Newsletter #25, May 2010
Trust members building the #1 road turnout infront of our rail vehicle shed, 6 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
In this issue:
Mainline track laying commences at Maymorn.
Rail Vehicle Shed
The Rimutaka Trust has funded $12,500 towards excavation, reinforcing steel and concrete that will go into building a 24-metre long inspection pit facility within the rail vehicle shed. Work commenced in November 2009 with the excavation of the pit area. Flooring was completed at the Upper Hutt end of the shed, and boxing constructed for rail beams in the pit. By the end of March two of the three rail beams had been completed.
Over Easter a number of height work jobs were tackled, including fitting ridge caps, painting barge boards, fitting flashings at the Masterton end, plus continuing fastening work on the side cladding.
Visit the Maymorn Rail Vehicle Shed Flickr Set for the latest photos.
Pit excavation
29 November 2009 - a start was made on excavating the 24-metre long pit area inside the rail vehicle shed. Hugh operated a 5-tonne excavator hired from Hirepool. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
The the end of Monday 30 November 2009 the pit foundation level had been reached, and final tidying work was under way. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Pit construction
Steve and Ron placing fill amongst the rail beams at Upper Hutt end of the shed on 28 November 2009. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Steve and Hugh (pausing to take this photo) preparing boxing for the rail beams. 9 January 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
John de Graaff, Steve and Ben placing concrete for the first of many floor slabs at the Upper Hutt end of the shed. 13 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
On the same day as the first floor stab pour, Colin places another wheelbarrow of concrete into position into the rail beam boxing while Steve watches on. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Colin and John placing concrete into the second rail beam on 20 March 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
A view down on the first two rail beams completed for the inspection pit, taken from a cherry picker while working within the shed on 4 April 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Workshop
The Trust has decided to build the permanent workshop to the side of the existing rail vehicle shed structure as part of the current building work. This does away with a temporary machine shop arrangement that would otherwise have been built within the main structure of the shed. The 15m x 10m workshop will be fully insulated, and whilst incorporating track for the future shed roads, will primarily function as a machine shop, restoration and maintenance facility.
The workshop structure replicates the same 360UB45 portal design used on the main part of the shed, with a short stub beam connection at knee level. Engineering work and drawings have been completed and work is expected to commence within the next few months.
Foundation outline of revised rail vehicle shed design, incorporating an insulated 15m x 10m workshop to the same cross-section as the existing shed.
Foundation area for the planned workshop was also excavated to confirm suitability of the ground for the proposed workshop building. 2 December 2009. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Track laying progress
A lot of progress has been made with track laying at Maymorn since the formation was excavated and prepared in late 2009. Work has occurred in two main areas: the yard throat connecting the mainline with the rail vehicle shed, and our future mainline heading northwards through the station yard.
Maymorn yard throat
Short lengths of shed roads 1 and 2 had been laid back in 2007 to provide siding accomodation for our ballast wagons. A start had been made on the road 1 turnout, with the frog, a checkrail and many of the turnout sleepers already in place. A straight closer was made and installed, running rails swapped in on the straight leg, and remaining turnout sleepers installed. As the lead photo of this newsletter shows, track was laid into the rail vehicle shed on road 1 so that wagons could be moved clear of the turnout area. A left-hand curve comes off the south end of the turnout into the shed.
Road two has also been re-railed with longer lengths of 91lb rail, most of the wagons formerly on this road having been moved north onto the new mainline track.
Colin, Ron and Steve installing a sleeper into the #1 road turnout. 6 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Over the Christmas - New Year period 2009-2010 there was a further rail network shut-down in Wellington so that major rail upgrades could be undertaken. By 26 December 2009 the new up main was largely in place and was being tamped and lined. Freight trains were still passing over the in situ down main, including the single slip in the middle of this photograph. The slip was subsequently purchased by the Trust and will be a key component of our Maymorn station yard. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
By 6 March 2010 key components of the former NIMT single slip had been transported to Maymorn and laid out adjacent to their final position in our yard throat. By this stage many of our ballast wagons had moved northwards along our new mainline track. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Mainline track laying commences
Alex and Ben laid out our mainline track stretching northwards from our yard throat over the summer months. Ballast was laid out on the formation excavated in late 2009 and drainage connected up to existing cross-drains in preparation for track laying.
