As this project draws to a close, it is perhaps opportune to reflect on the work that has been done to spruce up this initially rather disreputable looking vehicle.

The bogie cattle wagon at the Ocean Beach Railway was built in 19XX and represented the final evolution in Stock Wagons on the NZR. This batch featured a Stainless Steel sub-floor to direct animal waste away from the structural steel of the wagon chassis and allowed the run-off to be caught in troughs that could be fitted to the wagon for use on the inter-island ferries. This batch had Roller Bearing axleboxes and comparatively modern brake gear. It seems likely that this wagon saw very limited service, as despite it's tired looking body, it was mechanically in very good order when it joined our fleet which made the mechanical side of restoration much easier.

It was one of several wagons laid up for many years at Studholm Junction. Through somewhat ambiguous circumstances, when the fleet was dispersed to rail preservation sites around the country, T 175 arrived in Dunedin on top of another wagon for our group to look after. Several members were dismayed to see it on site and felt that it wouldn't and shouldn't ever be restored. However, a couple of individuals believed in the project, as did AMP Perpetual who gave a sizable donation to get the project under way.

The first step was to buy some replacement cladding timber. Like all timber for the project, this was hand picked rough sawn H3 CCA Oxide (reduces the corrosion risk for fastenings) that was strip-stacked and dried for a year before being either thicknessed or belt sanded to give a smooth surface. Rip-sawing was normally done in the middle of the night as due to space considerations, the saw bench was relocated to the centre of the main walkway. Much of the machine sanding was also done at night to avoid inconveniencing other users as the continuous noise and dust made for a challenging environment. Every piece of timber received 4 coats of paint before being fitted and Stainless / Galvanized fastenings are used throughout. All cross-cut sawing was done by hand, as was much of the sanding between coats to give a high-quality finish to exacting dimensions. All the steelwork on the superstructure was ground back and repainted. A junior member once commented that the brown dirt tastes really bad when you grind it, and was quickly reminded that it was second-hand. For the duration of the project, the wagon has been outside which meant that work on many aspects of the restoration was weather dependant; although strangely the bogie change was done cheerfully in horizontal freezing rain.

The Lottery's Commission Environment and Heritage fund assisted in financing the completion of both T175 and K543 which allowed both wagons to be stripped mechanically and blasted and painted at Hillside Workshops. The workshops literally ground to a halt when these vehicles arrived. When it came time to remove them, the office lady was speechless when we said we were there to take some wagons away.

Most of the restoration work has been pretty straightforward, with the team now able to assemble the seemingly complex door components in their sleep. Being a straightforward project, there has been a reasonable amount of time spent on tedious jobs and I extend my sincere thanks to all those involved, especially Campbell who worked away painting boards in the carriage shed in total isolation, Dale for his vision in the early days of the project, Murray for the bogie overhaul, Glen and Shaun for their assistance in the many and varied tasks undertaken, John Bovis for providing elusive information on the partition and Shane for working his magic with the brakes. Also, the many other past and present members who have assisted with the project; who's efforts are greatly appreciated, as is the tolerance shown by people trying to work in buildings dominated by endless components covered in slow drying paint.

The T wagon project had been a spare time job for several years and a concerted effort only began at Christmas with the balance of the floor being laid and the centre partition being fitted along with the missing doors and more recently the moderately tricky roof boards.

Authenticity was seen as critical to the wagons success and each board was cut to the dimensions of the original where possible and Denso Tape was used between timber and steel as per the original drawing. All of the awkward curved moldings (designed to stop the animals hurting themselves on exposed bolts) have been replicated despite their redundancy in our operation, although curving 1" timber around the tight radius of the roof beams did prove interesting. All 90 timber cleats (to stop cattle sliding on the radiused floor) have been replicated and hand-painted.

Surprisingly, very little of the old timber was turned into firewood, some of the rotten floorboards were reshaped and used in an oriental garden setting, a large amount of the external cladding went to Alexandra to be converted into rustic and slightly smelly letterboxes and the best timber was retained for use in restoring the H wagon. Sale of the decayed timber was quite lucrative and some useful extra revenue was generated. Glen certainly had an interesting car trip inland when he found his cargo included portions of dismantled cattle wagon, a borrowed cat and some hiking gear.

I don't recall any aspects of the restoration being terribly challenging although a few steel components were reluctant to come apart, and the doors and roof board were heavy to move into position, as were presumably the bogie components. A few stern words were spoken during the fitting of the new leaf springs.

From photographs, it seems stock wagons were often a feature of trains on the original Peninsular and Ocean Beach Railway. While obviously this wagon never served on the old line, we will soon be able to run mixed trains including a stock wagon to recapture some of the essence of the earlier operation.