Posts Categorized: History

Steam Locomotive Wab 794 Update

The Society’s steam locomotive Wab 794 was leased to Feilding & Districts Steam Rail Society 25 years ago for restoration and operation on the main line. FDSRS has comfortably achieved that target and has run the locomotive for many of the intervening years. They are now nearing the end of a major overhaul and re-certification… Read more »

Mark Cole, Former NZR&LS Archivist

The Society’s long-time archivist until early 2021, Mark Cole, passed away on 28 May 2021. He was aged 88. Mark had done many tasks for the Society over a very long period of time, including having been our archivist and caretaker of the Thomas McGavin building at Ava for over 20 years.  He was also… Read more »

That Very First ‘New Zealand Railway Observer’

A Personal Reminiscence by Tom McGavin. (Taken from RESEARCH NOTES #104) It was recently suggested to me that I could describe how the first issue of this journal was put together, all those 58 years ago. To really understand the process of compilation of that first number, described as Volume 1, Number 1, and dated… Read more »

Wab 794 this is your story.

Our Society’s steam locomotive Wab 794 was leased to Feilding and District Steam Rail Society on 1 February 1997 for restoration to service. It was transferred to Feilding, where it arrived on 22 March 1997 to be overhauled. It has worked excursion trains based at Feilding since. Feilding and District Steam Rail Society has restored… Read more »