Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust

Last updated July 23, 2024

The Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust is a defunct railway preservation society that was formed to preserve Southland's rail history. The trust was formerly based at Wairio on the Wairio Branch in the former Ohai Railway Board workshops, and owned a number of locomotives and items of rolling stock, including the remains of two P class 2-8-0 tender locomotives.

Trust Lapses

In 2006 the ORBHT's lease on the former ORB workshops and yard at Wairio was allowed to lapse after the trust decided no to pursue the idea of running heritage services from Bluff to Ohai. The trust's locomotives and rolling stock remained on the site; as of January 2015, most of the trust's stock remained at Wairio with the exception of diesel shunting locomotive D^S 201 and the remains of steam locomotive P 60, which had moved to Dunedin and Lumsden respectively.

Banned

In December 2011, members of the ORBHT were banned from entering the Wairio yard and workshop buildings after being served a trespass notice by KiwiRail. The notice was served on the grounds that the trust's members had not sought permission from KiwiRail to access the site; one of the trust members responded by saying the trust had become concerned with the neglected state of the site and the potential fire risk, and had stepped in to clean the site up.^[1]

Locomotives and Rolling Stock

In 2002, the ORBHT purchased two diesel shunting locomotives, D^S 201 from Alliance Meats at Lorneville and the former Ohai Railway Board Mitsubishi shunter N^O 1 which was then stored at Wairio. In 2003 they also recovered the chassis of P 60 and the engine unit of P 133 on 4 April 2003. In 2014 P 133 was unknownly purchased and was transported to Mosgiel. It will be later transported to Middlemarch for static display for funding so it can be restored to working condition.^[2] Also in 2014 D^S 201 was purchased by a private owner and transported to Dunedin.^[2]^[3] The 'D^S' is in operational order but requires a repaint. The chassis of P 60 was purchased by the Lumsden Heritage Trust along with three wagons.

In 2016 several pieces of rolling stock were leased to other South Island heritage groups by Southland District Council. (The tables below have not been updated to reflect these leases.)^[4]

Other Rolling Stock

Key:	In service, Mainline Certified	In service	Static display	Under overhaul/restoration	Stored	Scrapped

Type	Number	Builder	Year built	Arrived at Wairio	Notes
Carriage	A 294	NZR Petone Workshops	1892	14 February 2003	Named Nightcaps. Entered service for the New Zealand Railways Department in 1892. Withdrawn in 1952 and purchased by the Ohai Railway Board. It was later leased to the Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society in 1990. It was stored in Oamaru until being transferred back to Wairio on 14 February 2003. Carriage A294 will be leased to the Waimea Plains Railway Trust to be restored to operational status.^[4]
Carriage	A 525	NZR Addington Workshops	1896	2003	Named Ohai. Entered service for the New Zealand Railways Department in 1896. Withdrawn and sold to the Ohai Railway Board on 16 August 1952. It was later leased to the Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society in 1990. It was stored in Oamaru until being transferred back to Wairio on 14 February 2003. Carriage A525 will be leased to Lumsden Heritage Trust to be situated as part of their static railway display of heritage rail assets at the Lumsden Heritage Precinct.^[4]
Van	F 11	n/a	1886	9 August 2002	Named Morley. Entered service for the New Zealand Railways Department in 1886. Withdrawn in 1937 and converted to Way & Works ballast plough van E 932. Purchased by the Ohai Railway Board in 1941, later leased to the Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society in 1994. It was stored in Oamaru until being transferred back to Wairio on 9 August 2002. The guards and plough van, which has a high heritage value, will be leased to the National Railway Museum in Christchurch.^[4]
Wagon	ER 295	NZR Otahuhu Workshops	1954	2000	Formerly J^C 5307 (1954 - 1978), E 4189 (1978) and E 5326 (1978 - 1981). Withdrawn on 17 August 1974. Owned by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand and leased to the ORBHT.
Wagon	Unidentified L	n/a	n/a	n/a	Formerly owned by the Ohai Railway Board.
Wagon	LA 2962	NZR Otahuhu Workshops	1931	n/a	Pre-TMS: L^A 17119. Withdrawn in Invercargill in August 1978. Formerly owned by the Ohai Railway Board.
Wagon	LA 16320	NZR Otahuhu Workshops	1931	n/a	Pre-TMS: L^A 17134. Withdrawn on 10 October 1966 after traffic damage. Formerly owned by the Ohai Railway Board.
Wagon	L^B 2631	NZR Addington Workshops	22 May 1976	n/a	Owned by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand and leased to the ORBHT.
Wagon	LPF 388	n/a	1995	2000	Pre-TMS: the number is unidentified. Owned by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand and leased to the ORBHT. Used for transportation of fertiliser.
Wagon	LPS 351	n/a	1989	n/a	Pre-TMS: the number is unidentified. Former LPA wagon converted for scrap haulage, Owned by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand. Formerly leased to the ORBHT, now on static display at Lumsden railway station.
Wagon	WOA 620	NZR Otahuhu Workshops	1939	n/a	Formerly L^A 19320.
Wagon	X^A 2583	n/a	n/a	n/a	Rebuilt in 1950 at the Otahuhu Workshop] after an accident. Donated to the ORBHT by PPCS. Frame and body only.
Wagon	X^A 2587	n/a	n/a	n/a	Rebuilt in 1950 at the Otahuhu Workshops after an accident. It was then donated to the ORBHT by PPCS.

