Preservation
Following withdrawal from service a number of RM class were stored around the country. Several units along with Vulcan RMs were sold to the abortive Southern Rail preservation project at Christchurch where they were scrapped; the cab and baggage car section of the No.1 end of RM 119 on the leading bogie together with some engines and gearboxes were kept at this time. After the project was wound up, the partial section of RM 119 was moved to Linwood Locomotive Depot where it remained in storage for several years. Subsequently the further abbreviated RM 119 consisting of just the cab and part of the baggage compartment was stored in a Bromley scrapyard, where it was found and purchased by the RM 133 Trust.
By the early 1990s, the only known 'twin-set' railcar was former 'grassgrub' AC 8140, used for fire training at Auckland Airport. Fortunately in 2001 the RM 133 Trust was able to obtain this car, which was later found to be the No 1 end of RM 133 and the No 2 end of RM 115. Unfortunately, as the cars were being removed a fire broke out in the No 2 half of the railcar, damaging the body. The RM 133 Trust decided to look for any other extant railcar halves to pair with the No 1 end of RM 133, which had been moved to the Pahiatua Railcar Society's site.
In 2003, enthusiasts located the No 2 end of RM 121 in a quarry at Kerikeri. Although the car was in poor condition and had been cut in half at some point, it was still relatively complete despite missing the seats, bogies (removed in the late 1970s at Otahuhu Workshops), and its diesel engines. This car was later purchased to become the replacement for the damaged half of RM 115, and moved to Pahiatua where restoration work began. The other half of RM 121 had been separated in the late 1970s after the cars were used as offices at a former theme park in the Auckland area, and had ended up at a holiday camp in Waitomo. The Trust negotiated with the owners to buy the car body, and were eventually able to purchase the car in 2011 in exchange for two former passenger coaches. The No 1 end of RM 121 was then trucked to Pahiatua to be reunited with the No 2 end at Pahiatua.
The two halves of RM 121 are now being restored at Pahiatua; the two halves of the No 2 end have been welded together again, and reclad in a mixture of new and refurbished sheathing that has come from both RM 121 and the cab of RM 119. The headlight fairing from RM 119 has been attached, and a new cowcatcher built. The No 1 end is currently being stripped of any fittings from its time spent at Waitomo. The resultant car will utilise the bogies from AC 8140, which will be a long-term project.
The No 1 end of RM 133 and the No 2 end of RM 115 (identified by removing the handrails at Pahiatua) are in covered storage at Pahiatua. Both are in poor condition, and the body of RM 115 has been damaged by fire; however, the 'frame' of the car is not damaged and the car is still restorable. This car will most likely require new running gear if it is restored to running condition, as its bogies will be used under RM 121. The cab of RM 119 is being used as a parts source for RM 121, and there are no plans for its restoration.
Read more about this topic: NZR RM Class (88 Seater)
Famous quotes containing the word preservation:
“The bourgeois treasures nothing more highly than the self.... And so at the cost of intensity he achieves his own preservation and security. His harvest is a quiet mind which he prefers to being possessed by God, as he prefers comfort to pleasure, convenience to liberty, and a pleasant temperature to that deathly inner consuming fire.”
—Hermann Hesse (1877–1962)
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—John Locke (1632–1704)
“If there is ANY THING which it is the duty of the WHOLE PEOPLE to never entrust to any hands but their own, that thing is the preservation and perpetuity, of their own liberties, and institutions.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)