Hutt Workshops - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Hutt Railway Workshops is a major railway engineering facility in the Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt

Lower Hutt is a city in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Its council has adopted the name Hutt City Council, but neither the New Zealand Geographic Board nor the Local Government Act recognise the name Hutt City. This alternative name can lead to confusion, as there are two cities in the...

suburb of Gracefield

Gracefield

-Railway:*Gracefield Branch, a section of railway line in Lower Hutt, New Zealand...

in the Wellington

Wellington

Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...

region of New Zealand’s North Island. It is one of only two such facilities remaining, and was opened in 1930.

This facility is the central motive power maintenance operation, with other rolling stock

Rolling stock

Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...

being handled by Hillside

Hillside Engineering

Hillside Engineering Group is a trading division of the rail operator KiwiRail in Dunedin, New Zealand. Most of its work is related to KiwiRail, but it also does work for the marine industry in Dunedin.-History:...

in Dunedin

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the principal city of the Otago Region. It is considered to be one of the four main urban centres of New Zealand for historic, cultural, and geographic reasons. Dunedin was the largest city by territorial land area until...

Predecessor

The Hutt Workshops were preceded by a workshops at Petone

Petone

Petone is a major suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the narrow triangular plain of the Hutt River, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour...

, adjacent to the railway station. It operated from 1876 when first used to store the H-class “Fell” locomotives until its replacement in 1929.

Decision to move

In the 1920s, the problems caused by the inadequacy of some railway workshop facilities was becoming more acute. In order to examine the issue, a Royal Commission

Royal Commission

In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...

was established in 1924 consisting of English railwaymen Sir Sam Fay

Sam Fay

Sir Sam Fay , born in Hamble-le-Rice, Hampshire, England, was a career railwayman who joined the London and South Western Railway as a clerk in 1872 and rose to become the last General Manager of the Great Central Railway after a successful stint in charge of the almost bankrupt Midland and South...

and Sir Vincent Raven

Vincent Raven

Sir Vincent Litchfield Raven KBE was chief mechanical engineer of the North Eastern Railway from 1910 to 1922.- Biography :...

. One recommendation of their report read: “In the North Island the shops at Napier

Napier, New Zealand

Napier is a New Zealand city with a seaport, located in Hawke's Bay on the eastern coast of the North Island. The population of Napier is about About 18 kilometres south of Napier is the inland city of Hastings. These two neighboring cities are often called "The Twin Cities" or "The Bay Cities"...

, Whangarei

Whangarei

Whangarei, pronounced , is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. Although commonly classified as a city, it is officially part of the Whangarei District, administered by the Whangarei District Council a local body created in 1989 to administer both the...

, and East Town

East Town Railway Workshops

The East Town Railway Workshops were a major manufacturing, maintenance and repair facility of the New Zealand Railways Department located by the Marton - New Plymouth Line in the city of Wanganui in New Zealand’s North Island. Output included not only rolling stock but also tools, equipment,...

, so far as locomotive work is concerned, might be closed down, the necessary repairs being carried out at Petone

Petone Workshops

The Petone Workshops were a government-owned railways maintenance and repair facility located in Petone, in Lower Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand’s North Island...

and Newmarket

Newmarket Workshops

Newmarket Workshops in Auckland was a major New Zealand Railways Department facility, one of 13 workshops nationwide. It was one of two main railway workshops of Auckland, used mainly for maintenance; the older facility at Newmarket was replaced in 1929 by Otahuhu Workshops.- First Workshops :The...

.”

A later report from the Minister of Railways

Minister of Railways (New Zealand)

The Minister of Railways was the minister in the government responsible for the New Zealand Railways Department 1895–1981, the New Zealand Railways Corporation 1981–1993, and New Zealand Rail Limited 1990–1993...

in 1928 read, in part: “It was found possible by extension to the existing buildings at Hillside and Addington

Addington Workshops

The Addington Railway Workshops was a major railway facility established in the Christchurch suburb of Addington in May 1880 by the New Zealand Railways Department. The workshops were previously in Carlyle Street and closed in 1990.-Description:...

to carry out improvements that would suffice for many years to come, but the provision in the two main North Island shops was hopelessly inadequate, and consequently land had to be acquired at Lower Hutt and Otahuhu

Otahuhu Workshops

Otahuhu railway workshops were a major rolling stock maintenance and repair facility of the New Zealand Government Railways Department, in the south Auckland suburb of Otahuhu in New Zealand's North Island...

, and modern shops constructed thereon.”

