The LNER Encyclopedia

I have recently written an article down here in New Zealand about the closure of the only mainline passenger railway service between Auckland and Wellington, it runs the length of the north island.

I have reproduced the whole text here as I believe this needs some airing
and hope that some of the good folks of the forum will understand my need to share this .

The New Zealand Herald (the main paper in NZ) have said they will print my article as it's topical, but I'll believe that when I see it.

Copies have also been sent to the Prime Minister and her deputy as well as the Minister responsible for railways so I now await their wrath .

If anyone is interested in the topic I shall report back from time to time.



The Overlander

“Labour is committed to developing a sustainable transport system that is safe, affordable, responsive to the needs of users, and which contributes to New Zealand’s economic development, as well as social and environmental goals. Achieving those goals depends on having a strong, integrated transport sector and good infrastructure.”

The opening vision statement of Labour’s 2005 transport policy seems attractive but it’s been conveniently forgotten in the case of the imminent closure of the Overlander passenger train service.

Where other forward thinking countries are pouring billions of dollars into updating their railway systems, New Zealand meanwhile chooses to close its only north island mainline passenger train. For example, China has recently completed a massive new railway project into Tibet at a cost of nearly seven billion dollars. Richard Branson in the UK is proposing to provide 320kph trains on the mainline between London and Edinburgh at an estimated cost of fifteen billion dollars. Countries as disparate as Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia are investing heavily in railway services.

Why has this happened? In New Zealand’s case the answer is simplistically short – political will, or more accurately, lack of political will.

The problem is deeply rooted in the evils of rail privatisation and the god of shareholder profits.

Take a look at all other forms of transport in New Zealand and you will see continuous governmental and non-governmental organisations improving and investing in transport, designed to offer the fastest, smoothest and latest way to transport people and goods throughout the country. The state supported airline carrier “Air New Zealand” is constantly updating their aircraft and improving them with new passenger comforts, more airlines are offering better and more frequent low cost services. Investment in shipping is increasing, look at the new Inter-Island ferry “Kaitaki” with it’s larger capacity, higher speeds and greater comfort.

Roads too are constantly being upgraded and improved, new motorways are being built, there are increased numbers of new cars, buses and lorries using the New Zealand road network. Billions of dollars from government coffers are being invested in New Zealand roads; these roads are then freely used by coach companies and freight lorries in direct competition to rail services. The same level of funding should be ploughed into railways to support the rail network and so create a level playing field. The UK is investing heavily in small lines through government investment, providing seed funding, creating partnerships between local government and community groups. The disused York to Hull railway line for example with no current track or infrastructure, is being invested in with eight hundred and seventy four million dollars set aside for rebuilding the line and providing stock. There is even a new mainline A1 Pacific express steam locomotive being built with private funding in the UK. New Zealand’s railways meanwhile have become the Cinderella of the transport sector still using carriages at least thirty years old; there is no apparent pride in the service, not even a lick of paint on the locomotives or other carriage stock.

What are the direct and immediate economic effects of the closure of the “Overlander” service?

Service businesses dotted throughout the length of the line and at the terminii will suffer substantially. Directly affected are small to medium enterprises such as the café at National Park set to lose 50% of its staff. Toll itself will have to re-deploy the thirty-five staff currently employed on the Overlander. The tourism infrastructure will be depleted in every small community throughout the length of the rail corridor. There will also be fewer travel options for tourist visitors. Couple this with the loss of a truly great train journey and the knock-on or hidden economic losses are not difficult to predict.

What price our identity and nationhood? What price our cultural heritage? The Overlander is first and foremost an iconic service, as much a part of the Kiwi identity as rugby or the beach in summer. This blow strikes at the very heart of our national psyche leaving us all breathless, unable to believe that something so Kiwi can be so lightly and easily lost forever, then to suffer the indignity of the facts being glossed over by Toll and the government with their “business speak”. The fascinating history of the railways in Taumarunui “On the Main Trunk Line” and the subsequent opening up of the Central North Island to loggers and other settlers, even to New Zealand itself, is invested in this line and it’s passenger service. There was no consultation with the public, no warning given, no information from government until we were presented with a fait accompli. Shame! We are the victims of grey men in grey suits with nothing else to offer other than grey ideas? Where are the politicians with vision, courage and marketing knowledge? Are we as a country only interested in short term solutions, the now rather than what could be, the “once and future” railways, the lack of political national pride is an unconscionable dereliction of duty to the electorate.

Trains are green and fuel-efficient. They assist the country to meet its Kyoto protocol obligations. Fewer cars would be on the roads if railways became a serious alternative to
cars, coach operators and airlines. With rising fuel costs the passenger train will again come into its own and should not be dismissed as a service to be sacrificed on the altar of “company profits”.

