Wellington and Manawatu Railway Trust - Recovery of An Engine

Recovery of An Engine

By the end of the 20th century, most of the once numerous locomotive remains in the Bealey River valley had been scrapped or buried in river protection works. No.9 was the only engine left unaffected, but with an uncertain future.

In 2003, the Trust began recovering the remnants of No. 9 from where it had been dumped near Arthur's Pass along the Midland Line. The locomotive had been dismantled and dumped in November 1926, to stabilise the railway embankment and to try and prevent floods from eroding the formation. The first item recovered was the locomotive frame and cylinders, which were trucked to the Canterbury Steam Preservation Society at McLeans Island, Christchurch. In 2006 the locomotive tender, truck frames and other associated items which had been uncovered were trucked from the dump site to be stored with the frame. The parts were then trucked to Steam Incorporated, Paekakariki (site of the former WMR depot where No.9 was based) on the 26 February 2007, where restoration has commenced. It is unlikely there is anything more worthy of salvage from the dump site for No.9. The original boiler from No.9 has been located at the Oxford Boiler Dump, but is not worthy of salvage and re-use.