How do we do it ?

One common question we are asked is where do we get the wagons from?

Well they come from a variety of places off the main line three of the guards

Wagons were rolling stock made redundant by NZR they arrived in Waipara in 1993 lifted off the rails by cranes then transported to their resting places by trucks.

Another Guards van "our Twin Wagon" was found in a farmers paddock minus the wheels after considerable restoration it (blood sweat & tears" it became part of our fleet.

A recent find was this freight wagon pictured below it had been sitting at a pizza-manufacturing factory for approximately 20 years. After the factory closed down we were offered the opportunity of taking it away . Well we are not ones to pass up a good deal & we didn't have a freight wagon so off we go on one Thursday morning into Christchurch. It just happened to be the day of the worst storm to hit Canterbury in years! 20 odd boats sunk in the ChCh harbour trees were down all over the place & we were lifting ten tonne of   wood & steel.  

Started off just great the wind & rain was lashing us as we tried to line the wagon to the deck of the truck. The wind kept swinging the load around our poor truck driver worked for an hour before he had it in position to drop onto the deck. Well that wasn't too hard as I stood under a shelter "Bugger" I spoke too soon it didn't fit !!!. The deck was 100 mm short of being able to take the wagon. So off the driver goes after a number of phone conversations with the transport company to negotiate a new deal "more money" budget is not looking that good by now. However two hours later we are on our way up state highway 1 with our new pride & joy.

 Unloading the wagon was an exciting time as well ! hanging on for all we were worth as the wind tried to throw the wagon around. 

After about six months a huge amount of effort some of which from the local fire department the rusted wagon became a very presentable TV room.