E-newsletter #1, Rimutaka Incline Railway Sunday, 23 February 2003 Hi All, Thank you for registering your interest in supporting the proposal to reinstate the Rimutaka Incline Railway. It is panning out to be no small task, but we were aware of this at the outset. But, we believe that we potentially have a world-class heritage-tourist railway on our very doorstep, unique in its Fell centre-rail working, and at close proximity to the capital city of New Zealand. In this issue: Rimutaka Incline Railway Supporters Incorporated Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust Kaitoke breakthrough! Fell centre-rail diagram Supporters' Contributions What can I do to help the cause? Rimutaka Incline Railway Steering Committee Members ==================================== Rimutaka Incline Railway Supporters Incorporated. ==================================== The supporters group is getting closer to completion, we have had the final draft of the Constitution together for about three weeks now, but are deliberating over further economies and editing. Legal counsel is also being sought as a precaution - better to iron these things out before things are signed and sealed. This has resulted in a slight delay to what had been anticipated, apologies for this, and we shall let you know when as soon as things are ready. ============================= Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust. ============================= Proposed objectives of the Trust are as follows, (as published on the website at http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/about-us.html#organisation ). 1. To plan, fund, reinstate and operate a tourist heritage railway on former railway route between Upper Hutt and Featherston, and any other directly or indirectly connected railway; 2. Acquire by agreement, lease or purchase such lands as are required to allow the reinstatement of the former railway route between Upper Hutt and Featherston and any other such lands as will further the objectives of the Trust; 3. Acquire by agreement, lease or purchase such items of railway rolling stock, tools and material to facilitate the construction and operation of the tourist heritage railway; 4. Raise funds for and facilitate the conservation and protection of the former railway route and heritage structures and features thereon; 5. To plan, fund and construct appropriate buildings, structures, infrastructure and facilities to facilitate the construction and operation of the tourist heritage railway; 6. Facilitate research, discussion, education and interchange of information on topics related to the Rimutaka Incline Railway and environs. We would welcome any feedback on these objectives at this stage - we have endeavoured to cover anticipated areas of planning, fundraising, construction, operation, heritage and educational / community values that are and would be associated with the railway. ================ Kaitoke breakthrough! ================ The proposal to reinstate a railway on the former Rimutaka Incline route between Wellington and the Wairarapa has achieved a significant and early win at Kaitoke with alterations made to the State Highway 2 realignment works. Transit Communications Advisor Heidi Brook states: "Transit is building part of the new highway along the Rimutaka Incline Road route, and as a result, will build a new section of road for the Rimutaka Incline Road. This will be built in such a way to allow for the future reinstated tourist heritage railway." This is the culmination of many meetings and discussions held with both Transit, their contracted engineers at Opus International Consulting, and Historic Places Trust through their contracted Archaeologist. Minor alterations were made to the original design, consisting of altered vertical profile on the new Incline Road, the State Highway alignment and geometry accepted as a fait accompli. Although much discussion, consultation and planning is required at Kaitoke, the new Incline Road geometry will pose much less of a problem to reinstating a railway corridor through the area. The Rimutaka Incline Railway project is promised to be mentioned in the next 'SH2 Kaitoke to Te Marua Construction Newsletter', which will be Issue #4. Read more about the roading project on our website at: http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/news/transit-20030218.html ================= Fell centre-rail diagram ================= Painstakenly redrafted as a native electronic document, the Fell patent centre-rail system is depicted at web page http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/history/fell-centre-rail.html. A portion of the diagram is currently included on the http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz home page. ================== Supporters' Contributions ================== We would welcome contributions from supporters, whether memoirs of the route, in steam days, demolition or since, photographs, timetables, articles, newspaper clippings, or New Zealand Railways circulars, diagrams, plans etc. Loan is quite acceptable - happy to copy and return etc. Andy Maciver has contributed a scanned photograph of an H emerging from Summit tunnel late in 1914. It was taken by his uncle, Finlay Maciver, while on a route march from Featherston camp to Trentham before they were all shipped off to Egypt ready to go to Gallipoli. Read more and see the image at page http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/member-pages/index.html. A supporters' section will be added to the site, starting with Andy's contribution - so please feel free to drop me a line if you come across anything that might be of use to the project team, and/or suitable for putting up on the site for others to view. ======================== What can I do to help the cause? ======================== Due consideration will be given to public support for the project, as we are proposing to reinstate a railway over land in public ownership. Spreading the word is a worthy deed at this stage of the project - we hope that the enthusiasm we have for the railway might be shared with others. Whilst it is probably best to leave high-level negotiations with government organisations to the Steering Committee, on an individual basis by all means discuss the proposal to reinstate a railway on the former railway route with family, friends, workmates, acquaintances and businesses that you might have dealings with. There is a huge potential for Upper Hutt, Featherston, the Wairarapa and the Wellington region as a whole - as an international quality tourist attraction for the region, a 'sanctuary for steam' on our very doorstep. Pass on the website address, remember that www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz is a top hit on popular search engines www.google.co.nz and www.yahoo.com for the search terms 'rimutaka incline railway' - so if you forget the exact web address you can always find it again in these search engines. ======================================== Rimutaka Incline Railway Steering Committee Members ======================================== If you have or might know of someone that may be able to contribute to planning and managing the Rimutaka Incline Railway proposal and project, please let one of the Steering Committee know. Railway experience is not a prerequisite - we need additional members with project management, business and administrative experience - to help spread the load and to forge ahead with work that has to be done. Email Either email one of the committee members as detailed below, else email mailto:rimutaka@baldwin-steam.org.nz to contact the Rimutaka Incline Railway Steering Committee. Steering Committee Members Hugh McCracken - Email: mailto:hugh.mccracken@baldwin-steam.org.nz, Phone: 021 701 551 (International: +64 21 701 551). Howard Phillips - Email: mailto:howardp@paradise.net.nz Steve Porter - Email: mailto:porter.s@paradise.net.nz, Phone: 025 980822 (International: +64 25 980822). Clark Simmonds - Email: mailto:SimmondsC@xtra.co.nz Barry Timms - Email: mailto:zadok@paradise.net.nz, Phone: 04 972 7317 (International: +64 4 972 7317). Post We have a Post Office box for railway, and forthcoming Trust and Supporters group correspondence: Rimutaka Incline Railway, P O Box 39-299, Te Puni mail centre, Wellington, New Zealand. Further details are of course available on our website at http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/contacts.html regards Hugh McCracken Rimutaka Incline Railway Steering Committee Website: http://www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/ Address: P O Box 39-299, Wellington Mail Centre E-mail: mailto:hugh.mccracken@baldwin-steam.org.nz Phone: 021 701 551 (mob) (04) 914 5277 (bus) (04) 9733 889 (res)