While heading back to Oamaru I managed grab a quick and dirty shot of DFT 7036 leading 934 Dunedin - Middleton freight out of Herbert at the Irvine Road railway crossing.
In my rush I went to change the settings on my camera from auto to sports mode and instead ended up with creative but overall it didn't turn out to bad.
And that's about it.
Petrol and other fuels were originally shipped in drums and tins but as the demand for petrol increased in the 1920's and 1930's oil companies began to develop bulk fuel distribution systems for their products. Petrol, Kerosene and other petroleum based products were imported into New Zealand by ship and stored in large fuel storage tanks at the major ports. It was then transported to smaller fuel depots around the country by coastal shipping, road or by rail. The fuel was then distributed to local outlets by truck.
Like many other service towns in New Zealand, Oamaru had a number of small fuel depots. Three fuels depots were located at Friendly Bay in Oamaru Harbour. Operated by The Shell Company of New Zealand Ltd, Vacuum Oil Coy Pty Ltd (Mobil) and Caltex Oil N.Z. Ltd these depots were used to store and distribute fuel, oils and other petroleum based products across the Waitaki.
For the first few decades fuel and petroleum products were transported to the fuel depots by rail before being distributed by road.
In 1953 Shell New Zealand completed construction of the large bulk fuel tanks at their depot and in December of that year their coastal oil tanker M.S. Tanea began calling at Oamaru Harbour. Fuel and petroleum products were unloaded at Holmes Wharf and transferred by pipeline to their tanks.
M.S. Tanea was a regular visitor over its eleven years of service with Shell in New Zealand. With the opening of Marsden Point oil refinery in 1964, new oil tankers were introduced on New Zealand's shipping routes. Unfortunately these new tankers were too large for Oamaru Harbour. M.S. Tanea continued calling at Oamaru until 1965 when Holmes Wharf was upgraded and the pipeline used to transfer fuel from the wharf to the Shell depot was removed.
For fuel transported by rail the fuel depots were served by a single dead end private siding that was located between the western boundary of the fuel depots and Oamaru goods yard. The siding was accessed from a set of points at the south end of the goods siding.
Each of the fuel depots consisted of a variety of tanks and buildings for the storage of fuel and other petroleum products in bulk and in barrels and tins.
Shell had two large bulk fuel tanks at their site while Caltex had two smaller sized bulk fuel tanks. Documents from the archives show that Caltex unloaded tank wagons at their depot and later requested permission to install a raised platform to assist staff in unloading tank wagons.
With our sudden move to Alert Level 4 lock down and the opportunity to 'work' from home I thought now might be a good time to build a small lockdown micro layout.
Since all my loco's are DCC I was going to put together a short programming track but why not make it into a proper layout. I've never built a layout to the scenicing stage. This will give me a great opportunity to practice all the different facets of model railways - bench work, track laying, DCC wiring, structure building and scenicing. Also by finishing a micro layout my wife will stop accusing me of buying stuff and not finishing anything.
The only downside is that I can only use what I have in the shed.
A short internet search found a great plan that would work well as a micro layout, The track plan is Peco's Setrack OO Plan 30 - Locotec and Dewsbury Cement Terminal.
I found some photos that I took on my visit in 2016 showing the mill.
A youtube video of the Kensington grain train shunting the flour mill siding can be found here.
So the plan I have is something like this...
And that's about it.
Like all railfans and railway modellers I'm an avid railway magazine collector. I've got who knows how many plastic boxes full of railway magazines.
Two magazines I've purchased over the last few months were the latest issues of the The Linesider and the NZ Model Railway Journal.
First up is the Winter Quarter - June 2021 issue of The Linesider. As you can tell by the photo my copy already has some wear from being read cover to cover a few times.
The Linesider has more than adequately filled the gap created when New Zealand Railfan ceased publication last year. While similar to NZ Railfan The Linesider is more of a pictorial magazine.
The June 2021 issue is the fourth issue since the magazine first entered book and hobby shops in 2020. Like the last three issues this magazine contains a range of articles and photos to keep any person with an interest in New Zealand's railways happily turning the pages.
This issue has a short article / pictorial about the recent heritage Great Southern Train Tour, an article about the last train to Tahakopa on the Catlins River Branch in 1971, an article and pictorial on the rebuild of the DB class diesel locomotives into the DBR class, an article on the recording of steam locomotive sounds, an excellent pictorial on New Zealand trains in winter landscapes, a good railfan story on capturing the last week of widespread use of diesel locomotive hauled and diesel multiple unit suburban passenger trains around the Auckland passenger network and the standard railfan news update.
As a fan of New Zealand railways in the 1980's the DB / DBR article and pictorial was my favourite in this issue. The highlight being the very good photos from well known railway photographer Dave Simpson.
This is a high quality magazine which the Linesider team should be justifiably proud of. The magazine contains a large number of good quality photos and the articles are well written. As good as anything I have seen internationally.
The second magazine is the June 2021 issue of the NZ Model Railway Journal. This is the 414th issue of the magazine of the New Zealand Model Railway Guild.
As its name suggests this magazine looks at all things related to the modelling of New Zealand's railways.
