Lost Railway Journeys from Around the World by Anthony Lambert

Author:Anthony Lambert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: White Lion Publishing
Published: 2018-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

No. 201 heads a packed train with four locomotives. Built in 1878, No. 201 was originally named Mount Egmont and was scrapped at Silverstream in 1957.

The operating cost of the section can be imagined: a maximum permitted train weight of 260 tons required five drivers, five firemen, a train guard and four brake-van guards. The operating conditions for the locomotive crews were none too pleasant. The 0-4-2 tank engines’ outside cylinders powered the rear pair of coupled wheels and the inside cylinders rotated four horizontal driving wheels between the frames which gripped the centre rail. Because the horizontal wheels maintained their grip on the centre rail through springs rather than the cogs of a rack system, it was possible for either unit to slip, and in the noise of a tunnel it was often impossible for the crew to tell which unit had lost traction. Continuous firing was required, and the exhaust soon filled the tunnel, making conditions progressively worse for the crews of the next locomotive in the train.

Traffic grew, especially as the line was extended to reach Woodville Junction on the Palmerston North–Gisborne railway in 1897. Facilities at both Cross Creek and Summit were enlarged, the former gaining a new four-road engine shed in 1899 and a workshop that could handle all but major overhauls. Petrol and later diesel railcars nicknamed ‘tin hares’ were introduced for passenger services in 1936. Steam power was limited to 6mph (9.7km/h) on the ascent, but the railcars could manage 12–15mph (19–24km/h), and were much quicker on the flatter sections.

Though the Wairarapa Line was a secondary route, eventually linking Wellington with the junction of Woodville on the Palmerston North–Napier line, it was traversed by four royal trains, the last for Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh in 1954.

Construction of a tunnel to cut out the incline had been proposed long before the Second World War delayed a start. Work on the 51/2-mile (8.8km) Rimutaka Tunnel finally began in 1949 and was completed in 1955, the new line opening on 3 November 1955, five days after closure of the incline. Five of the Neilson- and Avonside-built locomotives were scrapped, but one was plinthed in Featherston and is now in the town’s Fell Locomotive Museum – along with a Fell brake van and other exhibits and films about this remarkable railway.

Fascination with the incline, coupled with the beauty of the landscape on both approaches to the summit tunnels, encouraged the creation of the Rimutaka Rail Trail as a walking and cycling route between Maymorn and Cross Creek, which opened in 1987. Information boards pepper the route, shelters have been erected at Summit and Cross Creek, and there are remains of locomotive boilers at Summit. The ability of the tui bird to mimic sounds has led to many cyclists looking over their shoulder on the descents, thinking the sound of squealing brakes was a cyclist on their tail.

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