GALLERY | Scrapping the SA/SD carriages
Capturing the final moments of the SA/SD carriages and what the future is for the remaining carriages.
Recently the Ruapehu District Council posted on Facebook that KiwiRail had begun scrapping the SA/SD carriages stored in Taumarunui, NZ Transit Buzz reached out to KiwiRail for the full picture of what was happening to the carriages and what if any will remain.
“Work to scrap 27 of the 53 unused rail carriages stored at Taumarunui has begun,” A KiwiRail spokesperson told NZ Transit Buzz.
“The carriages being scrapped are those equipped with older, coil spring suspension bogies that are less suitable for conversion projects. Of the 26 that will remain on site following the scrapping process, 11 are owned by KiwiRail.
Scrapping was due to begin in January but was delayed as preparation work took longer than expected.”
The carriages have been stored in the Taumarunui rail sidings since their staggered retirement from the Auckland Network beginning in 2014, while some carriages were saved and used for new rail projects such as Te Huia, an interim fleet for the Capital Connection and as kitchen and luggage cars for the Great Journeys of New Zealand, around 53 have been sitting waiting for a future slowly growing mould and mildew and being attacked by taggers.
With the days numbered for these carriages, NZ Transit Buzz set off from home on a rainy Saturday morning bound for the King Country, a 4-hour drive (with stops) to Taumarunui to capture a few photos of these carriages before they join the scrap pile or are moved away.
Upon arriving in a mist-covered Taumarunui I made my way to the sidings where the 53 carriages had been stored, what greeted me was a pile of scrap metal with some familiar parts of the carriages sticking out and piles of coil spring suspension bogies stacked nearby.
Behind the pile of scrap was the causer of chaos, the digger, ready and waiting for Monday to roll around again to resume the destruction of more carriages, for the nearby carriage it seems the digger had already started to take bites into SA3266 with sections of the carriage already visibly dented.
Beyond that carriage, after carriage, after carriage lay waiting to face the wrath of the digger, a few locals had also come by to look at the soon-to-be wrecks and were removing some of the seats for projects, sale or memorabilia.
One of the carriages waiting to meet the digger had been lined up with a platform edge and had the doors wide open, I took a step inside and as I stepped through the door I was transported back in time to when I used to take these trains.
The carriages are a time capsule, entryways had stickers reminding passengers to ‘tag off before leaving the station’, posters onboard reminded passengers about the carriages' retirement and the new incoming electric fleet, the network map showed trains running to Waitakere and I instinctively looked to the PID to see where the next stop was despite travelling nowhere in particular.
After leaving the carriage I walked further down the yard and discovered several of the carriages had been organised, stacked and tagged with GVR & S.I.
KiwiRail confirmed to NZ Transit Buzz that 26 carriages have been saved and will not face the scrap heap, GVR acquired 13, Steam Incorporated 2 and KiwiRail have kept 11 for possible future projects.
After exploring where I could easily walk to I left the sidings and headed up Bell Road, which has a fantastic elevated view of the rail yard.
As I set about taking more photos in the distance I could hear the roar of a locomotive and a packed Northern Explorer pulls into the platform, the final carriage of the Northern Explorer fittingly featured a recently overhauled SA carriage which had been converted into a luggage van classified AKS for use on the Northern Explorer, Coastal Pacific and TranzAlpine services.
As the Northern Explorer pulls away from the platform, I decide it too is now my time to depart, leaving the trains of my childhood in the rearview.