MOTAT Society’s Behind the Scenes Tour of MOTAT Rail

A small group of MOTAT Society enthusiasts gathered at the gates of the MOTAT Workshops for a guided tour of the rail section organised by Graham Anderson. The tour was led by Marty Radford ably assisted by his team with special mention to Rick Schreuder who is a qualified mechanical engineer with the fire services with a real passion for the restorative work. 

The tour started in the main heavy workshop where the team have stripped an old Barclay locomotive that had been used in quarries and road building and is being rebuilt with various parts starting to take shape.

The tour group were joined by a very noisy diesel locomotive with two quarry wagons.  This diesel loco was purchased by the Hauraki Drainage Board in 1913 and served on quarries and roads until being retired at the end of WW2. The loco has been beautifully restored. During its lifetime, it was converted from 2-foot gauge to 3 ft 6in standard gauge. The serial number of the locomotive has been traced and is #5774. It is a German Oberusel and is one of only two working originals in the world and is also the oldest of the two.  The other one is in Germany.

The team moved through the workshops past the newly restored boiler for the Barclay. Then out the back to the beautifully restored Orenstein & Koppel No 1411. This brass name plate and the one for the Oberusel have been researched and made from scratch with the ingenuity and help of Rick and Marty.

This is one of the stars of Rail days…the detail of the engine and name plate are superb.

From there the team moved into the large storage shed for rail carriages and locomotives. There are other gems here awaiting restoration.

This was demonstrated in the adjacent shed where one of the carriages has been stripped and is in the process of being rebuilt. This one was based in Christchurch and would have regularly done the run to Dunedin and Greymouth and in its latter years in the Auckland Region.

One of the challenges of the restoration is to replace old Kauri Panels with new. Supplies of new Kauri are very limited. But the end result is quite breathtaking.

From there the tour moved to the general store where Marty has spent the last 18 months rearranging so that the heavy pallets can now be accessed with forklift trucks and the gear can be readily accessed.

The tour was 2 hours long and our thanks go to Graham, Marty, Rick and the whole team who are clearly passionate about the work that they are doing and enjoy it. Volunteers to join the working team on a Tuesday night are most welcome. 

by Ken Lee-Jones (MOTAT Society Member)

More Photos from the tour to scroll through by Scott-Pilkington: