Nick Gough

Greymouth signal box - New Zealand, South Island, West Coast: Non-operational since 1980 - seen in May this year. This PDF is a survey and info from 2009: https://files.ehive.com/accounts/202148/objects/files/c9a77474382b4dccb42a1fafa26c3c5f.pdf

I have repeated my previous photo post due to the problem. Hopefully everyone can view it okay now?

Having travelled through the tunnel there was a brief stop at Otira, to remove the additional locos, before continuing on the journey: Our penultimate station stop was at Moana, next to Lake Brunner: With an important safety reminder: Just 15 minutes before journeys end we passed a reminder of previous mining activity at Dobson: Arrival at Greymouth, on the west (Tasman Sea) coast: With a nice heritage station: A quick chance to grab a photo of the old signal box, in a very familiar style: Before boarding a coach to take us to our next destination - heralded by a mural seen in the town:

Thanks, they are showing for me, both in my original post and your reply. Can anyone else see them?

Having travelled through the tunnel there was a brief stop at Otira, to remove the additional locos, before continuing on the journey: Our penultimate station stop was at Moana, next to Lake Brunner: With an important safety reminder: Just 15 minutes before journeys end we passed a reminder of previous mining activity at Dobson: Arrival at Greymouth, on the west (Tasman Sea) coast: With a nice heritage station: A quick chance to grab a photo of the old signal box, in a very familiar style: Before boarding a coach to take us to our next destination - heralded by a mural seen in the town:

A nice looking, vintage loco.

I plan to take the branch into, what will probably be, a truncated version of the original Wallingford terminus.

The stop at Arthur's Pass also allows Kiwi Rail to add additional locomotives to the front of the train to assist with the 1 in 33 descent through the nearby Otira tunnel: Unfortunately, this operation took place off the end of the platform, around a curve! The open-air observation car was also locked to passengers, for the passage through the tunnel, due to limited clearances and the dangers of exhaust fumes: The tunnel is 5.3 miles long and was originally worked by electric traction. This was decommissioned in 1997 and replaced by diesel traction. To deal with the fumes doors were installed, at the tunnel entrances, together with extractor fans. Seen in the sidings here: Another look at the passenger carriages used on the three tourist trains in New Zealand: 17 of these were built in the railway workshops in Dunedin between 2010 and 2012. Inside there are panoramic views from the large side and roof windows: The seating is arranged either in bays of four, with a central table, or in twos (bus/airline style). However, there is plenty of room and the seats are comfortable - unlike 'modern' British trains. The Kiwi engineers have also mastered the difficult problem of positioning ALL the seats next to windows and not solid bulkheads. The overhead screens shew the route, in conjunction with the recorded commentary - which can be heard through (supplied) headsets.

Continuing to climb into the mountains: At 10:30 we arrived at the summit station of Arthur's Pass, where there was a chance to step off the train for about ten minutes: A number of passengers left the train here as it is a popular hiking and visitor centre for the National Park. They would have the opportunity to re-join the train here, later in the day, on its return journey to Christchurch

Starting to cut the front off the next baseboard: Using a variety of hand saws: Rather than power tools - to try and keep the mess, and distribution of sawdust, to a minimum. Including a broken hacksaw blade - temporarily mounted in a convenient handle: And a rather useful blade designed to fit in a Stanley knife type handle:

We saw a few others here and there on our travels. I suppose that they are a bit like the remaining BR class 08s in that nothing has been built, to replace them, on the few shunting duties that still exist.

Having returned to my seat I noticed a shunting locomotive in a small yard, on the other side of our train: The day was starting gloomy and misty so not one of my best shots. A few minutes later and our journey began heading south from Christchurch, for the first 30 or so kilometres on the Main South Line, until turning west, on to the Midland Line from Rolleston. A little further and the mist started to clear as we began the more scenic part of the journey:

I have spent some time contemplating what to do next with the branch line, having got it into an awkward corner of the storage yard: The branch line is now at a lower level than the surrounding trackbeds, so where do I go now? Eventually I decided to; lower another section of the baseboard surface - the nearer part seen on the left here: To bring it down to trackbed level: I will make this a scenic part of the branch line, with a backscene, keeping the 'trainset' curves off stage, to the left: Next, I cut the front off the adjacent baseboard: And cut sections out of the ends of the crossboard support struts: To accommodate the branch running along the edge of this baseboard: Thus, the branch line will be partly below the main line storage tracks: I'm not sure yet how well this will work and, of course, it would have been a lot easier if I had thought of doing this at the original layout planning stage!

Thanks for the offer Chris. The GWR was a modern railway but always got its moneys worth from its rolling stock. There were plenty of 19th century coaches still in use at nationalisation - either in revenue service or repurposed for other duties.

Good to see that you appear to be resolving the problems with the Silhouette, Chris. Gives me some encouragement for cutting some coach sides myself.

On arrival, in Christchurch, it was a quick coach trip to our hotel (opposite the cathedral) before another early start, back to the station in the morning. This time it was for the 'TranzAlpine' train, to cross the South Island, for the Tasman Sea/west coast at Greymouth. Unlike Auckland and Wellington there is no suburban rail network in Christchurch. The station is nearly three miles drive from the city centre and to get there involves travelling through an out of town retail park/industrial estate. We arrived at the station at about 07:30 to find the train, in the station, ready for the 08:15 departure: Again with an open-air observation car at the front of the formation. Having found our seats and stowed our bags, I was granted permission to (quickly) go and photograph the motive power. There was a handy observation platform to view our two locomotives from alongside: Before very long I was summoned to re-join the train.

Ewe have made Shaun and his mate look a lot more sheepish there. No need for them to face the chop. They can happily sing, "Wool meat again, don't know where, don't know when."

Fluorescent sheep? Was it a farm removal train from Aldermaston?

All too soon darkness was descending again: The observation car emptied: There was a final bit of colour: And the rest of the journey was in darkness.

Meanwhile - back to leaving Kaikoura: A last view of the Pacific:

A slight digression: Bilbo Baggins' house: Passing the mill: On the way to the pub: For a simple pint:

It probably did though I would have had to be sitting in my seat with the headphones on to hear it. At that point, and for much of the coastal section, I was in the open-air car.

Christchurch Tram photos to follow later as well.

Some nice photos there as well. A visit to Hobbiton was also a must for us - the day before the Northern Explorer.

Sad to hear. I wasn't aware of this one.