Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust

Newsletter #29, September 2011

In this issue:

Mainline track | Shunting locomotive | Rail vehicle shed | Chairpersons Inclinations: Maymorn Structure Plan | Upcoming events | Snow

Mainline track

Our mainline track has received a little more attention over the winter months after ballast delivery in March. Two further lengths of 50kg rail have been laid, sleepers installed, some of which required a lot of ballast to be shifted first! Further extension of our mainline track is pending excavation and widening of our entrance road, although we may do a little more work at the pedestrain crossing in the meantime.

Further work is also planned on our doubleslip through spring, with key equipment including rail drill, rail saw and crow up and running.

Shunting locomotive

Work has continued on our shunting locomotive Tr189 over the winter months. The whole exterior of the locomotive has been painted, including the outside of the frames and wheels. We have also just removed the protective corrugated iron from the windows as the rail vehicle shed is now closed in.

We will now turn our attention to mechanical work to get the loco running again, which includes reinstating a number of key appliances. An air compressor has been sourced and has been worked on behind the scenes. A mechanical assessment has been completed, and we have a fair idea of the scope and extent of the work to be done. We hope to be able to drive the loco out of the shed in Autumn 2012.

Rail vehicle shed

Workshop

Work has continued on the workshop extension to the rail vehicle shed inbetween work on the train and pedestrian doors. Four portal pods have now been poured, and work has started on the intermediate foundation wall sections. A huge amount of backfilling is required, but in the interim we plan to level out the foundation area with compacted fill. This will enable concrete trucks to access the wall sections and make the area safe for cherrypicker and other access equipment.

Train doors

Closed in

A long-awaited milestone for our rail vehicle shed project! During August we fitted three stout wooden pedestrian doors to the shed door frames. Quite a few details to work through, including use of parliament hinges, fire escape mechanisms and water-tightness. On 27 August Lionel completed fitting the last door and we now have a closed-in shed.

Inspection pit coming together

During the winter months of 2011 we continued work on the road 2 inspection pit inside the rail vehicle shed. During 2010 we installed steel pit columns onto concrete floor beams, laid rail over a 16 metre length, and brought the second of seven carriages inside under cover. Rails will continue over the remainder of the steel columns, then land on a short length of concrete pit. The remainder of road 2 will be laid in tracksets so that we can bring additional carriages in under cover, and start to use the facility for inspecting and maintaining rail vehicles.

Approximately 16 metres of floor foundation between the two roads has been prepared, reinforcing laid and inspected and is ready for concrete to be poured. A further grant application has been lodged for funds towards additional reinforcing steel and concrete to progress this work.

Chairpersons Inclinations: Maymorn Structure Plan

We felt it was important to make a submission to the Maymorn Structure Plan. Following is a summary of our submission. The Trust made a submission to the structure plan. The plan has the potential to make a direct impact on the Trust's Maymorn site and the connection route from there to the heritage formation near Tunnel Gully.

The structure plan proposes a multi-stage urban development for the Maymorn area, with a railway corridor for the Rimutaka Incline Railway climbing out of Maymorn station. We recommended that additional integration and connections be put in place so that the railway passes through a "railway reserve", highlighted and made prominent in the urban landscape - and so that visitors might be able to view the heritage railway operations first-hand from adjacent cycleways, paths and carriageways.

The railway reserve and associated walk and cycleway will enable additional connecting routes to be formed between the hub of the community - the railway station - the GWRC Park land leading into Tunnel Gully, and the walkway proposed to be located along the historic railway route leading towards Mangaroa. This will reinforce and promote use of the existing Tranz Metro service for cycle and walking recreational activities to and from Maymorn station. Additionally, the Trust has incorporated a cycleway / walkway into its wider proposal for a heritage railway along the historic railway route to Kaitoke and Summit. Provided an adjacent cycle / path in the railway reserve will maintain the nature of the route as it passes through the Maymorn urban area. There will also be a significant public good in having the heritage railway operations viewable from the adjacent cycle / path.

We have already undertaken extensive design work for the route, utilising available landforms between Maymorn and the historic railway formation as it passes into Greater Wellington Regional Council land near Tunnel Gully. There is, however, little room for adjustment in the alignment, as it is up against minimum curvature (100m radius) and maximum gradient (1 in 35) for all but the initial stretch out of the station.

In the next few weeks the Trust will attend hearings associated with submissions to the structure plan, and speak in support of our own submission. We hope to continue discussions with the Council and work towards formalising the railway alignment as a railway reserve.