In this issue:

Upcoming events | Waitangi Day at Orongomai Marae | The Chair’s Inclinations: Back to future proofing... | Mangaroa Rural Field Day and Fair | Maymorn Station Building | February walk | Looking back — Auckland express near Kaitoke | Contacts | Electronic Copy

Waitangi Day at Orongomai Marae

The Trust welcomed the opportunity to have a display at Orongomai Marae on Saturday 5th February, taking part in the Waitangi Day celebrations. Invited guests represented the Crown, Upper Hutt City Council and a wide range of community organisations and groups.

Trustees were interested to hear firsthand the history of the Marae. Dedication and enthusiasm has borne fruit, as evident in the splendid wharenui, wharekai, medical centre and other facilities.

It was a privilege to have been a part of the day.

The Chair’s Inclinations: Back to future proofing...

As the first step in the reinstatement of the Rimutaka Incline Railway, the Trust is establishing a a railway heritage precinct at Maymorn. The precinct has been carefully thought out so as to provide for future capacity — both on the Rimutaka Incline Railway, and the national railway network.

The Trust wishes to replicate a historic station design by George Troup, and had originally thought that the former Kaiwarra (later renamed Kaiwharawhara) design would be adequate for Maymorn. On review of the range of uses that it would be put to, it became apparent that the 15 x 50 foot (4.5m x 15.2m) design would undersized. A larger 20 x 108 foot (6m x 33m) design was called for.

A short-list of three Troup-designed station buildings was drawn up, including Blenheim, Kaiapoi and Waimate. As detailed elsewhere in this publication, the Waimate design was selected for replication, as it is closest to the Trust’s requirements. This design featured a 20 foot (6m) wide ridged verandah and associated decorative ironwork, twin gabled ends, gabled wings, porches, a bay window and solid decorative features — all of which typified the best of Troup’s design prowess.

Reviewing George Troup’s biography provides interesting contextural information about the design. During the first decade of the twentieth Century, New Zealand Government Railways were being upgraded. The depression years of the 1890s had seen a lack of investment, and wagons, carriages and locomotives were antiquated and inadequate for traffic requirements. The railway infrastructure, including station yards and station buildings, were in a similar state, and Troup set about designing modern buildings that could meet forecasted traffic requirements.

Zooming forward to the current day, a similar situation can be seen in the national railway network. Significant investment is being made in railway infrastructure, to catch up with deferred maintenance and to build capacity and capability for the nation’s future requirements.

Making provision for future capacity is not a new phenomenon. The Rimutaka Incline Railway is planning station buildings, platforms, yards, loops and sections between stations to cater for trains up to twelve carriages in length. Four of these trains could be on the system between Upper Hutt and Summit at once.

This is not to say that the starting position of the Trust’s operation would involve such a capacity and capability, but future requirements such as these are being considered right from the outset. The Trust is future-proofing the “sanctuary for steam” for what promises to be the iconic tourist attraction for the Wellington region.

Regards
Hugh McCracken

Mangaroa Rural Field Day and Fair

The Trust had a display at the Mangaroa Rural Field Day and Fair, held at Mangaroa School on Saturday 19th March. Amongst the days entertainment included novelty races for children, food, horse rides, and helicopter rides (which proved to be very popular).

The Trust was well received, residents and visitors to Mangaroa showing much interest in the display and plans for the Rimutaka Incline Railway between Upper Hutt and Summit, with initial base at Maymorn.

Maymorn Station Building

Requirements

In the June 2004 newsletter the Trust proposed replicating at Maymorn the former Kaiwarra (later renamed Kaiwharawhara) station building, designed by George Troup. Review of requirements has lead the Trust to set its sights on a larger station building so as to better cater for anticipated visitor numbers.

It is anticipated that the station building will be used:

• as the starting and finishing point for visitor experience
• as the booking and information centre
• for customer services - franchises, e.g. café, souvenirs
• as a Discovery centre
• for station management
• for train control
• as a member facility, including meeting room available for public hire.

In the medium term some of these functions may move to other buildings at Maymorn or elsewhere on the railway. The main functions of the building will then be passenger handling and local train management.

Design Brief

A Design Brief has been prepared, outlining the Trust’s requirements for a station building at Maymorn. The brief is being considered by conservation architects with a view to producing working drawings and specifications suitable for consent application and drafting a construction contract.