Related Research Articles

Railway preservation in New Zealand is the preservation of historically significant facets of New Zealand's rail transport history. The earliest recorded preservation attempt took place in 1925, although the movement itself did not start properly until 1960.

Rail transport in New Zealand is an integral part of New Zealand's transport network, with a nationwide network of 4,375.5 km (2,718.8 mi) of track linking most major cities in the North and South Islands, connected by inter-island rail and road ferries. Rail transport in New Zealand has a particular focus on bulk freight exports and imports, with 19 million net tonnes moved by rail annually, accounting for more than half of rail revenue.

Dunedin Railways is the trading name of Dunedin Railways Limited, an operator of a railway line and tourist trains based at Dunedin Railway Station in the South Island of New Zealand. The company is a council-controlled trading organisation wholly owned by Dunedin City Council through its holding company Dunedin City Holdings Limited.

The Kingston Flyer is a vintage steam train in the South Island of New Zealand at the southern end of Lake Wakatipu. It used 14 kilometres of preserved track that once formed a part of the Kingston Branch. Originally, Kingston Flyer was a passenger express train between Kingston, Gore, Invercargill, and less frequently, Dunedin. It was operated by the New Zealand Railways (NZR) from the 1890s to 1957. In 1971, NZR revitalised the service as a tourist venture, later leasing the locomotives and rolling stock in 1982 to a private company. Since then, the Kingston Flyer has been through a number of owners, most recently being owned by the Kingston Flyer Ltd. A group of volunteers has restored the railway, rolling stock and locomotives to service. In July 2021 the Kingston Flyer received resource consent to operate, initially for tour groups.

The New Zealand F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 3 ft 6 in was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new gauge railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company. The F class was the first class ordered by the central government, and between 1872 and 1888, a total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed.

The Ocean Beach Railway (OBR) is a heritage railway that operates in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located between John Wilson Drive in the suburb of Saint Kilda and sports grounds near Forbury Park Raceway, and runs parallel with the city's main beach, Ocean Beach. This is near where the Ocean Beach Branch once ran, but not on the same formation.

Locomotives of New Zealand is a complete list of all locomotive classes that operate or have operated in New Zealand's railway network. It does not include locomotives used on bush tramways.

The Ohai Line, formerly known as the Ohai Industrial Line and previously the Wairio Branch and the Ohai Railway Board's line, is a 54.5 km branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. It opened in 1882 and is one of two remaining branch lines in Southland, and one of only a few in the country. A number of smaller privately owned railways fanned out from Wairio; one of these lines, to Ohai, was originally built by the Ohai Railway Board and was worked by New Zealand Railways from 1990 and incorporated into the national network in 1992.

The NZR W^D class was a class of tank locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works to operate on New Zealand's national rail network.

The New Zealand DJ class locomotive is a type of diesel-electric locomotive in service on the New Zealand rail network. The class were built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and introduced from 1968 to 1969 for the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) with a modernisation loan from the World Bank to replace steam locomotives in the South Island, where all of the class members worked most of their lives. Nine of the locomotives remain in use, mainly with Dunedin Railways.

The P class was a class of steam locomotives built to haul freight trains on the national rail network of New Zealand. The class consisted of ten individual locomotives ordered from the British company of Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1885, but miscommunications about the weight limitations imposed on the locomotives meant they did not start work until 1887. This debacle came at a time when the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) was suffering from a lack of motive power to work on its rapidly expanding network and was part of what prompted a shift towards American and home-grown manufacturers.

The Glenbrook Vintage Railway (GVR) is a heritage steam railway in Glenbrook, New Zealand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ohai</span> Place in South Island, New Zealand

Ohai is a town in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island, 65 kilometres northwest of Invercargill and 25 kilometres west of Winton.

The New Zealand DSC class locomotive is a heavy shunting locomotive used throughout New Zealand. The class was built in seven batches, the first 18 locomotives being built by British Thomson-Houston of the United Kingdom, with the remainder being built by New Zealand Railways (NZR).

