As children, we often went on holiday with my grandparents at the Hawkes Bay Caravan and Camping Club camping ground at Eskdale. I remember badgering grandad to take me up to the nearby station and one day, probably to get some peace and quiet, he caved in and we walked up the road to explore the station. I recall seeing an old white four wheel wooden wagon parked on one of the sidings. It was only later I found out that this wagon was W1152, a W class wooden insulated meat wagon.
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Insulated 4 wheel meat wagon W1152 with its faded special Nelson Brothers Tomoana Freezing Works livery at Ormondville. Courtesy of the NZR in OO page nzr.lolshame.com
While putting together the post on Eskdale, I remembered this wagon and looked into its past to found out the reason for its historic livery and why it was still sitting on an old siding at Eskdale in the late 1980's.
In 1882, the Dunedin arrived in London after departing Port Chalmers with a load of frozen sheep and lamb carcasses. This first shipment of frozen meat was the beginning of New Zealand's refrigerated meat industry. Wanting to be a part of this growing industry, William Nelson, often described as 'the father of the Hawkes Bay', formed Nelson Brothers and Co with his brother Fredrick Nelson and their partner James Williams in 1883.
The first shipment of 9000 frozen sheep carcasses from the Nelson Brothers and Co freezing works at Tomoana departed the Port of Napier in late March 1884 on board the New Zealand Shipping Company ship Turakina bound for the United Kingdom.
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An excerpt from the Hawkes Bay Herald from the 2nd of April 1884 with the departure notice and manifest of the New Zealand Shipping Company's Ship 'Turakina'. Courtesy of the National Library of New Zealand's Papers Past website. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz
To mark the centenary of this first shipment of frozen meat from the Hawkes Bay to the UK, Weddel Crown, the then owner of Tomoana freezing works organised a special train to run from Tomoana to the Port of Napier on the 31st of April 1984. The port also held an open day to celebrate the occasion.
Recognising the importance of this historic event, Weddel overhauled Tomoana's 1932 built steam locomotive Bagnell Number 2475 and refurbished W1152 and another W wagon for the trip. Both the W wagons were painted in a special Nelson Brothers Tomoana livery.
Tomoana Freezing Works Steam Locomotive Bagnell No 2475 at Tomoana with Terry McLachlin at the controls. Photo courtesy of the Hawkes Bay Knowledge Bank. knowledgebank.org.nz
The train carried 100 lamb carcasses in the two W class insulated wagons and 100 passengers including representatives from Weddel Crown and the Port of Napier.
An article in the June 1984 edition of Weddel Crown's quarterly company newsletter Weddel's World. Article courtesy of Hawkes Bay Knowledge Bank. knowledgebank.org.nz
Unfortunately the Bagnell couldn't run the train alone so New Zealand Railways shunting locomotive DSG 3277 was attached to haul the special train from Tomoana to the port. The 17 kilometre trip took 2 1/2 hours including a water stop at Clive.
The centennial trains prepares to depart from Tomoana for the Port of Napier on the 31st of March 1984. Photo by MJ Walmsley and courtesy of Hawkes Bay Knowledge Bank. knowledgebank.org.nz
Arriving at the Port of Napier, the 100 carcasses were unloaded by hand as they had been in 1884.
W 1152 was saved from the rotten row at Eskdale and is now with the Ormondville Rail Preservation Group at their historic Ormondville railway station precinct. A link to their website can be found here. I haven't been able to identify the other W class wagon and its fate. Sadly, it was probably scrapped.
Bagnell steam locomotive number 2475 was also saved and is in the care of the Mainline Steam Heritage Trust. This locomotive is currently at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. A link to the Mainline Steam Heritage trust's website can be found here .
After failing to secure additional bank funding, Weddel New Zealand collapsed and the Tomoana freezing works closed in 1994, 110 years after sending its first shipment of frozen meat to the United Kingdom.