Trains reduce road traffic and road repair costs as a consequence would be lower. Fewer car accidents would occur and there would be a decrease in indirect costs incurred by the presence of all the attendant emergency services. Trains are efficient people movers, they are a great way to travel, stress free and relaxing. Thrown into the mix is all that glorious New Zealand countryside, only to be enjoyed from the safety and comfort of the train. The sum of the hidden costs of all these losses to New Zealand would be far greater than the relatively minor loss of the one point seven million dollars per annum support funding requested from the government by Toll.

Would the Prime Minister and all the other inhabitants of the Beehive, ever be able to sleep easily again knowing that they had let this country down with their lack of vision, allowing this closure to happen on their watch? No doubt politicians would be delighted to explain to future generations, and perhaps their own grandchildren, just how easily they disinherited them.

Vision, belief, marketing and political will is all that is needed to put matters right. Yes! We all know that urban commuter services are handsomely profitable. Tie these profits back into the Overlander, in the full knowledge that the Overlander may never be as profitable as other rail sectors, though nevertheless an essential service to the community.

Then set fire to your imagination. Buy new stock and locomotives, rebuild old bridges, extend the overhead cables that are already there, improve the track. High-speed and Advanced Passenger Trains (APT’s) are very fashionable in Europe and in other countries.

Cut the journey time between Auckland and Wellington by fifty percent, create double track the length of the north island, trains can then pass each other at speed.

Create an identity and a marketing plan using only the best marketing companies available. Enthuse your customers, do things differently with shorter themed travel options such as steam engine weekends, forties weekends, create journeys from Taumarunui with it’s well served cafés via the Raurimu Spiral to National Park. Stop off at the excellent Station Café in National Park for lunch or refreshments as 35,000 railway passengers per annum currently do. Offer complete skiing packages on the mountain; create packages to the theatres and galleries in both Wellington and Auckland with luxury dining or themed visits to Te Papa to enjoy current exhibitions. Reinstate the Geyserland Express. Make it fun.

The list is endless. This is a marketing person’s dream opportunity. Keep the basic service as low cost as possible, undercut coach operators and airlines to draw passengers back, then keep them by offering repeat purchaser incentives with continuing low fares, above all, don’t become complacent, keep the interesting ideas coming and the railway will live.

Spend two billion dollars on the railways, create a service with a frequent schedule every day, invest for the future in the latest and most advanced stock available. Offer a genuine alternative to road and airline users. We are extremely well placed to benefit from this low cost, fuel efficient and relaxing form of service.

A key word that, “service”, old- fashioned maybe but the genuine hallmark of a civilised nation.

Labour has earmarked funding of twenty two point three billion dollars for its transport programme over the ten-year period commencing 2005. Call for the railway passenger service to benefit from a significantly increased proportion of this money. Take the railways out of private or “company“ hands with their governing “bottom-line” mentality, return them to state control where they belong and re-invest as a nation in the vision.

The future of the railways lies in our hands, write to your local MP objecting to the closure of the Overlander and make sure our government understands the depths of our outrage.

Short sighted politicians

I would have thought a decent rail network would have appealed to the tourists...

I can just see it now - "The Frodo Flyer"


Richard

Thank you Richard,

The politicians I sent my correspondence to have all ignored me, bad mistake, the more I am ignored the more I will pursue them.

I stood on the footplate of the last but one steam special last Saturday 5th August and chatted to the driver and fireman for half an hour

Great!!!!

Here's an article I wrote about it all.

Comments will be gratefully recieved.


The Overlander - memories in steam

Saturday dawned dull grey and overcast, with the car fuelled and ready to go we set off northwards to our rendezvous with the steam engine hauling the southbound Overlander, due in at Te Kuiti at approximately 10.35 am. Hunkering down with my camera, at the line-side, I faced north and settled in for what seemed like an interminable wait for the old girl to appear.

Then I heard a distant deep-throated whistle, or did I? It was so far away, I could not be certain, then I heard it again and I became more hopeful. The lady in the information centre had said that the old steamer would run an hour and forty minutes late, I was disappointed with this information, I wondered how she knew, or was it just surmise? I saw no change in the red railway signals beside the road crossings in Te Kuiti, and then the crossing bells suddenly and stridently announced her imminent arrival. She hove into view going well and gleaming black, her red buffer beam prominent and with her huge headlight to the fore. “She” was “Diana”, a class “Ja” 4-8-2 tender locomotive, built for New Zealand Railways in the Hillside locomotive works of Dunedin in 1949.