The New Zealand TR class locomotive is a type of diesel shunting locomotives built by many different manufacturers. Defined as "shunting tractors" or "rail tractors" by KiwiRail and its predecessors, they are classified "TR" for tractor as a result. Many of these locomotives have been withdrawn, but some are still in service. The first locomotive of this class was built by NZR in 1924. The most powerful were Japanese-built Hitachi TRs, with 138 kW Cummins engines.

The Diesel Traction Group (DTG) is the Christchurch-based operator of a fleet of ex-New Zealand Railways Department diesel-electric locomotives. The fleet represents a full collection of New Zealand locomotive classes built by the English Electric Company and is a historically significant collection of early New Zealand diesel traction. All of the DTG's locomotives are owned by individual members through the sale of shareholdings.

The NZR DS class locomotive is a type of 16 diesel shunting locomotives built by the Vulcan Foundry and supplied by the Drewry Car Co from 1949–1955, for New Zealand Railways (NZR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branxholme locomotive dump</span> Railroad facility

Branxholme locomotive dump is a steam locomotive and wagon dump located on the eastern bank of the Ōreti River adjacent and just to the north of Southland's Wairio Branch Line in New Zealand. Locomotives and rolling stock have been dumped here for river protection since the 1920s. In the time since numerous items have been recovered for preservation purposes.

The Ohai Railway Board (ORB) was a short railway in Southland, New Zealand. The railway line itself still exists as the Ohai branch line, but the ORB was dissolved in 1990, and in 1992 the Southland District Council sold the board's assets to New Zealand Rail Limited.

The Lumsden Heritage Trust was formed in November 2013 to preserve the past, promote the future and provide an attraction for visitors. The trust has two ex-AFFCO locomotives that were formerly preserved by the Goldfields Railway, the chassis of P 60, ex-New Zealand Railways (NZR) wagons that were formerly preserved by the Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust, a railway station including a crane next to it and a jail from the Lumsden camping grounds.

References

↑ "Rail followers banned by Kiwirail". 19 January 2012.
1 2 "Preserved Locomotives at non-heritage places". Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
↑ "New Zealand Rolling Stock Register".
1 2 3 4 "Historic Ohai Railway vehicles find new homes". 20 July 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2017.

External links

45°59′58″S168°01′50″E / 45.9995°S 168.0306°E / -45.9995; 168.0306

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "Rail followers banned by Kiwirail". 19 January 2012.

[preserved-2] 1 2 "Preserved Locomotives at non-heritage places". Archived from the original on 22 May 2014. Retrieved 18 June 2014.

[3] "New Zealand Rolling Stock Register".

[stuff2016-4] 1 2 3 4 "Historic Ohai Railway vehicles find new homes". 20 July 2016. Retrieved 23 December 2017.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Railway preservation in New Zealand New Zealand railway heritage and preservation groups
Nationwide	Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand (FRONZ) Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand New Zealand Model Railway Guild
Upper North Island	Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Bush Tramway Club Driving Creek Railway Glenbrook Vintage Railway Goldfields Railway Helensville Railway Station Precinct Mainline Steam Heritage Trust Museum of Transport and Technology Papatoetoe Railway Station Preservation Trust Railway Enthusiasts Society Rotorua Ngongotaha Railway Trust Waikino Victoria Battery Tramway and Museum Whangarei Steam and Model Railway Club
Lower North Island	East Coast Museum of Technology Feilding and District Steam Rail Society Fell Locomotive Museum Gisborne City Vintage Railway Mainline Steam Heritage Trust Main Trunk Rail Ohakune New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society Ormondville Rail Preservation Society Paekakariki Station Precinct Trust Pahiatua Railcar Society Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust Silver Stream Railway Steam Incorporated SteamRail Wanganui Tramways Whanganui Trust Tokomaru Steam Museum Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society Waitara Railway Preservation Society Wellington and Manawatu Railway Trust Wellington Heritage Multiple Unit Preservation Trust Wellington Tramway Museum
South Island	Blenheim Riverside Railway Canterbury Railway Society Canterbury Steam Preservation Society Diesel Traction Group Ferrymead Railway Ferrymead Two Foot Railway Kingston Flyer Lumsden Heritage Trust Mainline Steam Heritage Trust Midland Rail Heritage Trust National Railway Museum of New Zealand Nelson Railway Society Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society Ocean Beach Railway Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust Pleasant Point Museum and Railway Project Steam Reefton Historic Trust Board Dunedin Railways (inc. Otago Excursion Train Trust) The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum Tramway Historical Society Waimea Plains Railway Weka Pass Railway West Coast Historical and Mechanical Society (inc. Shantytown) Westland Heritage Park Westport Railway Preservation Society