Recognition for labour of love railcar repairs

The Pahiatua Railcar Society has been named the supreme winner at the 2017 Trustpower Tararua District Community Awards.

Trustpower community relations spokeswoman Teresa Partridge said the society earned the supreme award because its impact on the community and the input of its volunteers stood out from the pack.

The society’s largest accomplishment of the year was finishing the restoration of a unique vintage railcar. The society’s volunteers have worked 26 years to restore the railcar from scratch, and it was widely regarded as one of the most significant railway restorations New Zealand has ever seen, she said.

Pahiatua Railcar Society president Don Selby said when the heritage categories came and went without the society getting a nod, he thought the group would have to wait a another year.

‘‘I thought, ‘well that’s the end of that’. Then right at the last minute they started reading out stuff from our submission.’’

The society has been restoring the RM5 railcar from scratch for 26 years. The work was done by the society’s 40 volunteers, except for a couple of parts that needed specialised knowledge and skills to repair, Selby said.

A railcar looks like a bus that runs on a railroad. And it does the same job, transporting passengers. This particular railcar was one of six that began running over the Rimutaka Range from Featherston in 1936. Until then, passenger railcars, and most trains in New Zealand ran on steam and these were the first diesel railcars.

The society’s RM5 is the only one of its kind still in existence and it will be making public trips for the first time in 60 years next Waitangi weekend, Selby said. The Supreme award came with a trophy and $1500 for the society.

Selby said the money would go towards setting up a new workshop, and whatever was left would go towards administration costs.