In this issue there is an article on the building of New Zealand general store, building an NZ120 (1:120) scale DXC locomotive in five (!) days, building a 1940's Chevrolet pick up and truck in 1:64 S scale, NZ Finescales wonderful new 'Addington' passenger carriage kit, a comprehensive article on NZR's 4-8-2 J class steam locomotives and building the JG Models legendary J class kit, another comprehensive article on the NZR 1897-1905 30 foot brake vans and an article on the recently released kit of these vans in 1:64 scale. The magazine ends with reports from the 9mm scene in New Zealand and the Christchurch NZR modellers' group, trade news and upcoming events.
Like The Linesider this is a high quality magazine and compares favourably with the more well known international railway modelling magazines.
Overall two great additions to my magazine collections.
And that's about it.
Last Saturday I decided to chase train 934 as it made its way north from Dunedin towards Christchurch. At this time of year the sun sits pretty low in the sky making photographing trains difficult but it would be a good way to kill a few hours and an opportunity to get a good coffee. The best photo I got was at Merton with the sun almost directly on the nose of DXB 5108 as it rounded the curve at Merton with 934.
After happily clicking away at Merton I decided to head north to Tumai to catch 934 as it crested the Tumai bank and rounded the curve before heading beneath the overbridge. As I got near the Tumai turnoff I could see a car and two railfans, cameras at the ready at the spot I was going to stop at. I quickly decided to continue heading north to Palmerston. Unfortunately the sun was still too low so 934 was covered in shadows as it passed through Palmerston.
With my chase now a bust I started heading home and that's when I got to thinking. Why didn't I just turnoff at Tumai and park up next to the other railfans? I'm sure they got some great photos from a tried and true railfanning spot, a photo I'd now missed.
Why is it the majority of railfans don't advertise the fact we take photos of trains, we model trains, we read about trains and watch videos of trains. Are we embarrassed? Worried about what others think? Is being a railfan not socially acceptable? Or is it just me? Do other people happily share what their hobby is with others?
When I look back on the Timaru model train show, the hall was packed with people of all ages. While most of them were families I would say a large number were 'train geeks' as my kids would say.
Something to ponder the next time I'm out railfanning.
And that's about it.
Last Saturday I managed to get to Timaru to visit the Alpine Energy Railway Expo. The show was held at Roncalli College Gymnasium.
This was my first time going to this show and it was definitely worth the drive. There were 18 layouts on show with a mix of N, American and European HO, OO9, OO, G, large scale and even a huge Tomy Trains layout. All the layouts were great and built to a high standard.
This show is also a fundraiser for Hospice South Canterbury and last year raised $2500 for the hospice. A great effort by the organisers.
040 Trains and Models from Ashburton and Toot Toot Trains from Invercargill had stalls at the show and looked to be doing some good business. You can find the websites for 040 trains here and for Toot Toot here. Good work to Toot Toot for making the long trek up from Invercargill.
There were also some second hand stalls with model trains of varying quality, scales and eras for sale.
Train shows are one of the main ways we expose people to our awesome hobby. While there is a market for second hand trains I don't think having a table laden down with poor quality, old and crusty trains is the image we as a hobby are trying to portray. Imagine how disappointed you would be if you were new to the hobby and bought a loco, a few wagons, some track and an old controller and on getting home find they don't work or run poorly. On the other hand getting a loco, laying some track, hooking up a controller and running a train for the first time can be a fantastic feeling. Either way these stalls were very busy with model railroaders selling their unwanted items and others picking up some bargains.
Above and below: The HO scale Warnerville & Derrick Town layout. This layout is based in the 1950's and is divided into two scenes including a film set and an oil town.
The HO scale Parklands County American diesel era layout.
Above and below: The freelanced N scale Eweburn Central Railway.
My favourite layout of the show was the OO9 scale Saxford Light Railway, a narrow gauge layout set in the early preservation era. This is a neat little oval layout that is still under construction. I'm a bit biased because I do like narrow gauge layouts. What surprised me is the amount of locomotives and rolling stock on the layout that were purchased ready to run. I look forward to seeing the progress of this layout.
A big shout out to the organisers and all the modellers and stall holders that attended. It can be a big ask to travel, set up the layouts and stalls and man these throughout the weekend but you all did a great job.
I will definitely be back next year.
And that's about it.
Maheno Valley Mills (Clarks Mill) 1880s. Culture Waitaki Online Collection
Clarks Flour Mill is located on State Highway One between Maheno and Reidston. I've driven past this place countless times but it wasn't until last week I decided to stop by and have a look around.
Wheat growing and flour milling was once a very important part of the North Otago economy. One of 13 flour mills in the district, the original mill was built 1866 to a Scottish design using locally sourced limestone. The mill was connected to the Main South Line with a siding in 1877.
Originally water was drawn from Mill Stream and diverted through a water race which drove a water wheel. The water wheel powered the British machinery and French millstones to produce the flour.
From 1877 when the mill was connected the Main South Line a lot of traffic was generated from the mill which received local grain and dispatched flour. The mill was served by a siding that left the main line between the current State Highway One railway crossing and the Mill Creek railway bridge.
The Bren Gun Carrier at Clarks Mill. 1946. Culture Waitaki Online Collection.
My understanding is that the Bren gun carrier shunted the sidings and left wagons or picked up wagons on the siding directly beside the mainline and that NZR locomotives didn't actually fully work the sidings.
Clarks Mill outlasted most of the other flour mills in North Otago and closed in 1976.
So what's left at the Clarks Mill site today?
