Pigs don’t fly but a 19th century steam locomotive did today, when it arrived at its new home in the Lumsden railway precinct.

The 1880 D class locomotive, D6, was swung into its new home by crane through the roof of the shed that houses the township’s unique collection of pre-1900s rolling stock.

Today’s installation completes an ambitious and highly successful project that started in 2013, carried out by the Lumsden Heritage Trust.

The A team. From left, Brad Jenkins (Bulleid Engineering), Chris Beckett and Brent Service (Smith Crane & Construction), John Titter (Lumsden Heritage Trust), Kerry Baldey (Bulleid Engineering) and Wayne Tuffley (Southland Machine Hire). Photo: Supplied

Trust chair John Titter said today’s mission was fantastic.

“It couldn’t have gone better, and we had a good crowd looking on."

"There probably hasn’t been an all-pre-1900 heritage train here for about 90 years. I’m pretty chuffed.”

D6 has been refurbished in Winton by Bulleid Engineering over the past three years, after it was gifted to the Lumsden trust by the Otago Railway and Locomotive Society in 2021.

It had been in storage at the Ocean Beach Railway in Dunedin since 1965.

D6 now sits at the head of Lumsden’s historic collection, which consists of carriages dating from 1877 (C100), 1883 (A199) and 1896 (A525).

The historic 1880 D Class locomotive D6 arrives at Bulleid Engineering in Winton, for restoration, in January 2022. Photo: Southland District Council

It is a long way from its city of origin, Glasgow, Scotland, where it was built in the Neilson & Co yards.

Today’s relocation from Winton involved a big team effort by Bulleid Engineering, Southland Crane and Construction, Southland Machine Hire, and John Titter’s son James Titter, starting around 7.30am.

To place D6 at the head of the static train display in Lumsden, the locomotive sitting in its position, a 1948 04 type diesel engine, had to be lifted out by crane and repositioned in the precinct.

The most practical way to do this was to remove part of the roof housing the train, which was carried out in a day by Ryan McMaster.

D6 was in service with New Zealand Railways until 1917, running for much of its time on Southland tracks.

After going into private service for another 48 years it was acquired in 1965 by Ocean Beach Railway, a working heritage railway museum operating in Dunedin.

The heritage train project was funded by Lotteries Environment and Heritage, Community Trust South, Southland District Council’s Districts Initiative Fund and Northern Southland Development Fund, and Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.

The Lumsden Heritage Trust’s work has been recognised nationally. In 2022, the trust received the Best Carriage and Guards Van Restoration Award at the Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand conference in Invercargill for its restoration of the A class passenger carriage A199.

A year earlier the trust won the P J Dillicar Award for Innovation for its recovery in 2020 of two V class locomotives and their tenders from the mud at Mararoa junction near Lumsden.