The original intention was for Otahuhu to assume responsibility for locomotive

Locomotive

A locomotive is a railway vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. The word originates from the Latin loco – "from a place", ablative of locus, "place" + Medieval Latin motivus, "causing motion", and is a shortened form of the term locomotive engine, first used in the early 19th...

works, and for Hutt to be the car and wagon workshop. This had to be reversed when it was discovered that the land on which Otahuhu had been built was not suitable for the heavy machinery required to work on the locomotives.

Replacement at Woburn

After the passing of the Hutt Valley Settlement Act in 1925, 625 acres (2.5 km²) of land was purchased for development, of which 29 acres (117,358.9 m²) was for the railway, 80 acres (323,748.8 m²) for the workshops, 135 acre (0.5463261 km²) for roads and other amenities, and 438 acres (1.8 km²) for housing. The new workshops were to be served by the Hutt Industrial Line, which would also provide rail access to other industrial developments in the area.

The plant was completed in 1929, with an official opening happening the following year. They were fitted out with then all new modern equipment, including some of the most modern and recent machines in the Petone Workshops, and capable of handling the building of new locomotives as well as other general overhaul and repair work.

One of the biggest improvements from the point of view of the staff was the new ventilation

Ventilation (architecture)

Ventilating is the process of "changing" or replacing air in any space to provide high indoor air quality...

system. At Petone, ventilation was a rather primitive affair, relying on windows and roof vents, as well as circular stoves placed at strategic locations around the buildings. This had replaced an earlier and even more basic system of steam pipes around the machines. At Hutt, a far more effective system was installed by Messrs. A. & T. Burt, which involved a series of pipes throughout the buildings through which, with the aid of motor-driven fans, cool air from outside or warm air from steam boilers could be circulated.

The first locomotives to be produced were “Prairie” type “C” shunting engines, of which 12 were built at the Hutt Workshops. They were supposed to replace many of the older types of steam locomotives that were still in service, but ended up hauling Wellington suburban passenger services. They were the last steam locomotives to work the Wellington yards or wharves before the introduction of diesel locomotive

Diesel locomotive

A diesel locomotive is a type of railroad locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine, a reciprocating engine operating on the Diesel cycle as invented by Dr. Rudolf Diesel...

s.

After the C-class locomotives came the famous K-class 4-8-4

4-8-4

Under the Whyte notation classification of steam locomotives, 4-8-4 represents the wheel arrangement of four leading wheels on two axles , eight powered and coupled driving wheels on four axles, and four trailing wheels on two axles .Other equivalent classifications are:UIC classification: 2D2...

s, of which class leader K 900 became rather well known for its most public departure from the workshops in November 1932. The last steam locomotives to be produced at Hutt were “Ka’s” 958 and 959 in 1950, though maintenance work on them continued into the mid-1960s.

From the 1930s until the 1980s Hutt Workshops had responsibility for assembling then maintaining Wellington’s fleet of electric locomotives. The first to enter service were the Ed-class in 1938, followed by the Ew-class in 1952. All were withdrawn from regular service by the mid-1980s. The only locomotives now handled by Hutt Workshops are the various classes of diesel locomotives that see both main line and suburban duties.

Modern developments

Various Railways Corporation

New Zealand Railways Corporation

KiwiRail Network, formerly ONTRACK , is the infrastructure arm of KiwiRail. The ONTRACK trading name was introduced in 2004 after the government repurchased all of New Zealand's rail infrastructure from Toll NZ. It does not operate revenue rolling stock...

and later Tranz Rail

Tranz Rail

Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Ltd , was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003.- Formation :...

restructuring exercises in the late 1980s and 1990s resulted in the loss of several functions and buildings from the Hutt Workshops site. For example, the former workshops administration building was relocated to the Wairarapa

Wairarapa

Wairarapa is a geographical region of New Zealand. It occupies the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service towns, with Masterton being the largest...

town of Greytown

Greytown

Greytown may refer to one of several places:*Greytown, New Zealand, a town in the southern North Island's Wairarapa region*Greytown, Nicaragua, the capital city of the municipality of San Juan de Nicaragua*Greytown, KwaZulu-Natal, a town in South Africa...

and now houses The White Swan restaurant.

The facility has experienced several changes in ownership. It was originally constructed, owned and operated by the government’s Railways Department

New Zealand Railways Department

The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...

, later the Railways Corporation, until the sale of most of its functions in 1993 to a private company that became known as Tranz Rail.

