World’s only working Kitson tram restored to steaming good health

Press, 13 April 1984, Page 21

World’s only working Kitson tram restored to steaming good health

Kitson steam tram No. 7, pride of the Tramway Historical Society’s fleet of ancient trams, will steam along the track at Ferrymead Historic Park tomorrow afternoon on its first public run for five years. During that time the old tram — the only one of its kind in the world still in working order — has been rebuilt and refurbished. At the controls will be Mr P. V. Neary, chairman of the Christchurch Transport Board, which preserved the old tram long after it had been retired from service in the 19305, and eventually gave it to the society. Mr Neary is a famous campaigner for clean air in Christchurch, but he will not have to sacrifice any of his principles to drive the steam tram. Steam engines make a lot of dirty smoke, but not the Kitson — she burns coke. A big supply of coke has been brought to Ferrymead from the Dunedin gasworks to keep the tram running over Easter. The old girl’s smart new coachwork and smoothly running engine are the reward for many hours of volunteer labour by members of the society under the direction of Greg Harris, plus some professional repairs — all at a total cost of about $lO,OOO.

Greg Harris, who joined the society while he was still at school because of his intense interest in trams, was overseas when the Kitson was pulled part, and those who did the dismantling have since moved on. There were plenty of headaches in putting the engine together again. Built in Leeds, England, in 1881, the tram was mechanically very worn after its first 10 years of service at Ferrymead Historic Park. The boiler needed an overhaul and the mechanical equipment — axle, wheels and “motion” — were very worn. Machining and repairs of the pistons and valve gear were done at the engineering works of Alec Farrar in Bromley. Such major items as new axles and crankpins, and putting new profiles on the tram’s four wheels,

were done at the Railways’ Addington workshops. “They did a very good job,” saidMr Harris. “They were the only people who could have done it. They’ve got the heavy equipment and the expertise. It would have cost more money if we’d had it done elsewhere because they would have had to sort out what to do.” All of the fire-tubes in the boiler were replaced by Lyttelton Engineering. A carpenter and a fitter working at Ferrymead on a Labour Department P.E.P. scheme renewed all of the tram’s woodwork — the sides, the ends, the pillars, and the roof.

Mr Harris estimates that 20 per cent of the restored tram is made up of new parts. Piecing it all together was helped by the way in which various important parts had been documented and photographed as it was dismantled, but so much of it is new work that there were still plenty of puzzles. Greg Harris, who is a technician with the M.E.D., was fortunately very familiar with the old Kitson. He had driven her when she was running previously at Ferrymead, having obtained his locomotion and traction licence from the Marine Department.

In addition, while he was overseas he visited the Science Museum in London and by a lucky chance came across the original 1880 plan of the Kitson steam tram, bearing the same series of

By

GARRY ARTHUR

numbers as the ones imported by the Canterbury Tramway Company. He also found some useful photographs of No. 7 herself in the Science Museum.

The society also had the help of an Englishman, Mr E. Clarke, who is a grandson of the original Kitson who headed the firm that built the trams. He keeps in touch with the restorers. No. 7 is now in such fine order that Greg Harris confidently expects her to last another 100 years. Her boiler will have a shorter life — about 20 years — because the irregular steaming up that happens at Ferrymead is harder on it than continuous service would be. No. 7’s boiler dates back to the 19305. It is one of the first welded boilers made in New Zealand, and was fitted after the old tram blew up outside the Ferrymead Tavern in Ferry Road on November 21, 1886. The driver and conductor were not aboard at the time

— they were some little distance away watching an agricultural demonstration. Mr Harris says they were clearly neglecting their duties. The explosion blew the tram’s cab off and damaged the trailer.

Even though the Kitson No. 7 has been studied from every angle for so many years, there is always

something new to be learned. In recent weeks the restorers discovered that she was not wearing her correct livery. They scraped back her number plate and found that the “lining out” should have been done in silver, not cream, to match her 1910 to 1930 colour scheme. They also changed the shade of her green paint to match the original. The steam tram has a special place at Ferrymead; not only because she is unique, but because she was the first tram to run on the society’s Ferrymead track. She was the only tram they had running for a long time, and was given a lot of work. Now she is to be nursed a bit more carefully.

“We’ll run it over Easter and then every Sunday up to the winter,” says Greg Harris, “then we’ll review it. She may run only every second week-end next summer, except for the holiday period.” The old steam tram pulls three trailers at Ferrymead, of which two are double-deckers. In the old days, when No. 7 was one of eight Kitsons running in Christchurch (and about 300 in the world) several of them used to be coupled together to pull “trains” of up to a dozen double-decker trailers, carrying as many as 600 passengers on trips to the seaside at Sumner and Brighton.

Kitson No. 7 re-enters service at a short ceremony in the Ferrymead township at 3.30 p.m. tomorrow, and will be run again for invited guests in the evening.