Newsletter #7, June 2004

In this issue:

Forthcoming events

Sunday 4 July 1pm Maymorn connection walk: Now that winter has set in we plan to visit Maymorn to explore some of the connection options between the main line and the heritage route high above the Rimutaka Tunnel. We hope to obtain permission from various landowners to cross their land where some of the proposed connection options pass through.
Meet on the platform at Maymorn station at 1pm.
Member's night 21st July: Our second Member's night for the year on Wednesday 21st July, 7:30pm at the Level 1 Meeting Room, Upper Hutt City Council, access from car park to the rear of the building, north-east of H2OXtreme. The topic for the evening will be the Maymorn connection options - the challenge of designing and building 1.6km of new railway in the 21st Century.
Sunday 1 August 10:29 Upper Hutt - Tunnel Gully: Mimicking the first stage of our proposed operation, we will board the Sunday morning Wellington - Masterton train, departing Wellington at 09:55am, Upper Hutt at 10:29am, to arrive at Maymorn at 10:35am. This will be followed by a short, brisk walk through the Maymorn yard, climbing the heritage railway formation through Mangaroa Tunnel to Tunnel Gully.
A 112-route bus can then be caught from Te Marua (end of Plateau Rd) at 12:35, bound for Upper Hutt station, connecting with the 13:00 train for Wellington.
Main meeting point will be the Upper Hutt station at 10:29am. Don't be late!
Rail-Ex 2004, 9-10 October: Make a note of this upcoming event to be held at Queen's Wharf Events Centre over the weekend of 9 and 10 October. Many Wellington heritage railway groups including the Rimutaka Incline Railway will be present, accompanying the main display of high quality model railway exhibits.

The Chair's Inclinations...

Uncertain times?

There are a number of key areas affecting the railway heritage industry at the moment, which are contributing to an air of uncertainty. These include, and in no particular order - the Charities Bill, Railway Bill, disestablishment of LTSA and Transfund, and the continuing uncertainty over the future shape of Government ownership and control of the national railway network. All will impact on the Rimutaka Incline Railway to a greater or lesser extent.

The Charities Bill will introduce new financial and outcome reporting requirements in order for Charitable Trusts to continue to enjoy donee tax-exempt status. Audited financial statements are proposed to be required within a short period of financial year end, to international financial reporting standards, placing an additional time-consuming administrative burden on Financial Officers, and testing further the philanthropic bounds of accountants who have traditionally undertaken such work for charities pro bono.

Turning to the Railways Bill - not only will a railway require a safety system under the Bill, but will also have to provide a high-level safety case to demonstrate that operations will satisfy deemed essential safety requirements. The Bill had been developed in response to the devolution of traditionally vertically integrated railway organisations into a supposed plethora of agencies and contracted services, to the extent that ultimate responsibility for safe operation had become blurred. Meantime it appears that the national railway operator is fast retrieving previously outsourced or sold portions of its previous operations, the most recent example being the buy-back of a 50% stake in Tranz Scenic from West Coast Rail. It does seem likely, however, that a good number of services will continue to be outsourced for a given rail operator, and the Bill provides a suitable mechanism to ensure that safety concerns are met, and may be accounted for.

The exact shape and form of the Government agency to which a railway will report to in the to-be-enacted Railways Act remains somewhat unclear, with the recent announcement that both the LTSA and Transfund would be disestablished. Some staff would be absorbed into the Ministry of Transport, others merged into a new agency that would be more suited to the delivery of the Government's land transport strategy.

The government buy-back of the national railway network has been back in the media in recent weeks, the latest sticking point appearing to rest on the ultimate control of access to the network. It is essential that the 'Government Track Co' controls access and train paths if it intends to carry out the promise of inviting alternative operators to operate lines where tonnage falls below set performance rates, or where passenger services are not offered. In the meantime developments and service enhancements remain 'on hold' until agreement is reached. This includes developments within the tourist and heritage railway sector as well as suburban passenger improvements that are well overdue in Wellington.

Even so I hold a view of cautious optimism for the immediate future of the tourist and heritage railway sector. International visitor numbers to New Zealand have recovered from the impact of the SARS virus, BERL reporting that visitor figures for May this year are 29% up from 2003. Tourism remains a buoyant and growing sector of the economy, one that heritage railways need to tap into in order to sustain and develop their operations. Provided that the organisations are professionally managed there should be little to fear from the discussed developments as most would be covered by sound business practise and risk management strategies.

