In this issue:

Maymorn “Licence to occupy” secured

The Trust has secured a long-term “licence to occupy” much of the former railway yards at Maymorn on the Wairarapa Line.

Heritage station building grant of $19,200

The Rimutaka Trust has generously awarded the sum of $19,200 towards a replica station building at Maymorn.

50th Anniversary Events

In late October the Trust is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the closure of the Rimutaka Incline and associated opening of the Rimutaka Deviation in style.

Upcoming events | The Chair's Inclinations: Maymorn—on the ground at last! | 50th Anniversary Events | May walk | Looking back | Contacts | Electronic Copy

Maymorn “Licence to occupy” secured

On Thursday 14th July the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust secured a long-term “Licence to occupy” much of the former railway yards at Maymorn station, 6km north of Upper Hutt on the Wairarapa Line. This is the result of two years of planning, consultation and negotiation with Ontrack (New Zealand Railways Corporation). The Licence gives the Rimutaka Incline Railway occupancy rights to almost 2.5 hectares of railway land for a period of twenty years, with yearly renewal from 2025.

The Trust plans to develop a railway heritage precinct, which will become the operational base for the heritage railway proposed to operate between Upper Hutt, Summit and in the longer term, Cross Creek. The Trust plans to have an “Official Turning of the First Sod” ceremony on Saturday 29th October, on the 50th Anniversary of the closure of the Rimutaka Incline route, and subsequent opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel and deviation.

Securing land for development of its operational base is a major milestone in the development of the Rimutaka Incline Railway. The Trust is now turning its attention to securing a railway corridor between Maymorn, Kaitoke and Summit, while continuing to raise funds for what will become an iconic tourist attraction for Upper Hutt and the Wellington Region.

A number of facilities are proposed at Maymorn, including:

• A replica Troup-designed heritage station building, with associated verandah and platform. Information, heritage displays, a discovery centre and café are proposed in the station building.
  Funding for architectural work for this building was recently secured from Rimutaka Trust.
• A heritage-style engine and carriage shed, with associated workshop and maintenance facilities.
• Extensive railway track, including a crossing loop, storage roads and a mainline turnout connecting the Rimutaka Incline Railway to the national rail network.
• A turntable for turning locomotives on arrival from Summit or from the national rail network.
• Water vats, fuelling facilities, semaphore signals and a signal box — for the servicing and operation of heritage trains.
• Car and tour coach parking facilities.

Heritage station building grant of $19,200

The Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust is delighted to receive a grant from the Rimutaka Trust towards the preparation of architectural design work, working drawings and specification of a heritage station building at Maymorn. The Trust appreciates the ongoing support of the Rimutaka Trust for the railway in its planning stages.

A heritage station building replicating that designed by George Troup is planned for Maymorn, the southern terminus and operational base of the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust. The station building will be the focal point of the heritage railway precinct, within which the Trust proposes to house interpretative displays for the public, and promote knowledge of the Rimutaka Incline Railway (refer to Newsletter 11 for more details).

A number of ‘Troup’ stations were historically associated with the Wellington to Masterton Railway, including the one at Lower Hutt, and the stations formerly at Kaiwharawhara, Petone and Masterton. Having determined the range and scope of activities to be carried out within and about the station building the Trust drew up a short list of designs of suitable size (33m long by 6m wide), including Blenheim, Kaiapoi and Waimate. By replicating an existing design the Trust hopes to reduce the extent of new design work. The former Waimate station design has been selected as it includes all the desired features including:

• gables at each end of the building decorated with scrollwork
• 20' wide, pitched verandah with decorative ironwork at each end
• central twin gabled wings on the street side
• eaves and gables supported on large corbels
• bay windows, dormers and porches on the street side

The station building will be the perfect compliment to heritage train services that the Trust proposes to operate between Upper Hutt, Maymorn and Summit.

The Trust has commissioned the preparation of architectural design work, working drawings and specification from Chris Cochran, a renowned conservation architect, who has been involved with a significant number of projects, others:

• Shackleton’s Nimrod Hut at Cape Royds, Antarctica
• Heritage building conservation guides for the Historic Places Trust
• An inventory of Non-Residential Heritage Buildings, Wellington City
• the restoration of St Joseph’s church, Pauatahanui
• Solway Showgrounds, Masterton

Preliminary works will include:

• clearance of vegetation on-site so that a soil and engineering investigation can be undertaken
• study of original design drawings and analysis of structural modifications that may be required in order to meet modern building code requirements and building techniques

It is anticipated that a total of sixteen drawings will be produced, along with a specification covering materials and processes.

50th Anniversary Events

“Rimutaka Incline 50 years on” exhibition

Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre, Upper Hutt, 22 – 28 October 2005

An exhibition of photographs, memorabilia of the Rimutaka Incline route and the Rimutaka Deviation from October 1955, plus displays and information on the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust’s plans to reinstate a heritage railway between Upper Hutt, Kaitoke, Summit and beyond. The exhibition will be located in the Rotary Foyer, Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre, Upper Hutt, from Saturday 22nd October (Labour Weekend) through to Friday 28th October.

For more information about the exhibition email: enquiries@rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz.

“50 since the 50s” Cocktail Evening

Expressions Arts and Entertainment Centre, Upper Hutt, Friday 28th October 2005

Come and celebrate 50 years since the 1950s with the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust! Jazz musician, cocktails, and memorabilia are planned — travel back in time to the 1950s with the Rimutaka Incline Railway!

For more information about the cocktail evening email: enquiries@rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz.

