Main Trunk Line memories recalled

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 1, Issue 24, 15 November 1983, Page 1

Main Trunk Line memories recalled

The 75th anniversary of the opening of the North Island Main Trunk railway line was celebrated in fine style under clear skies and warm temperatures last Sunday 6 October. That it should have dawn'ed bright and clear was both a bonus and a surprise considering the wet and windy conditions that greeted the 700 train-borne visitors who had arrived in Ohakune •the previous day. !>n Saturday evening the two trains — one from Auckland, the other from Wellington — arrived simultaneously carrying about 400 railway enthusiasts and their families and about 300 railwaymen and women who had been associated with the Main Trunk Line. The two trains, hauled by diesel locomotives but comprising many restored vintage carriages, pulled in from opposite ends of the station at 5.00pm, and stopped nose-to-nose, only inches apart. As the passengers alighted in driving wind and rain they received a musical greeting from the Waimarino Brass jHfcl and a civic welcome JiP the Mayor of Ohakune, Bill Taylor. Specially arranged buses and cars took them to the

various accommodation houses round town to freshen up before attending the evening functions that had been planned for them. These included a reunion of railway workers — past and present — at. the Ohakune Club and a country dance in the Ruapehu College Hall. Between 250-300 people attended the reunion and about 150-200 the dance. At 9.00am the next morning the combined 18carriage train pulled by both locomotives left Ohakune for Pokaka with about 800 passengers. These included about lOOlocaland specially invited guests. Among those invited were Ohakune's mayor Bill Taylor, Raetihi's mayor Garrick Workman, Waimarino County chairman Bruce Berry and Waiouru ATG commander Colonel Bruce Meldrum. Also among the specially invited — and essential — guests travelling on the train to Pokaka were the six Ruapehu College students who were to perform the reenactment of the 'last spike driving' ceremony. They were Julieanne Grantham, Jo Anne Churton, Peter Swarbrick, Robin Taylor, Timothy Horne and

James Whitworth. They played the parts, respectively, of Lady Ward, Mrs Hall Jones, Mr Hall Jones Minister of Railways, Mr L.D. Nathan Chairman of the Wellington Railway League, Mr Peacock Chair man of the Auckland Railway League and Sir Joseph Ward, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The train stopped just short of the Hapuawhenua Viaduct, north of Ohakune to allow passengers to alight and photograph the train as it slowly crossed the viaduct and then returned to pick them up again. As the train, with its restored vintage carriages from Steam Incorporated in Paekakariki and N.Z. Railway Enthusiasts Society in Auckland travelled towards Pokaka and Raurimu it was photographed by roadside spectators from various vantage points on S.H.4. When the train reached Pokaka it stopped beside the obelisk marking the site of the original 'last spike' driving ceremony and all the passengers alighted to watch the re-enactment. After brief speeches from Colin Wright, publicity officer for N.Z.R., Lindsay Cameron of the Wellington Train Society, Paul Diilicar of the Auckland Train Society and Gordon Purdy, General Manager of NZ Railways, the Ruapehu College students were invited to re-enact the ceremony. Dressed in period costumes supplied by the Marton Players Theatre Society, they each delivered a well-rehearsed representation of the original 1908 speeches from the covered platform at the back of the guard's van. This was followed just after 10:00am — exactly 75 years and 1 hour after the original spike was driven — by a re-enactment of that scene using the very same hammer that had been used on that occasion.