News
An 1900s steam locomotive took flight of a different kind today, as it was lifted by crane into its new permanent display home in Lumsden. The historic D class locomotive, D6, was installed through the roof of a railway shed, completing a project that began in 2013.
The locomotive’s arrival marks a major milestone for the Lumsden Heritage Trust, which has been working for over a decade to restore and showcase pre-1900s railway stock in the Southland town. “It couldn’t have gone better, and we had a good crowd looking on,” said Trust chair John Titter. “There probably hasn’t been an all-pre-1900 heritage train here for about 90 years. I’m pretty chuffed.”
D6 was built in Glasgow, Scotland, in the Neilson & Co yards, and originally entered service in New Zealand in 1880. It ran until 1917 under New Zealand Railways, mostly on Southland lines, before serving privately for another 48 years. Since 1965, it had been stored at Dunedin’s Ocean Beach Railway before being gifted to the Lumsden trust in 2021 by the Otago Railway and Locomotive Society.
Refurbished over the last three years by Bulleid Engineering in Winton, the D6 has now taken pride of place at the front of Lumsden’s heritage train display. The static display includes three historic carriages—C100 (1877), A199 (1883), and A525 (1896).
The delicate job of relocating D6 involved a joint effort from Bulleid Engineering, Southland Crane and Construction, Southland Machine Hire, and James Titter. Work began early in the morning, with the existing diesel engine—an 04 type built in 1948—lifted out and repositioned. Part of the shed roof had to be temporarily removed, with the task completed in a day by Ryan McMaster.
The project was supported by several funding partners including Lotteries Environment and Heritage, Community Trust South, Southland District Council’s Districts Initiative Fund, the Northern Southland Development Fund, and the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
The Trust has already earned national recognition for its efforts. In 2022, it won the Best Carriage and Guards Van Restoration Award for its work on the A199 carriage. The previous year, it received the P J Dillicar Award for Innovation for recovering two V class locomotives and tenders from the mud at Mararoa junction.