It took two diggers, a loader, a team of volunteers and a crew of onlookers to lift the boiler of the steam train AB 745 off its chassis and on to a trailer last week so it could be taken to be sandblasted.
It's another step on the old engine's road to restoration.
The engine was built in Glasgow in 1922 and shipped to New Zealand, where it worked
until a derailment near Hawera in 1956. It lay buried beside the track until being dug up in 2002 by enthusiasts keen to restore it.
Eighteen months ago the project was restarted in Stratford in the old railway goods sheds. A team of volunteers gathers to work on the machine every Sunday afternoon.
Engine owner Peter Hancock and project manager Harry Hessell, both of Waitara, are
hopeful the engine will be fully restored and giving rides in about seven years' time.
By the time AB 745 is ready to take passengers, the youngest volunteer helping with its
restoration should just about be old enough to learn to drive it.
Seven-year-old Joshua Trowbridge spends every Sunday helping the volunteer crew work on parts of the old engine.
Come lunchtime, the train-crazy youngster bolts down his food and rushes back to the
tools well before all the other workers at each session, says his mum, Catherine, who's been roped in to provide scones for the workers each week.
Over many Sundays, the volunteers have painstakingly taken every nut and bolt off the
old engine, and cleaned much of the scale off the inside of the boiler. Using volunteers to do the work has saved the society between $350,000 to $500,000, says Harry.
The boiler shell has been inspected and deemed in good enough condition to be reused.
It will be reinspected, and patched if need be, after it has been sandblasted. The cost of
getting it moved and sandblasted and returned will cost about $9000.
It will be retubed, at a cost of more than $46,000, late in the restoration, and will need to be recertified every 10 years.
Altogether, it's likely to be a million-dollar project, and funding is being sought at each
step.
The volunteers are now working on the chassis, stripping it down and cleaning and repairing it. A replacement tender truck with wheels has been found at Paekakariki,
where another group of railway enthusiasts is restoring a similar engine. There is a
network of different groups around the country who share parts and expertise, he says.
The Stratford volunteers also have another project under way, a 1956 DSA shunting
engine, which is waiting to have a shiny yellow-painted engine installed.
Once it is running, the society will be able to give rides up and down the railway yards. It is intended that the rides will help raise a little money towards the big project and
also raise interest in the community, as people bringing their children to have rides will see the train being restored.
Hoist-up for next step in restoration
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