Regards
Hugh McCracken

Meet the Trustees: Glenn Fitzgerald

"I have been a recreational user of the area around 'Tunnel Gully' section of GWRC Park north of Upper Hutt for the last 20 years. Despite no mention anywhere about the previous use of the railway formation, I had a dream of seeing steam trains using it again sometime. It now looks as if my dream is coming true."

Proposed Maymorn station building

Proposed Maymorn station building. Graphic: Hugh McCracken.

An authentic heritage station building is proposed for Maymorn, replicating the Troup-designed Kaiwarra station of 1901-1933. It is a compact design, being only 50' (15.2m) long by 15' (4.6m) wide, yet has most of the features and ornamentation of the larger stations designed by the same draftsman. Marseilles tiled roof, half-timbered construction and decorative multi-post entrance porch set the building apart from other designs.

The station building is proposed to serve as a departure point for trains entering the Rimutaka Incline Railway proper, having previously travelled via the mainline from Upper Hutt. An information centre would be provided, of both the heritage railway operation and the history of railway construction and operation in the Mangaroa Valley.

Troup design

George Troup (1863-1941) worked as a draughtsman for New Zealand Government Railways from 1888, and promoted to Chief Draughtsman in 1892. He was promoted to the position of Designing Engineer in 1902, and was the Officer-in-Charge of the Architectural Branch from 1919 until his retirement in 1925.

Early designs were more functional and utilitarian, following on in the pattern established by his predecessors. More ornate and decorative designs emerged from the turn of the 20th Century, including Oamaru, Wanganui, New Plymouth, Picton, Dannevirke, Masterton, Petone and Lower Hutt stations, amongst others. The pinnacle achievements were the New Zealand Railways Head Office in Wellington completed in 1903 and the Dunedin station of 1906.

The Wellington to Masterton Railway had no less than four 'Vintage' Troup stations, including:

Kaiwarra
Petone
Lower Hutt, and
Masterton,

of which only Lower Hutt currently survives. The Kaiwarra station was demolished in 1933 to make way for the Tawa Flat deviation of the North Island Main Trunk, the twin tracks passing right through the middle of the former island platform.

The Trust's proposal for Maymorn would recognise the influence Troup had on station architecture along the route, and would be a fine accompaniment to steam-hauled trains dating from the same era.

References: Mahoney, J.D. (1987) "Down at the Station - a study of the New Zealand Railway Station", The Dunmore Press, Palmerston North.

Relocation of Walkway

Portion of proposal for new walkway and reinstated railway - detail in vicinity of Ladle Bend, Pakuratahi Valley. Diagram: Gerald Arthur.

Key:
Dashed yellow - proposed railway reinstatement
Red - proposed new walkway

A new walkway is an essential component of the heritage-tourist railway proposal. It will ensure that existing recreational uses of the Pakuratahi Forest are provided for, and will have to be put in place before the Trust might have access to the railway formation.

A detailed proposal for a new walkway to replace that which currently occupies the historic railway formation has been prepared. It outlines a potential route between Maymorn (near Upper Hutt) and Kaitoke, up the Pakuratahi Valley to Summit, over the Rochfort Pass and descending to Cross Creek.

Proposed design

A width of 3 metres is proposed where practicable, located predominantly in cut rather than fill. Stream crossings would be provided by deviating upstream to to suitable sites for small bridges, rather than building fills and culverts. Gradients on most of the route would vary between 0% (level) and 10% (1 in 10), depending on local terrain and railway features, but mostly be within the 0 - 5% range.

Location

The proposed walkway would be predominantly located at a higher altitude than the railway, typically within 20m - 150m of the railway. It would commence at Maymorn, climbing towards Tunnel Gully, crossing above the Mangaroa Tunnel. It would more or less parallel the route of the railway from there to Kaitoke, linking in with the existing walkway. New road access would be put in place for Mt Climie, forestry operations and recreational facilities in these areas.

Once past the Kaitoke recreational facilities the walkway would again be on the hillside above the railway, past Munition Creek, and over the Pakuratahi Tunnel. It would remain on the south bank of the Pakuratahi River past the Pakuratahi Truss bridge, crossing by way of a new walking bridge a short distance downstream of Ladle Bend, as illustrated in the diagram above.

