The rail vehicle shed at Maymorn has been one of the primary projects for the Trust over the last few years. A huge amount of design work, engineering consultation, planning and project management has gone into the structure. The vast majority of the foundation work, component fabrication and final construction has been undertaken by volunteers working in their spare time. The decision to replicate an original 1911 New Zealand Railways 2-road engine shed design has paid dividends in that the Maymorn station has a real railway depot “feel” about it. The building will also complement future heritage railway operations.
During July and August 2018 we have concentrated on finishing internal lining for our workshop shed. A big thanks to Rimutaka Trust for funding a final order of ColorSteel cladding and fastenings to fit rails through the workshop floor.
Another ballast wagon has been repaired and painted, bringing the number that have been restored to six.
Another ballast wagon is in the paint shop. Rust and old flaking paint has been removed with a needle-gun, making short work of this laborious job.
Individual components from shunt locomotive ORB #1 are also being prepped and painted, including areas of the frame, headstocks and sand boxes.
We have also added a lot of backfill into the floor area of the workshop extension to our shed, using a small rubber-tracked excavator to move around 20m3 of hard fill.
A few photos from recent weeks follow.
Bart and Graeme have done a wonderful job tending to the native shrubs and trees planted at our Maymorn site. A host of native shrubs and trees have been planted alongside our future mainline formation to the Kaitoke side of the pedestrian crossing. The plants have taken despite the arduous ground conditions and occasional accidental dose of weedspray - a vast improvement over the gorse and blackberry the previously occupied the area.
A 12-tonne excavator and dump truck were hard at work at Maymorn on Monday 12 January, excavating and moving spoil from the north end of our station to backfill the foundations of our workshop. The formation for our forthcoming track extension was widened and tidied up as well - with additional space cleared alongside the loop formation and a cross-drain put in.
Around 50 cubic metres of good quality base course was moved into the workshop formation, as the photos below show. Over the next week or two this will be spread and compacted in preparation for the concrete floor.
On Saturday 29th November we passed another milestone with our workshop shed construction - completing the foundation wall. A few weeks of preparing formwork had paid off with a single building inspection and pour, a central column pod included in the job. We're grateful for funding recently received from Rimutaka Trust, which has been another major boost for our workshop project.