The Chair’s Inclinations: Maymorn — on the ground at last!

The Rimutaka Incline Railway is one step closer to realising its vision for a heritage railway of international significance between Upper Hutt, Summit and Cross Creek. Securing a “Licence to occupy” large part of the Maymorn railway yard is a critical step forward for the Trust, as it is an ideal site for the development of a rail heritage precinct and operational base for the railway. Previously devised plans now swing into action, top of the list being the design and subsequent construction of a heritage station building, faithfully replicating a George Troup design (as reported elsewhere in this newsletter). The Trust is extremely grateful for support from the Rimutaka Trust in funding construction drawings and specifications for the station building.

Conservation architect Chris Cochran has been commissioned to prepare the drawings and specification. His brief is to replicate the original design as faithfully as possible, whilst meeting current building regulations. The Trust proposes to use the station building for its intended purpose, naturally enough, but also to present local railway history as a discovery experience for students and other visitors. A café is also proposed, along with initial office accommodation for railway staff.

The heritage formation is in sight, and commences but a short distance away... but as reported in previous newsletters, there is a substantial amount of work to be done to secure a rail corridor connecting Maymorn to the heritage formation high above the Rimutaka Tunnel. Engineering validation of exploratory routes, fundraising, consultation, negotiation and resource consents are but some of the areas that have to be covered. The connection is perhaps one of the more challenging issues for the Trust, and one for which a solution must be found.

Maymorn represents the physical start of the project, which the Trust plans to celebrate exactly 50 years to the day since the closure of the Rimutaka Incline (29th October 1955). One could not ask for a more fitting day to celebrate the occasion.

Sonja Davies

It is fitting to recognise the passing of one of New Zealand’s finest — Sonja Davies, who passed away on the 12th of June. Ms Davies lead a remarkable life, which included fighting for women’s rights, peace, child care, and the trade union movement, and which led to a seat in parliament during the Rogernomics era.

Local causes were also on her agenda, one of the most memorable being the protests at the closure of the former Nelson railway at Kiwi, immortalised in her autobiography Bread and Roses (later made into a film with the same name). Herein lies a connection with the Trust, as the Maymorn railway station was transformed into ‘Kiwi’ station. Footage from the filming was shown on television news during coverage of her passing.

Regards
Hugh McCracken

Before and after

May walk — Kaitoke to Summit

Times of yore on the Rimutaka Incline

The Rimutaka Incline has been in the back of my mind for a while or at least since I moved out to Silverstream about 1 year ago. I’d expressed an interest in this walk and when talking to some colleagues at work one day, one of my colleagues, Hugh McCracken, informed me that his group were going to the Rimutaka Incline, and of course I was invited! At that stage I didn’t quite establish the mileage that may be involved and consequently estimated an orderly 6 kilometres would not be too far for my out-of-condition legs to walk. Anyway, more about that later!

The commencement of the walk begins with soaring conifers on either side of the track; of course I loved these but was told that they are hazardous close to a railway track, due to the fact that they may fall during stormy weather. This is something that an uninformed individual like myself has never considered — this was my first lesson. The guides on this tour were Hugh and Colin, both Trustees of the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust. Colin was a steam train driver in Zimbabwe and together with Hugh relishes the challenge of re-building the railway. Hugh walked, talked, demonstrated, kicked the ground for objects only he could identify and stopped occasionally to determine the grade of the track from time to time. He persisted on taking unattractive photos of us while we weren’t looking and was generally the all-tour escort extraordinaire.

Hugh’s passion for this area and vision for its future is expressed by his willingness to share his knowledge, not only of the Fell locomotives that once carried passengers to the Wairarapa but of the men who worked this track, built its bridges, structures and tunnels. We talked about the history of this track and the men whose sweat built the first tunnel we encountered on this journey. The tunnel is most enchanting, for many reasons, because it is evidence that someone else was here long before we were born. The inside is stained by over 130 years of soot and water, which has left a look of another age, and it will probably be there long after we are gone.

The bridges are built on structures resembling tumbling river stones appearing solid and quaint. As we walked further towards the summit the hills seemed to rise higher and higher. It didn’t take much to imagine a steam train making its way along this track, just as it didn’t take much to imagine a steam train once again gracing its emptiness and completing the tale of its past. I was constantly reminded of our history as a new nation, of our need to preserve this history, and of our need to give our children not only an insight or a book but also a whole experience of our history.

The Trust’s vision for the restoration of the Rimutaka railway line complete with rare stream train, historical interpretations, refreshments reminiscent of 1878 and an all-embracing experience of an historical era otherwise consigned to museums, archives and the National Library is ambitious, to say the least. Imagine a piece of history that our children and grandchildren may experience!

Hugh’s discourse is often interspersed with the word “vision” when talking about the restoration of the Rimutaka Incline railway and when I think of the mammoth task before him I am reminded of Thucydides’ quote:

The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.

Thucydides (471 BC - 400 BC)

I have no doubt that the Trust is ready to meet whatever challenges lie before them. A word of caution to those of you who are invited to go on one of these historical journeys: ask “how far”? This walk was 22 kilometres and by the time I staggered back to my car I thought my hips were going to fall off! The “hip pain” and unflattering photos notwithstanding did not detract from the lure of our historical past right in my own backyard. Its importance and impending restoration meant it was worth the hike!

Dee Winterburn, 11 July 2005.

Looking back: Kaitoke, October 1955

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-12.html from 31st July 2005. Further copies can be printed, or images viewed in colour (where applicable).