A hillside location is proposed from Ladle Bend through to Summit, where the walkway would link into the proposed Summit station. Gradients would then increase to 10% to cross over Rochforts Pass, then descending at the same rate to Siberia Curve and Cross Creek, located at a higher elevation than the railway.

Starting point for discussion

The proposed design and location of walkway are intended as a starting point for further discussion to refine details, especially where railway alignment options exist, for example - Maymorn, Kaitoke and Cross Creek. The Trust has been consulting with users, user groups and licence holders where known, and will continue to consult so as to determine requirements for the walkway. The Trust welcomes your questions, comments and requests for meetings - please contact: enquiries@rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz.

Upper Hutt Community Expo

Barry, Glenn and Hugh were kept busy over June 18th and 19th at the Upper Hutt Community Expo held at Lane Park. The Trust had quite a large display, including display boards promoting and detailing the heritage-tourist railway proposal, a video, and scale model of the Trust's Maymorn heritage precinct proposal.

The display was very popular, Trustees fielding many comments and questions from the Upper Hutt City Mayor Wayne Guppy, Councillors, representatives of other community groups and of course, many interested members of the public. Friday 18th saw a virtually continuous stream of school groups attend the Expo - the scale model scoring highly in their view!

The Trust's display at the Upper Hutt Community Expo, Hugh McCracken in attendance. Photo: Glenn Fitzgerald.

Train graph

The traditional way of graphically representing train timetables and train route pathways on a given day has been with the train graph. Up trains are represented by lines sloping up the page, down trains in the opposite direction. Mileage takes the y-axis, time is represented on the x-axis. Therefore the steeper the line, the less time is taken by a train to go from one station to another. If the line is horizontal then the train is stationary.

Crossings

On single track section it is essential that trains meet only at stations provided with crossing facilities - otherwise a collision will occur. The train graph confirms these crossing points, providing a visual aid to the essential task of train control. For clarity, stationary trains at crossing points are represented on the graph as if they have taken a crossing loop. Trains terminating at a station no longer appear on the graph, as they have no further authority to operate.

Sample - The Rimutaka Incline

Proposed services over the Rimutaka Incline feature in the sample provided above, depicting train movements between Summit and Cross Creek. A two-hourly cycle of operation is envisaged, based on a journey time of 40 minutes when ascending the incline, and 25 minutes descending. The line slope of trains 5, 7, 9 and 11 is much flatter than that of their opposing downhill numbers. The incline forms quite a bottleneck for train operation, and the only practicable way to increase capacity is to increase the length of the train services provided. Pathways can be found for additional services between Upper Hutt and Summit with much less difficulty.

Complete Train Graph

The complete train graph can be viewed on the Trust's website at [ www.rimutaka-incline-railway.org.nz/project/timetable.html ]

Connection to heritage route at Maymorn

A number of routes have been explored for possible connection of the government mainline at Maymorn to the heritage route above the Rimutaka Tunnel. In plan view the two routes pass within a hundred metres of each other, the vertical separation is in the order of 40 metres. At the ruling route gradient of 1 in 40, a new line with a length of 1.6km is required. Five different approaches (plus variants) have been drawn up, each having relative advantages and disadvantages in the following considerations:

use of different lengths of heritage route
length and severity of curvature, including spirals
use of bridges and tunnels
proximity to houses
zoning of land crossed
nature and extent of earthworks

Option (B) Spiral of minimum radius with reverse curves

One of the more adventurous options, option (B) is depicted below. In common with previously presented Option (i) it crosses Maymorn Road via the second, currently unused portion of the double-track concrete overhead bridge. The ruling 1 in 40 gradient is applied to this route, uncompensated for curvature.

The topography of a gully and low ridge to the south of the mainline are utilised in order to lay out a minimum 100m radius spiral, then crossing the Rimutaka Tunnel with approximately 2 metres of cover. Reverse and horseshoe curves up to and through a northern ridge are used to gain further height, and to connect with the heritage route at point G.

100 metre radius curvature is a feature of this option, although the exact alignment has yet to be determined. Height gained from point O to point G is 44.57 metres in a distance of 1.82 kilometres.

The earthworks are reasonably substantial, and include a bridge or culvert within the spiral.

This option presents potentially moderate impact on residents in comparison to other options, as the route passes closer to residential housing and potential building sites.

Maymorn connection Option (B) - Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust.

Contacts

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