THE FAIRLIE COMES TO TOWN

By Ngaire Baxter

What is the “Fairlie?” It’s a steam locomotive, designed by Robert Fairlie and made in Bristol, England in 1878. It worked at the Burkes Creek coal mine near Reefton from 1944 to 1948, when it was abandoned and left to rust away on a hillside near the Burkes Creek railway siding.

From Right - Irene Caldwell, Evie Rosanowski & Toke Murtha.

A stationmaster, Mr Crumpton, a railway enthusiast, noticed it there, recognised it as an R28 Single Fairlie and the sole survivor of its kind in the world. So he approached it’s owner, Mr W J Morris, and as a result it was recovered from the scrub, cleaned up, and offered to the people of Reefton.

Comment...

Steffan & Nigel McKay

Graham Hunt is in the funnel. Robyn Hartley is on the right by the funnel.Robert Paterson and Ian Paterson are toward the back on the right. Michael Thompson is on the front with his back showing. Grant Hudson and Ken Rolleston are sitting on the front.

Tony Fortune is standing on the "running board" in light shorts and top, just to the right of the kid in long dark pants.

The Reefton community accepted the offer - and then came the hard part: how to get it to the Reefton play park? A working committee obtained planning permission, followed by working bees, a street stall, money pledges, a concert, a donation of timber; and in 1961 the big shift began.

It was a two-day operation, using two sets of tracks. The engine was hauled (backwards) by the Council loader over one set of tracks while the other set was lifted from behind and laid in front. This was repeated all the way from the railway station to the play park. The townspeople turned out to watch this keen group of volunteers moving the big steam engine along Buller Road, with the small boys scrambling all over it.

After two days of hard slog, it was up on rails in the play park where it gave pleasure to the Reefton youngsters for many years.

But there was to be another shift. It was decided to shift it to a site on the strand between Broadway and the Inangahua River and to protect it from the elements. Once in position, it was painted, roofed, and surrounded by a fence, but is still accessible to another generation of girls and boys to enjoy.

David Ensor...

I grew up in Reefton, leaving to live in Nelson at the end of my primary school years in 1964.

In the photos of the Fairlie taken at its first location before moving off Broadway. The photo features my father (ERIC ENSOR) holding the hand of my younger brother (NEIL ENSOR). They are standing directly in front of the young fellow astride the horse. My father was a member of the Reefton Rotary Club and I remember him putting in a lot of hours assisting with the move.  Dad was the NZFS District Officer in charge of the Forestry School (located on Crampton Road) and the Victoria State Forest Park from 1953 until 1964.

Fairlie Engine being removed from playground in Reefton

DOC historian Jim Staton writes:

Paul Thomas, and I went over to Ferrymead and removed the tubes etc from a spare R boiler with a view of that being the replacement boiler, but the boiler inspector, Ian Fanshaw found there were a number of cracks in the back head and crown, and the crown was wasted due to it having been laying on its side for a number of years holding water. We did not take R28 over to Ferrymead. I did a preliminary inspection report on the locomotive which was given to Ian Tibbles at Shantytown, who generously allowed Ian time to work on a restoration guide. This was never pursued due to local politics and difficulty finding funds. Still have a full set of drawings for this locomotive. would be great to get it on the rails in an operational sense but it would be a huge restoration project plus it would never be a main line loco. The project team did have another R boiler prepared for inspection but that also failed to be completed for unknown reasons, it remains in Christchurch.

Richard, Michael and Andrew Dudding playing on Locomotive R28, Reefton. 1966.