Wisps of steam exuded from several definable and indefinable places on the locomotive, the gentle hiss of her valves working as she rolled into the station combined with the exhaust steam, heavily laced with that distinctive smell which all steam engines have, of partially burned coal, at once, an evocation of all steam engines encapsulated in a fusion of raw elemental power, air, fire and water.

Memories flooding back of my youth, when everything that ran on the railways was powered by steam, of “spotting” locomotives whenever I found myself against the railway tracks. The preservation era ensued never dimming my love for the old steamers. There was a special in 1967 from Kings Cross London to Newcastle, hauled by a double tendered 4472 “Flying Scotsman” and visits to Waterloo Station in London in 1967 and 1968 to watch the last few mainline passenger steam engines working on the southern region of British Railways. There was the lovely old Bluebell line, then visits back to my native Yorkshire with trips on the steam hauled trains of the superb North York Moors Railway line and that microcosm of 1960’s railwayana, the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway Line. These trips continued on into adulthood, even my friends in the walking group were enveigled into joining me and were suitably charmed when we incorporated trips on the steam railways, at the beginning or end of our many hill-walking excursions on the North York Moors or the Bronte moors in West Yorkshire.

Today, this engine was very different from what I was used to, she was made in New Zealand with lots of strange looking pipes, a cattle catcher, an enormous headlight and various other protuberances festooning her boiler and cab, she looked powerful though and was in good fettle.

The men uncoupled the train, sent “Diana” up the line, then back onto the down loop to take the turn-out leading onto the turntable. She balanced nicely on the beautifully refurbished Te Kuiti turntable, two or three burly fella’s turning her easily and she was facing north again, ready for the down Overlander train to Auckland. The fireman raked out the smokebox on the trackside, dropping some fine diamond shaped particles of unburnt coal. The support group from Glenbrook Vintage Railway hoisted several large barrels of shiny black coal into her tender, using a small digger fitted with an hydraulic lifting arm.

The fire brigade arrived too and tapped their hoses into a convenient fire hydrant from which they obligingly topped up the locomotives tender with water. Meanwhile, one of the locomotive men commenced topping up all the brass oil feed cups located round the engine and tender, there were fourteen altogether, each one to be filled to the brim. He then screwed down the grease caps on the motion to ensure plenty of grease was supplied to these vital links in the chain of power transmission from the cylinders to the wheels, sufficient for a trouble free return journey. Everyone who worked on her seemed in no particular hurry, they worked on her methodically, it all seemed to happen at a comfortable and timeless pace, everyone and everything knew its own time and place. Each little piece of the jigsaw dropping neatly into place until, all was finally ready for the return journey.

I asked the driver if I could take a photo of the cab interior, I tried taking the photograph from ground level, then he answered “up! up!” I needed no second invitation. I achieved a small dream in that moment, here I was, a relative newcomer to New Zealand and the only member of the very large crowd gathered there who had managed to get on to the locomotive footplate. I was so happy and excited, that manically grinning from ear to ear, I took the hand the of the somewhat bemused fireman and shook it vigorously, he seemed delighted at my enthusiasm. I was suitably rewarded of course with a firm but black handshake, coal and grease combined on the palm of my hand, the imparting of grime resulting in a desire never to wash that hand again.

It was dark in there, in the cab, there was little room for the four of us and it was warm, there was the low background hum of the living beast about it all, it felt as though blood was coursing through her. There were two thick water gauges set in dull brass, occasionally bubbling, there was a profusion of brass knobs, many of them gleaming with constant use, there were steel levers even more highly polished, particularly those of both the train vacuum and engine brake levers.

There was the regulator, the main controller of all that innate power, with its own locking lever, the reversing lever was set at neutral whilst the locomotive remained at rest. The pressure gauge reading was 120lb per square inch whilst stationary, it’s normal operating pressure being 200lb per square inch. There was the large brass speedometer. Then the water valve was quietly turned on and the injector lever engaged. The water from the tender blasted for some considerable time into the boiler with a loud whoosh. There were crude seats for the crew, then the shiny platform called the footplate on which all the hard work was achieved. There was the shelf on the front of the tender from which all the locomotive’s coal was accessed, the firebox door handle on the backplate and the floor mounted rocker lever activated by the fireman stepping on it, opening the firedoors by compressed air as if by magic. God forgive the fireman who let fly the contents of his shovel towards the firedoors without first having opened them.

