Attempt to retrieve rare trains from river
After nearly 100 years after being submerged in a river in Southland two locomotives may see the light of day once more.
On Monday, an exploratory dig will begin to find out if the two 1885 V class locomotives, numbers 126 and 127 can be retrieved from the banks of the Oreti River, near Lumsden.
The trains were dumped in a spot north of Lumsden in 1927 along with boilers, wagons and other metal scraps.
Lumsden Heritage Trust chairman John Titter said the dig on Monday would confirm the next course of action for the removal of the trains.
The price of scrap metal was low after the war so New Zealand Rail dumped the trains in 1927.
A consent to remove the locomotives was granted to the trust five years ago, but other projects had slowed the progress of retrieving the locomotives, he said. ‘‘The hope and dream is to get these out, one if not both. The idea is to get them out, clean them up and get them on a track to display.’’
The rarity of the trains was well documented with the first story on the trains published in a 1929 The Railways
‘‘The idea is to get them out, clean them up and get them on a track to display.’’ John Titter
Magazine. The magazine documented the day units 127 and 128 were tipped into the river.
The trains needed to be retrieved because they were the last of their kind in the country, Titter said.
‘‘They are the only remaining V Classes intact in the country.’’
A contracting company from Winton will use a large differ to clear the willows and dig the soil out from around them.
‘‘At present they are semi-exposed with the top of one cab and boiler able to be seen along with a third of the other cab and boiler. ‘‘We don’t really know what state the rest of the locomotives are in until we get this completed,’’ he said.
‘‘Once we get this established we can do a costing for their removal and apply for funding for this exciting project.’’
Landowner Roger Hamilton has given access for the exploratory dig and later removal.