Rail museum building on the move

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 477, 16 March 1993, Page 3

Rail museum building on the move

Main Trunk Rail Ohakune president Bob Norling reports that the large railway shed which is to house MTRO's indoor museum displays is shortly to be moved from Waiouru and installed in Ohakune Junction next to the MTRO headquarters

(formerly the NZR Works and Ways office). He also tells the Bulletin that tenders have been called and are being received for a locomotive shed to provide cover for the expected steam train excursions coming to and leaving from Ohakune

once the tumtable is in place and operating. There is still some w.ork to do on the turntable pit as well as the cradle, he said. 'The cradle was not in as good a condition as we expected it to be when it was delivered so we've

had to spend some time de-scaling the rust before giving it a coat of protective paint," he said. "And, while former railway workers tell me the pit always had some water in the bottom, bccause of inadequate drainage, we don't want

that and will be putting in some extra pipes to replace the original NZR drainage system." "The turntable restoration work is progressing at full-speed given the limited resources and

help we can call on and we would appreciate any extra help we can get to speed things up," he said. A meeting of MTRO will be held at 7.30pm tomorrow evening at the

Ohakune railyards to discuss what still remains to be done and to hear suggestions and offers ,of help from anyone in the community who might have some ideas and spare time to contribute.