Alex drills sleeper on our mainline whilst Colin checks the gauge. 20 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
View of our new mainline extending northwards from the yard throat. Installation of rest of sleepers, top ballast, line and top will be completed in due course. 20 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
Alex moving the gauge leg into position, Ben indicating the required movement. Ballast had previously been laid as far as our temporary security fence, a little short of the 200-metre mark. 20 February 2010. Photo: Hugh McCracken.
As this issue was going to press, donations have been received towards a sizable amount of ballast for the Maymorn station yard, from Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand and Holcim (New Zealand) Limited. A base layer will be laid on the mainline formation ahead of further track laying northwards towards the Maymorn Road underpass.
The entrance to the Maymorn site is currently receiving attention, which will see the pedestrian crossing commissioned along with new security gates and additional fencing. More on this work in our next newsletter.
Sponsor a length of track!
Help us to make tracks! The Trust invites you to sponsor a length of track. An opportunity to have a permanent record of your support for the Rimutaka Incline Railway. Plain track will be laid with either concrete or timber sleepers, depending on quality and availability considerations. An initial supply of suitable concrete sleepers has been sourced for initial track requirements at Maymorn.
As a sponsor you will receive a certificate recognising your contribution to the Rimutaka Incline Railway. Details that identify your sleeper will be included, along with the plan type.
You will also be able to find the exact location of the sponsored length of track, and view a photo of the track in its surroundings by using the new virtual track locator feature on our web site.
There are 3 levels of sponsorship: Bronze, Silver and Gold. To participate in this fundraising opportunity, check out the Trust’s web page: Sponsor a length of track!
Current track requirements are for future mainline, loop and siding tracks at Maymorn, 6km northeast of Upper Hutt. A number of buildings and structures require railway track to function, including the planned station building, platform, rail vehicle shed, water tanks and turntable.
Your contribution through sponsoring a length of track will make a difference!
Gumdigger carriage underframe
On 9 September 2009 the Gumdigger underframe arrived at Maymorn from Ormondville, funded by the Rotary Club of Upper Hutt. Trustee Glenn Fitzgerald was on hand to supervise the unloading operation at Maymorn. Photos: Glenn Fitzgerald.
The Chairperson’s inclinations
As you can see from this issue the Trust has been busy over the last three months taking advantage of the summer months, developing our Maymorn site. Our future mainline is stretching northwards past our future station platform location in the Kaitoke direction. Steady progress is also being made on the rail vehicle shed.
This time next year we hope to have largely completed the main line track through the Maymorn site and the yard throat connection to the rail vehicle shed. We also plan to have completed the external structure of the rail vehicle shed, and commissioned a least one road within it.
These facilities and infrastructure at Maymorn form the nucleus of the Trust’s plans for the reinstatement of the former Rimutaka Incline Railway route to Kaitoke, Summit and beyond.
None of the above would have been possible without the support and hard work of Trust members - all of whom are volunteers. One of the ways in which you can help is to renew your membership, or if not currently a member, to consider signing up! We would also urge you to consider introducing a friend to the Trust.
Newsletter
We're always thinking of how we can do things better for members in terms of communicating news, progress, events and other information. We are proposing to move our newsletter from print to an entirely online/email format. Reasons for doing this include a substantial cost saving, which would free up funds for more direct use towards the railway, and just as importantly, would reduce time required to print, compile and deliver the print copies. We would also like to have your feedback on this. For example for those who prefer to have print copy on their shelf could instead print a copy themselves from the email attachment or the website.
The Trust has recently started "tweeting" on twitter: http://twitter.com/rimutakaincline or for those already familiar with social media @rimutakaincline. The benefit of twitter is that one can instantly see what's happening on the Rimutaka Incline Railway in real time. For example, one could read of progress during a work day, or more importantly, have a conversation with us - and the people who follow us. Check it out, and in doing so, help our profile grow.
Upcoming events
Inspection pit commissioning — Rail Vehicle Shed, Saturday 25 September 2010 at 11:00 a.m. at Maymorn.
Join us in celebrating the commissioning of part of our inspection pit facilities within the rail vehicle shed. The pit facilities have been funded by Rimutaka Trust and the New Zealand Lottery Grants Board.
Enjoy a BBQ lunch afterwards, BYO welcomed - RSVP to fitzgera@ihug.co.nz or phone 04 5267 896.
Contacts
Full contact details may be had on the Trust’s website at www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/contacts.html,
- phone 021 701 551,
- email: enquiries@rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz
- or by mail: Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust, P O Box 39-299, Wellington 5045.
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-25.html from 5 May 2010. Further copies can be printed, or images viewed in colour (where applicable).