New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society

Since our last report for the web site, we have been working mainly on the finishing of restoring WMR No 48 and on repairing rot in the framing of No 52.

WMR 48

The interior of WMR 48 is substantially complete.

Slow progress has been made on incomplete exterior work:

• Most castings and the springs are on hand for the dead buffers at each end of the car. The major castings are being turned on a lathe we have acquired on extended loan, to be ready for assembly and subsequent fitting in place. Somemaller parts, bushes and spindles to hold the whole together, are yet to be made.

Boring out the base casting for a dead buffer.

Photo: Rob Merrifield.

• Chains to close the gap in the end railings on the entry balconies where inter-car gangways will be fitted, are progressing. At some stage we will need to design and make the gangways.
• Inter-car electric cables still need jacks and sockets to be made before they are complete.

Our objective: what the ends of our carriages will again look like.

Photo: NZRLS Archives.

WMR 52

The saloons underfloor framing members are repaired or re-used as necessary, with the whole trial assembled while we complete the ironwork for the brake rigging. Wooden parts for the balconies framing are held in store, having been made with the equivalent parts for WMR 48. Work is now well in hand restoring as many of the original walls framing members as possible so we can reuse as much of the original framing as we can. This is slow and repetitive work that will show its benefits when we come to reassemble the upper body.

Floor framing for WMR 52 coming together – a mix of old and new wood.

Photo: Rob Merrifield.

When new metal parts have to be made, we are making enough for the restoration of WMR 42 that will follow on, as well.

Most existing bolts and body tie-rods have been heavily rusted wherever moisture could collect, so we have had to either cut off wasted sections and to weld on new steel or make new bolts. This is a big job. We are very grateful to those people who have been working steadily at a very repetitive job.

Slow progress has been made on restoring the bogies we obtained for No 52. Some 120 years of exposure to weather, wear and tear has left a legacy of work that is being tackled. Making of replacement parts has included correctly dated axle-box covers to give 52 a full set again. Axle-boxes are overhauled and the bearings renewed. Packing them with wool and tow is yet to be done.

Beginning to look right for the first time in perhaps 100 years: one of a full set of correctly dated axle-box covers for WMR 52.

Photo: John Vannisselroy.

The coming year

Work will primarily be continuation of what we have been doing in the past year, with the objectives of completing work in hand on 48; the bogies for 52; and getting as many of the framing members for its body ready for reassembly as possible.

Rob Merrifield

30 June, 2026.

This weeks article is from the New Zealand Railway Observer Volume 30, No 2, Winter 1973 and is:

Locomotives and Their Performance No 30 – The Baldwin Locomotives of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway by A.N. Palmer 

 Article 39, Volume 30, No 2, Winter 1973

Each week a new Article from early issues of the New Zealand Railway Observers will be featured. Previous articles can still be viewed via the Publications Tab and then Historical NZRO Articles (the bottom option under this tab).