George Troup

George Troup was born in Edinburgh on 21 October 1863, educated at Gordon’s College in the same city and completed an architect–surveyors apprenticeship in 1882. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1884, joining New Zealand Railways at Dunedin two years later. Troup transferred to Head Office in Wellington to work as a draughtsman in 1888, and was promoted to the role of Chief Draughtsman in 1892. The late 1890’s saw widespread improvements to the colony’s railway infrastructure, new lines being opened and existing facilities upgraded. Twenty district stations were designed, and final engineering requirements for the North Island Main Trunk were completed, including viaducts, bridges, and stations.

Troup designed two notable buildings, being the 1902 NZR Head Office in Featherston Street, Wellington, and the new Dunedin station in 1906, which is widely regarded as Troup’s finest achievement.

Troup travelled to Britain in 1908 to recover from illness exacerbated by the demanding requirements of the previous years. He returned to New Zealand, shifting attention to planning and administrative tasks, including plans for a new station building at Wellington, railway duplication and deviation works. Post World War I he was responsible for all railway buildings, and during these years he oversaw the revision and expansion of the NZR Engineer’s Pocket Book, which included standard plans for many engineering works, and the construction of standard railway houses fabricated at a dedicated sawmill and factory facility at Frankton, Hamilton.

On retirement from New Zealand Railways in 1925, Troup went on to be elected to the Wellington City Council, and immediately gained the chairmanship of the Works Committee. He was elected as Mayor in 1927 and oversaw many improvements to the city’s infrastructure, including a milk treatment plant, the aerodrome, a second tunnel through Mt Victoria, a replacement Kelburn viaduct and council housing. Construction of the National Art Gallery, Dominion Museum and Carillon in Buckle Street was commenced shortly after the end of his second term as Mayor.

George Troup died in 1941, leaving a legacy of engineering and architectural achievements.

A number of stations were designed for important locations throughout much of the country, as detailed in the accompanying diagram below.

Relevance to Maymorn

The Wellington and Masterton Railway received a fair number of ‘Troup Era’ stations, existing structures having become inadequate to service early 19th Century traffic levels. These included:

• Kaiwarra (later renamed Kaiwharawhara);
• Petone;
• Lower Hutt; and
• Masterton.

A replica Troup–designed station would be in keeping with station buildings historically associated with the Wellington and Masterton Railway. All but Kaiwarra station outlasted the Rimutaka Incline, including that surviving at Lower Hutt, which is a registered historic building.

The Trust has the objective to plan, fund and construct appropriate buildings ... to facilitate the construction and operation of the tourist heritage railway, and views a replica Troup design as lending authenticity to the heritage railway experience, and to interpretative displays and educational facilities that are proposed to be contained within.

Authenticity

The Trust intends that all works are designed and constructed wherever practicable in accordance with the heritage objectives of the Railway. A heritage outcome is desired for all structures in order to enhance the visitor experience and to achieve heritage outcomes for the railway.

Potentially suitable heritage station buildings in the Wellington region are either spoken for, or have been demolished. There is little alternative but to construct a replica station building.

An accurate replica is desired — to achieve an authentic outcome, and it is hoped that replicating an existing design will reduce the amount and extent of new design work required.

Waimate design selected

Each end of the Waimate station-building roof terminated in gables, which were richly decorated with corbels and scrollwork. The street-side of the building incorporated two gabled wings and two gabled dormers. The ladies’ waiting room featured a bay window.

Other design features

February walk - Hutt Valley railway heritage tour

The walk of 6th February involved a tour of railway heritage remnants in the Hutt Valley, including:

• Petone station verandah
• Railway houses in Mill Road, Petone
• Lower Hutt station, a heritage Troup design
• Footbridges on Gracefield Branch and Woburn
• Pedestrian underpass between Woburn and Waterloo
• Pedestrian grade crossing between Waterloo and Epuni
• Silver Stream Railway
• Footbridge at Trentham.

Looking back — Auckland express near Kaitoke

Contacts

Full contact details may be had on the Trust’s website at www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/contacts.html

Electronic copy

An electronic copy of this newsletter will be available on the Trust’s website at www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/member-pages/newsletter-11.html from 1 May 2005. Further copies can be printed, or images viewed in colour (where applicable).