Ormondville Rail Preservation Group Inc.
Rolling stock & other features at
Ormondville station
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The following are display items that help give the Ormondville rail precinct its historic context. Unless otherwise stated, photos are by Val Burr. Please click on the thumbnail to see a larger view.
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1. The "Kopua hut," so named after its place of origin. Retrieved as a derelict in February 1996, it has now been restored and serves as additional accommodation at the station. Shortly it will be joined on its flat Ea wagon by the "Matahiwi hut." (9/9/2000)
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2. The "Matahiwi hut," so named after its place of origin. This derelict hut arrived in January 1997 and its restoration is due to be complete by late 2000. It will then serve as additional accommodation. It is pictured here in the goods shed during a working bee. Concealed deeper within the goods shed is a wooden W butter wagon painted "Nelson Bros, Tomoana Freezing Works." It arrived in 1995. (9/9/2000) |  |
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3. Two of the station's three La wagons parked at the old wool bank. The three arrived from various places in 1996 and 1997. (9/9/2000) |
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4. The two Kp wagons begin their transformation from oxidized red to silver - which, incidentally, shows every historic dent! This is the colour they started out as when they arrived from Yugoslavia in 1959. At that time, all other wagons in NZ were painted red, white or black, so they provided something of a stark contrast. Both arrived in 1996. (Photo: Bob Brooking, winter 2000) |
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5. The H cattle wagon is work in progress, having arrived in 1997. Behind it is an Xp wagon that once carried such things as butter and vegetables, and beyond that is a Kc general goods wagon that arrived in 1998 and two others. These wagons await restoration and volunteers to help do the work or finance it are welcomed. (9/9/2000) |
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6. The Jc sheep wagon makes an attractive 'garden ornament' as it awaits restoration on the wool bank. Another is undergoing restoration off site. They arrived in 1996. (9/9/2000) |
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7. 'Shirley the Shunter, ' a Price Tr shunter, arrived from Norsewood on 2 July 1994. It is one of seven small four-wheel shunters built to the same design in 1939 and 1944. Built for the NZ Air Force in 1944 by A&G Price at Thames, this shunter began its career at an Air Force base at Te Rapa, near Hamilton. Thereafter it moved to Te Awamutu, Mangaroa (near Upper Hutt), Weedons (near Christchurch), before going in the 1970s to Steam Incorporated's museum at Paekakariki. It proved to small for their requirements and in due course it was obtained by Peter Berry for the Ormondville project. Its next few years were spent behind the old Norsewood dairy factory. For thirty years it worked at Trentham Military Camp, where it was painted 'caterpillar' yellow. This is the reason for its present colour scheme. At that time it was named 'Prancin' Penny'. Nowadays it has an Austin 6 cylinder truck motor and a gearbox with three forward gears and reverse. (9/9/2000) |
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8. The 6,000 gallon 'Putorino water vat' shown as it finally is declared 'full,' the timber having taken a while - and regular topping up - to again become properly water tight. Built in 1930, it arrived indirectly from Putorino station on the Napier-Gisborne line in December 1997. The long setting up process is nearing its end, with funding having recently been obtained from the Eastern & Central Community Trust and the Tararua District Council Community Grant to mount it on legs again. In addition to serving as a static exhibit, as a water source for passing locos and as a back-up water supply for the station, it also serves as a back-up water supply for emergency fire fighting in the town. Ormondville was not previously a watering station due to its inadequate water supply. (9/9/2000) |
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