Canterbury Railway Society Inc

News

General News - February 2002

22/02/2002

• A signalling duct has been put in under the Moorhouse station yard. A six lever frame has been installed in the crossing keepers hut that will control several signals in Moorhouse yard.
• Our track gang replaced 20 sleeper and 2 sets of rails in the Moorhouse yard on the weekend of 2 - 3 February. Scheduled train running for the weekend was cancelled to allow the work to take place. Train running resumed the following weekend. Other trackwork this month will consist mainly of laying the connecting tracks in front of the carriage shed.
• The picket fence has been erected at Ferrymead Station. The fence is a constructive addition to the period station and environs and we have received a number of positive comments about it.
• Ownership of the township bakery has passed to long time Ferrymead regular Alan Roi.
• Weeds alongside the road approaches to Truscotts Crossing have been cut back with the help of the Tramway Historical Society.
• Rail at the back of the workshop has been moved with the help of Fulton Hogan's crane.
• Tranz Rail are to collect the Daewoo bogies ex A 1825 soon. Our crew removed the bogies last year exchanging them for others. The replacements will require a lot of work to maintain the buffer height as they are lower.
• The Railway will be visited by two English tour parties on 9 March & 27 April. On each occasion we expect to run W 192, DE 1429 and RM 56 for the groups.
• The German TV crews will also be back on 20th March and this time two of our executive members will be interviewed.
• The Tamaki Maori Village company have appointed a manager to oversee their Ferrymead project. This involves the construction of a tourist complex on Wood Hill (see elsewhere in our news for further info).
• Our member Kerry Parry, recently employed by Tranz Rail to certify private locomotives for main line operation, has been transferred back to Christchurch with a new Alstom job. Linwood Depot is to be the focus of an enlarged operation under Alstom's three year locomotive maintenance contract. Former DTG locomotive supervisor Adam Tresize also returns to Christchurch under this plan.