An historic railway carriage recovered from a western Southland farm nearly a year ago has been restored to its former glory.

The A class passenger car, number A199, has been undergoing painstaking restoration work in a yard in Lumsden since it arrived there in September last year.

Shortly after 8am on Wednesday, 21 July 2021, it will be lifted by crane and transported the short distance to its new permanent home in the Lumsden Railway Precinct.

A199 will be lowered on to recently purchased and restored 1885 bogies (wheel set chassis) behind the TR diesel locomotive and carriage A525 that is on lease from Southland District Council. It will join the two V class locomotives, V126 and 127, salvaged from the mud of the Mararoa junction near Lumsden early in 2020.

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A199 was built by New Zealand Railways at Addington, Christchurch, in 1883, and was recovered from Wairio on 8 September 2020 by the Lumsden Heritage Trust. It will be fitted out as an information kiosk, telling stories of the area’s rich railway history.

Trust chair John Titter is delighted to see the latest phase of the Lumsden Railway Precinct development coming to fruition.

“This entire project has involved a lot of work by a dedicated ‘A team’ of contractors, businesses and supporters, and without them the trust would not have been able to achieve this latest milestone.”

Lumsden carpenter Gordon Lawrence did all the joinery and timber work on the passenger car and an “enthusiastic group of volunteers” were involved in stripping and repainting the interior.

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Mr Titter says the carriage has been taken back to “as close to original condition as we could”.

Once it is moved into position by contractors from Smith Crane and Construction and Southland Machine Hire, A199 will have its final embellishments added in the form of interpretation panels, photographs and displays telling the story of the entire fleet of rolling stock now housed as a visitor attraction in the centre of Lumsden.

The existing precinct building on the platform at Lumsden will be extended to protect and conserve the refurbished carriage, with Jason Gorton Building Ltd doing the building work and Coresteel Buildings Southland providing the steel structure.

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This part of the project is being paid for as part of the original funding secured by the Lumsden Heritage Trust for the recovery and display of the V class engines.

Funders include the Lottery Grants Board, Community Trust South, Northern Southland Development Fund, Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, Communities Initiatives Fund and the Regional Heritage Fund.