Thursday 27th December 2007 ~ TRANSPORT IN NEW ZEALAND

Trevor Brooks ~ summarised by John Day

Appeared in Journal 518

A warm welcome was extended to Trevor Brookes from Colchester who gave an illustrated talk on Transport in New Zealand. Whilst mainly Bus and Trolleybus related there were some very interesting snippets of railway operations both on the main NZ network and in preservation. Trevor visits New Zealand to see family members and is able turn his visits into touring events that allow a much wide scope for travel and photography.

Our “tour” started in Christchurch and visited a number of places going north towards Picton where the ferry leaves from for the journey to the North Island and Wellington. In Christchurch early 1920’s trams operate on the tourist lines around the main city centre whilst Christchurch Bus provide the majority of local services using a number of Optare vehicles formerly in use in the UK . Other vehicles operating city services are generally not unlike the Dennis Dart. An ex Melbourne Car, now Christchurch 244 was seen performing City Tour duties whilst our speaker was there.

Whilst a lot of the small coach operators chose to have overall adverts on their vehicles information on fleets is not as comprehensive there as it is in the UK. Some very interesting registration plates were seen on some of the vehicles, such as Great Sights had a plate S1 GHTS. In Christchurch’s Cathedral Square the trams enter the shopping centre via automatic door that open and close to allow the vehicles to go in and out. Innovative indeed. Close by, the Port of Lyttleton was featured with its rail access with plenty of container and coal traffic passing through the complex.

Travelling around the island the station at Little Pine retains much of its character despite losing its passenger service as long ago as 1952; it now serves a craft centre as well as the local preserved railway. Tranzrail operate the major NZ rail services and scenes taken at Otira close to the summit at Arthurs Pass were of interest as a five mile tunnel with a gradient of 1 in 33 has to be negotiated by trains going through the pass. Whilst several bus operators were seen in the area equally interesting were the preserved railways that have evolved around the old mining and logging towns. At Shanty Town an 1896 Sharp Stewart of Glasgow locomotive was viewed. The sight of a Cobb& Co Royal Mail Stage Coach showed how, in days of old, the mail was transported across Arthurs Pass.

In Wellington we saw how a number of trolleybuses were converted to diesel bus as well as some very interesting trolley bus line up’s. Also of interest was the single track “tram tunnel” only available for use by trolleys and buses. Once into the mountains several tour buses were seen and in one spot the railway and road share a trestle bridge across a road and river. It has to be said though that there is only one train each day to a local dairy complex. Another strange registration was DUZGO 8 seen on a “recycled car” of no definitive make and coupled with some very old buses being used as café’s and tourist booking points the variety of older vehicles seen was very impressive just for the fact that they still work! Going to the West Coast the Glaciers were a great tourist draw and ex New Zealand Railways buses from the 50s and 60s were still doing sterling services.

Trevor’s knowledge and excellent commentary throughout helped make the evening a memorable one as for many these would probably be area’s of the world that will never be visited. The vote of thanks was responded to warmly following a most enjoyable couple of hours.

Thanks go to the Ipswich Transport Museum for allowing us use of the Sunbeam Tea Room for this meeting due to our usual venue being unavailable during the holiday season.

With the attendance being much smaller than usual and less than expected, much due to the fact the meeting fell between the Christmas and New Year festivities, the viability of holding a meeting at such a time must be brought into question. This as much as respect to the guest speaker as the organisers and the minimal numbers who attend.

Thursday 31st January 2008 ~ 130 YEARS OF THE FELIXSTOWE BRANCH

John Yelverton ~ summarised by Alistair Barham

Appeared in Journal 518

John began with some historic pictures depicting the construction and opening in 1877 of the line which initially ran from Felixstowe Pier to Westerfield at which point traffic could interchange with the Great Eastern Railway’s East Suffolk Line for onward travel. At the time the lines creator, Colonel Tomline, envisaged passengers travelling to and from Felixstowe Beach as he saw this as the area where growth of the town was most likely to occur, in fact after only a short time, the Pier Station was closed with Felixstowe Beach becoming the terminus.

After a few years it was obvious that a Station nearer the town centre was required and thus Felixstowe Town came into being. More photographs depicted the opening of this Station which resulted in closure of the direct line between Trimley and Felixstowe Beach.

John’s extensive collection of photographs and artefacts, brought to life by his knowledge of the subject, traced the story of the branch from its origins, through to the take over by the Great Eastern Railway, the war years, ownership by the London & North Eastern Railway and then Nationalisation as a part of British Railways Eastern Region.

With the story now into the 1950’s, Johns own photographs depicted the changes as the post war austerity gave way to more prosperous times. With passenger and goods services in decline against competition from private car, bus and lorry, pictures ran from the heyday of steam hauled trains, some as through services to London to the introduction of diesel traction, both locomotives and railcars.

In the 1960’s, Dr Beeching was ‘The Reshaping of British Railways’ closing lines and stations wholesale, including Felixstowe Beach, but amongst his legacy was the introduction of ‘Freightliner’ services carrying goods in containers. Felixstowe Dock embraced this traffic that has subsequently seen the town grow into the largest Container Port in the United Kingdom. This growth in freight traffic was initially hampered as all trains had to run-round in Felixstowe Town Station to reach the port so in 1970 the direct line between Trimley and the dock was re-instated with the curve between Town and Beach Stations closed.

John’s photographs continued to bring the story up to date through the 1970’s and 80’s with the opening of the North Terminal and its direct line from Trimley to Felixstowe North and then through the era’s up to privatisation to conclude by showing the line in it’s present form with a colourful procession of passenger and freight services.

At the end of the evening, all present agreed that John had presented a very thorough and interesting show with their appreciation shown in the usual way.

Front Cover. 90003 stands at the head of the National Express East Anglia launch train (09.30 ex Norwich) on 27th February. Photo by Graham Hardinge.

Rear Cover Top. 66702 at Kirby Cross on the 27th January in connection with the week shut down of the Thorpe to Walton line, with engineers and ballast trains. Photo by Tim Ward.

Rear Cover Bottom. Walton on Naze branch relaying saw engineer's equipment passing over the new track at Frinton Gates ('The Golden Gates') on 3rd February. Photo by Richard Mortimer.