to all those who assisted so willingly. Initially, further packing work is envisaged but in the longer term it should be reasonably low maintenance. However, it was a great opportunity to practice forming smooth subtle curves with the Rail Bender and to use the Proline Rail Drill and Saw, the performance of the latter being considerably improved following investment in a new blade.
The Proline Rail Saw in action.
The railway's security system is now being monitored by a different firm, Chubb being the successful contractor.
Construction of the front windows for Katiki Station is under way. This is being done using largely recycled materials. Underneath the peeling and weathered paint of the donated oversized windows, the timber is in good order which is making the job of resizing them much easier.
Recently, the Dunedin City Council invited us to take part in the "Information Gathering" exercise for the Ocean Beach coastal management planning process. Our chairman prepared an extensive document that details sources of information that our group felt should be bought to the attention of the working party, as well as outlining the important social and community values associated with the area and our aspirations for a longer line. We then took the opportunity to address the panel and our chairman presented additional written and photographic material as well as outlining the salient points of our submission. The councilors were appreciative of the submission and also offered encouragement towards our groups efforts.
A number of other submitters offered unsolicited support for the expansion of the railway, with one submitter suggesting that managed retreat was the best option for council and that the railway should be given the resources to develop on a new site. The next stage in the process is for the consents committee to report on its findings and for the relevant lines of enquiry to be pursued. Once that stage is complete, the Resource Consent Application will then be prepared, drawing on the information gained in the forementioned process, so that the application proposes the most advantageous course of action. A special vote of thanks is due to Campbell for the large amount of time and effort that he has gone to, to represent us at this level.