A Lumsden railway carriage has received top honours at the Best Carriage and Guards Van Restoration Award at the Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand (FRONZ) conference in Invercargill during Queens’ Birthday weekend.

The A class passenger carriage A199 has been restored by the Lumsden Heritage Trust (LHT).

LHT chairman John Titter said he was “absolutely stoked” that the project to restore the historic carriage had received the honour. 

“To win the award and then have the public opening today it couldn’t have worked out better,” Titter said.

A view of the interior of A199 with its information panels, including one about a possible passenger in this very carriage, Minnie Dean. Photo: Supplied

The fully restored carriage was officially opened by Southland MP Joseph Mooney on Monday 6 June, with a busload of FRONZ delegates in attendance. 

The red carriage has been repurposed as an information kiosk for the unique heritage rail display the trust is working on. The pre-1900s rail display will feature the 1880 D class steam locomotive D6, with carriages ranging from 1877 (C100) to 1883 (A199) to 1896 (A525) behind. 

Both D6 and C100 are currently being restored.

The restoration of A199 was paid for using money left over from the recovery of two V Class locomotives from the mud at Mararoa Junction near Lumsden in early 2020, along with further funding from Lotteries Grants.

The rail carriage A199 opened on Monday was recovered from a farm at Wairio on 8 September 2020 and gifted to the trust by the property owners, the Montgomery family. It was painstakingly restored by Lumsden carpenter Gordon Lawrence and a team of dedicated volunteers. 

The passenger car was built by New Zealand Railways at Addington, Christchurch, in 1883. The 43-foot wooden car was a composite – half first class, half second class. It was sold to the Ohai Railway Board in 1941 and remained in use there until 1952, when it was transported to the farm now owned by the Montgomerys. 

Mooney said the carriage looked “absolutely beautiful”.