The fireman began preparing the engine, opening the firedoors he revealed the heart of the locomotive, the fire, glowing red and orange whilst quietly drawing the fire’s heat through the tubes in the boiler. More coal was hefted deftly and thinly into the corners and centre of the fire grate, just a small spread of new coal, the fire’s bed no more than two inches deep in any one place, the recent black coal contrasting sharply with the partially burnt bright red fuel on the grate. The coal on a steam engine is fed into the firebox “little and often”, rather like the feeding of a horse.

The top, permitted speed for the locomotive is 80kph and Occupational Safety and Health regulations DO apply to old steam engines. I suspect this speed limit is inadequate for the locomotive to maintain its Overlander schedule on time. The driver became very quiet when I asked him what the “official” top speed was, casting a knowing look at his colleague, I left the question in the air. He had been on the railways for forty-eight years. He still proudly wore his NZR engine drivers cap badge. Jokes, stories and banter abounded, this was a friendly knowledgeable crew who enjoyed what they were doing and it showed. A beautiful steam locomotive will always attract these “special” people.

The time came for the engine to move off and prepare for the long ride home, more coal was fed into the grate in an effort to raise the steam pressure gauge. Then the call came, the line near the turntable was cleared and the great 110 ton engine lumbered north and back onto the mainline. Steam pressure built up along with the expectations of the waiting crowds of passengers and enthusiasts. The Overlander train arrived and the steamer was unceremoniously hitched backwards onto the front of the Overlander’s diesel locomotive .

The whistle blew and with the regulator opened the locomotive began to pick up speed, slowly at first but with an ever increasing exhaust beat she was soon going hard, getting the train away in quick good order.

I watched as she drew away, sending an increasingly high plume of smoke and steam skywards. The exhaust beat gaining in intensity as the regulator was fully opened. Everyone in Te Kuiti was left in no doubt that they had played host that day to a powerful steam engine. Gathering speed she became smaller and smaller as she headed down the line, until she was just a speck in the distance, the exhaust beat now firm, very fast and pulsing.

The emotion she drew from within me was palpable, a departure such as this will always be a regrettable thing. All our human frailties, hopes, dreams and fears ride along with the steam train, loved ones leave, sometimes never to be seen again - a memory, a moment in time and timeless. So it was with the locomotive.

That Saturday afternoon, I spent a very happy four hours of my life, lost in the presence of a noble gracious lady, “Diana” a mystery, an enigma, with all of this and more besides, just a simple steam engine.

JEB © 08/08/2006

I've just found an unexpected reference to NZ's first railway - the Dun Mountain Railway (on the Southern Island). Unexpected because it was in an academic work by the Geological Society (of London) about early geological explorations. There's a paper on the mineral explorations of the "Dun Mountain Ophiolite" in the area.

The railway was built for chromite which was thought (by some) to be more extensive than it proved to be. Despite the small reserves, the first year of production was still sufficient to saturate the UK market (where chromium was used in cotton dying). The railway didn't last very long and is now a steep trail.

I didn't realise the rock "dunite" was named after Dun Mountain. I assumed it was named after the colour. The mountain was named after the colour though

(chromium pods in dunite are much better understood now - I could have told the explorers of the 1860s that the reserves were not very extensive!)


Richard

Interesting Richard, I had no idea you were interested in Geology. Geology is an interesting field in that wherever a geologist discovers some new local stone they get to name it and from then on wherever else it occurs in the world so that same name applies even if colloquial in the country of discovery.

I am sure you will already have found it but there is a big entry on Dun Mountain in Wikepedia here's the link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dun_Mountain_Railway

It was the first railway in NZ opened in 1862.
Further railway references include:

Palmer, A. N. (February 1962). New Zealand’s First Railway. Wellington: The New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society.

and

Johnston, Mike [1996] (1996). Nelson’s First Railway and the City Bus. Nelson: Nikau Press. ISBN 0-9597974-6-7.


"Dunite" according to my sources (Legends in the Rocks by Maxwell Gage, Whitcoulls 1980) is defined as "A variety of periodonite composed almost entirely of olivine, with pyroxene and chromite as accessory minerals, not always visible."
Dunite was apparently named by a man called Hochstetter.

To quote Gage again: "Dun Mountain itself was named in the early days of settlement in NZ because of its drab bareness compared with the neighbouring forested slopes. It is now known that the ultramafic rock of which it is composed yields a deficient soil, unfavourable for forest growth."

"Chromite" in the same book is defined thus: "An oxide of iron and chromium, a black shiny mineral ocurring either as small, perfect crystals, or massive. Found widely in serpentinites and ultramafic rocks"

I only have a slim acquaintance with geology, based mainly on my experiences rock climbing over the years and from teaching Geography at school. Now from the point of view of the climber, for me the award for the best rock to climb on goes to granite, especially where it is occsionally associated with "Black Tourmaline". Black Tourmaline occurs in the granites of Devon and Cornwall and is dramatic in appearance as it is a thin black layer that looks as though it has been stuck onto the granite. Where the Tourmaline has been worn away into pockets from weathering, it causes the most beautiful "Thank God" jug handle holds so reassuring to a climber.

