History
K610 - Another restoration project completed.
This wagon was built in 1897 by the New Zealand Railways, although aspects of its design seem to owe their origins to vehicles designed and built by the Midland Car Company. It is one of many hundreds of similar boxcars built and seems likely to have seen service on much of the South Island network. Like so many of the early “Standard” goods vehicles, evidence suggests that it was reasonably intensively used over several decades.
The body is almost entirely of timber construction, the corner and door posts being of Australian hardwood and the roof also being constructed using a premium exotic hardwood. The interior was clad in a reasonably inferior sapwood although the end wall timbers were replaced with more substantial wood, presumably due to accident damage. The under-frame is of composite construction with wooden headstocks. During an NZR rebuild, the side wall framing was extensively re-worked to incorporate additional horizontal timbers; although as the original vertical timbers were retained, the old mortise's are still evident.
Westinghouse Air Brakes were fitted retrospectively in a manner that is less than straight-forward. It seems that despite good workmanship and a careful owner, the wagon suffered numerous mishaps in its working life, resulting in smashed corner posts, damaged body timber and many broken and twisted brackets.
Following retirement from active service, the wagon saw service as E 3644 for the Way and Works Department. At some stage it gained a Pot-Belly stove in one end although this has been long-since removed, it's legacy being a large hole in the roof that has since been repaired. The Wagon's final role was to shuttle material between Dunedin's locomotive depot and Hillside Workshops and was stenciled to this effect. By this time, it was carrying the departments yellow livery. Following final withdrawal, it was sold to a private individual and acted as a paint store for the fledgling Otago Excursion Train Trust at Burnside. A quick coat of brown paint applied to the doors soon had it wearing their corporate livery. The interior of the wagon attracted numerous notations from participants on that project, I guess it will never be known if Spike really had an affinity for small boys.
A New Lease on Life
In 1982, the wagon embarked on yet another career, this time as a track materials store for the Ocean Beach Railway. Plans to convert it into a compressor wagon never eventuated and it had a reasonably static role. When the tarpaulin over the roof was stolen some 5 years ago, the decision was made to squeeze it into the workshop for remedial work to make it weathertight. However the planned 8 week patch up evolved into a full overhaul as the extent of degradation to the roof and framing meant that it was inappropriate to use half measures.
Before and After - the interior of K610.
Substantial structural repairs were undertaken on the Number 2 end and A Side of the wagon, one section of wall being completely replaced. Fire damage also had to be made good, resulting in some off-beat techniques being developed. About half of the exterior cladding was unsalvageable, 3 roofbeams had to have new ends grafted on, quarter of the roof timber was missing or rotten, and numerous steel components had severe corrosion issues. The doors and associated track were in an extremely weathered state requiring reasonably extreme measures to rectify the damage. Because of workshop space constraints, much of the door work was done outside under a street-light. The interior of the body was badly damaged by the years of intense use, botched repairs, rot and insect infestation. The thick lead paint was carefully removed over a lengthy period; refurbishing the ceiling and the associated hours of overhead work was particularly memorable. The old paint was colourmatched to maintain authenticity.
The wagon restoration has involved what we believe to be best practice archival conservation techniques, with minimal intervention where possible. Special care has been taken to conserve as much of the original fabric as possible and to use the appropriate techniques, materials and colours in order to maintain historical accuracy.
K610 has good riding qualities for its type and lives up to our expectations in all respects. Of the many people who have contributed to this project, Shane Murray and Glen McConachie stand out for their tireless efforts in extremely marginal conditions while attending to the steel and mechanical components of the project. The restoration was funded by the Lotteries Grants Board and our own resources.