On 1 April 2002, French engineering giant Alstom

Alstom

Alstom is a large multinational conglomerate which holds interests in the power generation and transport markets. According to the company website, in the years 2010-2011 Alstom had annual sales of over €20.9 billion, and employed more than 85,000 people in 70 countries. Alstom's headquarters are...

took over the operation of the Hutt Workshops on a seven-year contract to maintain Tranz Rail’s fleet of locomotives. Three years later, United Group

United Group

UGL Limited is an engineering and property services company. The company provides construction, maintenance and asset management services to the rail, resources and infrastructure sectors and corporate real estate, facilities management and business process outsourcing services to property users...

announced on 16 September 2005 that it had completed the acquisition of Alstom’s transport operations in New Zealand and Australia, including the Hutt Workshops. Following the acquisition of Toll’s

Toll NZ

Toll Group Limited is a New Zealand trucking company. A subsidiary of the Australian company Toll Holdings, it has its headquarters in Auckland. It carries out operations by road and in the air, and formerly by rail and sea....

rail operations by the New Zealand Government

Politics of New Zealand

The politics of New Zealand take place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy. The basic system is closely patterned on that of the Westminster System, although a number of significant modifications have been made...

, ownership of Hutt Workshops was transferred, along with Toll NZ's rail and ferry assets, to KiwiRail

KiwiRail

KiwiRail Holdings Limited is the rail operations subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the Chairman...

on 1 July 2008. United Group Rail remained the operator of the facility until its contract expired on 22 March 2009, when KiwiRail assumed full responsibility for the facility from the following day.

Though KiwiRail is the largest user of the workshops, ONTRACK also has a presence on site. Occasionally, work is carried out at the workshops on behalf of other rail organisations, such as heritage rail groups. The workshops have also recently undertaken the refurbishment of several KiwiRail EO Class

NZR EA class

The NZR Ea class were used by New Zealand Railways between 1968 and 1997 on the OtiraArthur's Pass section of the Midland line in the South Island, through the Otira Tunnel...

electric locomotives leased to the Greater Wellington Regional Council. These locomotives are now used to haul consists of SE class carriages on the Wellington suburban rail network, a temporary measure pending the arrival of new electric multiple units in 2010.

Locomotives manufactured at Hutt Workshops

C
NZR C class (1930)
The C class consisted of twenty-four steam locomotives built to perform shunting duties on New Zealand's national rail network. It is sometimes known as the big C class to differentiate it from the C class of 1873.-History and construction:...

(12)
E
NZR E class (1906)
The E class comprised a single steam locomotive operated by New Zealand Railways from 1906 until 1917. Classified as E 66 and nicknamed Pearson's Dream after its designer, it was an experimental Mallet locomotive designed to work on the Rimutaka Incline...

(1) (at Petone)
L (3) (at Petone)
K (30)
K^A
NZR Ka class
The NZR KA class of 1939 was a class of mixed traffic 4-8-4 steam locomotives that operated on New Zealand's railway network. They were built after the success of the K class to meet the increasing traffic demands of the New Zealand Railways Department...

(35)
DC
NZR DC class
The NZR DC class locomotive is the most common class of locomotive currently in operation on the New Zealand rail network. Primarily employed to haul freight trains operated by KiwiRail, the class is also used for long-distance passenger trains operated by Tranz Scenic and suburban passenger trains...

(5 rebuilt from DA
NZR DA class
The NZR Da diesel-electric mainline locomotive class ran on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. With 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to operate in New Zealand, just five more than the AB class steam locomotive....

)
DQ
NZR DQ class
The NZR DQ and QR class locomotives are two classes of mainline diesel-electric locomotives in New Zealand and Tasmania, Australia. Originally Queensland Rail 1460 and 1502 class, they were purchased by New Zealand Rail Limited in 1995 to be rebuilt, as a cheaper alternative to buying new...

(15 rebuilt)
Ed
NZR ED class
The NZR ED class locomotive was a class of electric locomotive used in Wellington, New Zealand. They were built by English Electric and New Zealand Railways between 1938 and 1940, and hauled mainly passenger trains on the Wellington region's 1500 V DC electrification, and banked freight trains on...

(7 assembled)
Standard (Aotea) Railcars
NZR RM class (Standard)
The NZR RM class Standard railcars were a class of railcar operated by the New Zealand Railways Department in the North Island of New Zealand. Officially classified as RM like all other railcar classes in New Zealand, they acquired the designation of 'Standard' to differentiate them from others...

(6)
Wairarapa Railcars
NZR RM class (Wairarapa)
The NZR RM class Wairarapa railcar was the first truly successful class of railcars to operate on New Zealand's national rail network...

(6 for Rimutaka Incline)

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