Ocean Beach Railway

The Ocean Beach Railway (OBR) is a heritage railway that operates in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is located between John Wilson Drive^[1] in the suburb of Saint Kilda and sports grounds near Forbury Park Raceway, and runs parallel with the city's main beach, Ocean Beach. This is near where the Ocean Beach Branch once ran, but not on the same formation.

The OBR can claim three notable distinctions. The first is that it was the first organisation to preserve a steam locomotive in New Zealand with the intention of operating it. The second is that it was the first operating heritage railway in New Zealand, with the first train running in 1963.^[2] The third is that it possesses A 67, a member of the 0-4-0 A class of 1873 built by Dübs & Co., and it is currently the oldest operational locomotive in New Zealand.^[3]

A67 at Ocean Beach Railway

List of Locomotives

Key:	In Service	In Service, Main Line Certified	Under Overhaul/Restoration	Stored	Static Display	Scrapped

Number	Builder	Builder's Number	Year Built	Acquired by Ocean Beach	Notes
A 67	Dubs & Co.	647	1873	1967	Acquired from Milburn Cement, 1967. Currently oldest operational locomotive in New Zealand.
A 66	Dubs & Co.	648	1873	1973	Plinthed next to Josephine at Otago Settlers Museum until 1973. Leased to Caenarvon Restaurant from 1981 until 1988 when loco was damaged by restaurant fire. Moved to Middlemarch for Display until 2000 when leased to Waimea Plains Railway.
F 111	Dubs & Co	1233	1879	?	Obtained from Oamaru Harbour Board. Restored 1975, withdrawn for overhaul 1985. Overhaul commenced 2007, in need of a new boiler.
F 150	Dubs & Co	1371	1880	1974	Displayed in an Invercargill Park until obtained by OBR. Leased to Plains Railway from 1986.
D 6	Neilson & Co.	2564	1880	1965	Sold by NZR to Taratu Coal. Sold in 1940 to McDonald's Lime, Oamaru until 1965 when acquired by Ocean Beach Railway. Stored awaiting eventual restoration.
PWD 540	John Fowler & Co.	15912	1921	1960	First Preserved Steam Locomotive with intent to use in working condition. Obtained from Otago Harbour Board, in whose ownership it had been working at the Aramoana Mole since 1951. Stored awaiting overhaul.
Traills Tractor	A&T Burt.	126	1926	1997	Built for Milburn Cement. Displayed at a Kindergarten until 1997, to Ocean Beach Railway. Stored.
Haig 4815	Kerr Stuart.	4815	1929	?	Built for Kempthorne Prosser. In service.
Tr 81	Drewry	2097	1939	?	Originally built to NZR "Baby Drewry" type for Ohai Railway Board. Sold to NZR, became their Tr 81 (later TR309). Sold to Ocean Beach Railway, and later restored to Ohai Railway Board appearance. In service.
DSA 252	Hunslet	4530	1954	2005	Owned by Silver Fern Farms ex the former Burnside freezing works and on loan to Ocean Beach Railway, under the proviso that should it be needed it must be returned.[4] In service.
DSA 256	Hunslet	4534	1954	2000	Purchased by Fiordland Vintage Machinery Museum for proposed railway at Te Anau. Owned privately and stored at Ocean Beach Railway. Now owned by Ocean Beach Railway
DS 203	Drewry/Vulcan	2527	1955	1982	In service, occasionally used on passenger trains.
Price 185	A&G Price	185	1958	1993	Built for Alliance Freezing Works, Lorneville. To Ocean Beach Railway 1993, stored.

Rolling stock

The OBR possesses numerous historic passenger carriages, an assortment of freight wagons, and a hand crane. They have the only serviceable example of a 43' passenger carriage, along with another 43' carriage, a D Class carriage and a Vice Regal car amongst their stored carriages. Ocean Beach is well renowned for its active restoration of freight rolling stock, some examples of which are very rare and have earnt the railway numerous restoration awards. The railway also has a hand crane, and restoration work on the crane earned the OBR a Rolling Stock Award from the Federation of Rail Organisations NZ.^[5] The Ocean Beach Railway is one of very few railways in New Zealand which can produce an accurate late 19th century period train.

Operation

The Ocean Beach Railway has traditionally operated a summer schedule with services every Sunday. In 2006, the OBR commenced operating a reduced winter schedule, featuring services on the last Sunday of every month.^[6] The society also runs a popular 'Friends of Thomas' weekend once a year. Faces are placed on engines in the Thomas the Tank engine style. Trains are operated by a mix of steam and diesel locomotives. Currently A67, the Kerr Stuart and DSA 252 are used. Most restoration work takes place on Saturdays and visitors are welcome to view the workshops and restoration work in progress.

References

1. ^ John Wilson Drive
2. ^ History - The Story of the Ocean Beach Railway
3. ^ Vehicles - Steam locomotive A 67
4. ^ OBR's November/December 2004 news update and January/February 2005 news update
5. ^ Vehicles - Hand Crane 287
6. ^ OBR News - Winter Operation Announced

• Dunedin Railway Station - Rolling Stock Display Page 1

External links

• The Ocean Beach Railway's official website
• Weka Pass Railway's page on A 67
• Location map
• A video of the operation

Coordinates: 45°54′24.73″S 170°30′35.04″E / 45.9068694°S 170.5097333°E / -45.9068694; 170.5097333