THE ORIEL BICKERTON INTERNSHIP 2026

Being a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student, I operated under the assumption that after secondary school, I was unlikely to do anything in historical fields beyond a hobby. However, the 2026 Oriel Bickerton Internship came in as a stark contrast to that belief. To preface, I have had a lifelong interest in historical NZ railways and broader industrial heritage, having been volunteering at MOTAT’s Rail Section since March 2023; so, when Rail Workshop Manager Marty Radford messaged me about some “MOTAT Rail Internship” earlier this year, I immediately took up the chance and applied. It was exactly the sort of work I was missing out on. It proved to be an amazing opportunity to use and develop a different skill set that I would have little chance of using otherwise.

I worked both in curatorial research and registry during the internship. The main project was the removal of hundreds of small rail-related items from two wagons in our collection (KP 26027 & X317) to storage in MOTAT 3. The items would then be researched; this could mean anything from identification and its condition to giving a full historical record. The work would help form future decisions to keep or discard certain items, helping MOTAT keep on top of the vast array of items of varying significance accrued since its founding. The items were already registered with a ‘T’ (temporary) number, with largely incomplete records other than names and physical characteristics. Allegedly, volunteers of days past dumped whatever they thought valuable into the wagons without any writing! The side project was to write brief histories on things from locomotive numberplates to baggage trolleys. As a bonus, the KP wagon, once emptied, was fit to be pressed into service on the Western Springs Railway, bolstering MOTAT’s operational wagon fleet.

The internship was structured to last 3 weeks in late June to mid-July, with the FRONZ (Federation of Rail Organisations NZ) conference on the King’s Birthday weekend serving as a prelude. To the uninitiated, FRONZ has an annual conference held to highlight and discuss all things rail, both contemporary and heritage, including tours of various rail groups. It was an excellent event where I formed many connections with people across the scene. I missed out on the Saturday session as it was my fireman’s exam. The consolation being that conferencegoers were riding behind my engine during FRONZ’s MOTAT visit that night! The conference experience emphasised to me how heritage rail uses living histories as a vehicle for storytelling, something that gets humanised by small objects like the ones I was to research.

Most of my day-to-day consisted of going to the curatorial office at MOTAT 3 and working through the list of nearly 400 items, assembling notes and giving small write-ups that would give further detail to the sparse list entries. Each item was its own individual rabbit hole I could get engrossed in, and the challenge was learning to move on and keep the pace at which I was filling out details. The central part of the project was the de-cant (emptying) of the two wagons. We arrived early in the morning at the railway workshops and opened up the musty-scented KP to begin work. Depending on the size and fragility of the object, we packed them into boxes and secured them onto pallets ready for the moving truck, or transported them whole in the van to MOTAT 3 with a liberal application of moving blankets. It took us three days, and eventually we had both wagons emptied and all contents (sans useful spares) transported over for MOTAT 3 to be laid out by conservation. We even moved more stored small rail items from outside the list! With the assistance of friends from the rail section and the Walsh Memorial Library, this work was done very efficiently.

Aside from drinking away all the Cadbury chocolate at the MOTAT 3 kitchen, a personal highlight was that I was led on a wild goose chase regarding the origin of a coupling hook. It was not dissimilar to those found in pre-1900 rolling stock, but with a uniquely inset face. After going in circles and looking at far too many photos, I had no leads. It took an offhand mention by Marty during the de-cant to discover its origins were from an Australian railcar, and after contacting a friend at Rail Heritage Western Australia, I found out it was from a 1960s ADK!

Many thanks to the MOTAT Society for letting me take this opportunity to learn and contribute to the museum. Being the Oriel Bickerton intern has been excellent, and I am very grateful to everyone at MOTAT 3 and the Walsh Memorial Library for being nothing less than welcoming and helpful throughout.

by Pranz Cortez

2026 Oriel Bickerton Intern