Yes, I have a couple of geology degrees, I'm a Fellow of the Geological Society, and occasionally help with the Missus' Darwin Class (we take the students to a local State Park to see dinosaur footprints, fossils, etc). More of an enthusiast these days.

Hochstetter is one of the main characters in the paper. The definition I'd use for dunite is a rock of >~95% olivine. Almost always occurs in an "ophiolite" (piece of ocean crust that has been "obducted" / thrust on land). The pyroxene accessory makes sense although I don't recall seeing it in a microsocope as a student. Chromite flecks are very apparent in a microscope. Larger outcroppings (eg. Dun Mountain, and Cyprus) have "pods" of 10m or so of pure chromite. Great for mining if they are accessible. I remember as a student on Cyprus standing on an abandoned
chromite mine, and seeing other old workings scattered on the plain below...

There were hopes of finding copper in the Nelson area. Although it was never found in economic quantities, this makes sense - Cypriot copper is related to the ophiolite.

Yes I remember seeing tourmaline in the field in Cornwall - it was in a coastal pegmatite, rather than the main granite group (of Bodmin,etc). The pegmatites are full of accessory minerals - including a lot of tin... I bet a lot of these accessories would also weather out as you describe.

Cornwall also has its own ophiolite: the Lizard Peninsular. Rather than noted for poor flora, it is noted for unusual flora. And to come full circle, dunite weathers into serpentinite - one of the most common varieties is known as Lizardite. I've never seen an official confirmation, but I suspect, as with Dun Mountain, the name ultimately derives from how the rocks look. Large pebbles on the beaches often have a lizard-like texture with cracks of lizardite.


Richard

John,

Whilst on a five week holiday carrying out an in depth survey of NZ steam railway locomotives a friend has told me about this little wonder: The Hunt and Opie Tramway locomotive built for the Oreti Railway:
http://www.prov.vic.gov.au/images/12800 ... 43-100.asp
There was a tramway or bush railway with wooden rails that operated these weird steam engines. The driving and carrying wheels are not flanged, they run on the rail head. There are guide wheels at the front and back of the locomotive with a vee notch in the tread and they are set at 45 degrees to the horizontal and bear on the rail edge.
He was shown a replica locomotive that may or may not have been have been steamable. J

ohn, he asks if anybody can tell him anything at all about the replica loco and the Oreti Railway.

Colombo

Colombo,

Happy New Year!

I know very little about this particular railway but can answer some general points about these tramways.

These wooden railed tramways were in fact quite common in NZ during the expanding phase of the logging industry established here.

They were quick to lay as the mills milled their own rails to order, the rails could easily be replaced at the drop of the hat. The tramways were naturally very small and were to a large extent ephemeral as they could not withstand large trains of heavy timber nor were they needed for lengthy periods. They were also usually ripped out or left to rot as soon as the area was worked out. This ephemeral nature they had also explains the scarcity of photographs of them.

Most of the small engines working these tramways were known as "Lokeys" and were generally speaking very slow moving. I know that there are still one or two place where these wooden rails can still be seen in the bush though they are now much overgrown of course.

There is an excellent book about the tramways of NZ, unfortunately I do not have a copy, it was published in NZ in 1998 and is called "the Bush Tramways of New Zealand" I had the remains of such a bush tramway, complete with bridge supports, cuttings and metal rails servicing a very large bush mill at Taringamotu running through the last property I owned down in Taumarunui. I kept various bits of rail and sleepers on my property purely out of railway interest.

I have a sneaking suspicion there is something about wooden sleepers on a bush tramway video called "Rails In the Wilderness" filmed in the 1950's and 1960's, I shall look it up and check it out. I will let you know if I find anything.

I have checked my own meagre tramway sources, I have a book on the Kakahi mill and it's tramway and a book on the sugar cane trains of Fiji but neither contain anything remotely like the photo.

Colombo I have hit the jackpot. I have unearthed some detail on this loco in one of my books "Cavalcade of New Zealand Locomotives" There is a one page potted history complete with the identical photo you posted.

There are also three other pages about wooden railways from the same period two of which have different engines to the one you posted here, though both have leading wheels at 45 deg.. I shall photocopy all the material and send it to your friend as it does not scan well. I believe this information is exactly what your friend is interested in.

Perhaps you can you forward me his address and I will post it on to him?