John Titter - Lumsden locomotive recovery 2020

okay John we get me at the end of the project of this particular project how long has it been for you for your involvement we 2030 and we formed the lumps and Heritage Trust with one of the project aims was to try and recover the B Class locomotives from the from the Maharaja Jackson you know the Reedy River banks and we had a consent for five years and we got busy with other projects around their lumps of railway precinct things from Wario and what-have-you and we've done those and the landowner asked if we were intended to get these out and I gave a commitment to him that we would try and do something within a year so October a year ago we started looking at some funding opportunities and went to the regional funding organizations and southland here through the district council and we got quite a good response really and so we looked at all that does just accept us we had come and Smurf and Russell Bradley from London contracting come down last January and we looked at the site and and had a look around and came to the conclusion that we could get these out so that's that's the aim of today we with the regional funding that gave us the ability to go to lotteries and we picked up the other two-thirds of the project money through lotteries who were more than happy to help us out so what was the total budget for this total budget for this was a hundred and fifty eight thousand so we we have had a lot of success in the funding and now it's up to us to get them out to make the project successful and we're it's but surreal really we're at the nuts and bolts of it now and I'm a little bit nervous we hopefully a little go ride it we'll get these out at this stage we're looking at the one locomotive fear which is V 1 3 6 135 years old and that's it's tender at the back there as well and they got rolled in here in 1927 kiwiRail new zealand rail at the time they had a surplus stock of old locomotives and cabs and Oilers and what-have-you and they didn't know what to do with them following post-world War One there was a surplus of steel around obviously and there was also a report done by I was commissioned on on the Steam and where it was heading and the locomotives that they were going to get and part of that that that report was to actually get rid of a lot of the stuff and start with a new series of locomotives defeat class they were they followed the little Rogers K class and then late 1800s PR 1877 they realized that they just weren't meeting the freight demands for New Zealand not big enough not big enough right and couldn't couldn't pull heavy loads so they specifically designed these for New Zealand Rail and there was a bit of a quirk to it that they were actually five and a half tonne overweight and therefore delivery was stalled on them for six years so there's a little story in itself so they they cut them down and wait and got them here and the one that's these ones that are in the river 1885 locomotives they started serving and they daily 1885 and 86 and they served for about 30 years and then with the Commission obviously and the thinking behind putting them in the river was something good with a flood bank or something like that I think yeah there was eight eight spots throughout New Zealand that they didn't flood protection with fear surplus steel and this is one of them here there's one through the down south and Frank's home and I'm not sure the others I think there's one on the west coast and up through the North Island is spots here in one in Canterbury it seems a strange thing to do with a huge bit of machinery like that doesn't it yeah I think I think the point was so that through that report that was done they knew they had to do something and because the price of scrap was so low and no demand for it they thought that gee it's actually pretty cunning of whoever it was to come up with the idea of prediction but in another way it's been very beneficial for us 93 years later that we have the opportunity to get them out whereas if they've been scrapped there would be no opportunity at all yeah that opportunity will be lost as is with a lot of other class of locomotive Surrealism [Music] so the next phase once you get a bit to lumsden you treated them protect them from the weather for a bit so the planners as they come out of here and all going well that we get them up on the bank and we give them a good clean off as best we can and then the they would be transported into lumsden and put on display with an idea that there may be a little bit more cleaning to go and then we've got a preservative to spray on there that will just keep them as they are for the for the meantime and as I said earlier yeah there's the opportunity there for someone to restore them whereas when they're in here and this is the last opportunity to get them out of here through to the landowners witches right yeah I think been on display in towns a good option as the restoration powder that's something you'd be interested in or is that another Damien's job no I'm not I love what I'm doing and I love project managing I'd really enjoy the interaction and networking that I get to do through being on the trusts and projects like this but I'm not I'm not a train enthusiast you could say and I think those sort of projects are lifetime projects but the opportunity is there for someone in the future to do that if they wish mm-hmm and I think that's because of their have heritage significance that they were designed for New Zealand rail and that they were the story of them coming up here and being dumped which is documented in an article I think just having them on display is pretty cool yes he must have had a lot of support from from the local community and I win fantastic support we've had all the way along beside us have been outfits like London contracting with Russell Bradley Tim Smith Will Smith cranes souther machine hire who are turning up here tomorrow would transport us and they've helped us move here around before and get things here on time they brought the track sets down from Christchurch stalker castle rock contracting the stalker family up the road they're offering of transporter tomorrow and and you can't go without saying the landowners the Alistar Hamilton his father Roger and his wife and I and Winton if it wasn't for them we wouldn't be here so yeah a tremendous future Southlands Bend of James II name there because just fantastic district council environment council were very good and then the application process resource consent air resource consent all the consents involved just fantastic support

Channel: SDC Communications

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Id: Dn4ZDfCe9IQ

Length: 11min 1sec (661 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 20 2020