NZ North Island, 1980s folded oval loop track

In the 1980s, I worked in New Zealand. I seem to remember a live steamers track somewhere between Wellington and Hamilton that was a folded oval, in a small plot of land. I was only driving though, and did not see any action there.

Folded oval means that there was a bridge; from top of the bridge one would drop down, and go under bridge, then climb up over bridge...

Did it work? Does the track still exist?

Thanks - JohnS.

It does depend a bit which route you took. Tracks I can think of between those places:

Hutt Valley Model Engineers Society....on the beach at Petone, two tracks but not a folded loop.

Paraparaumu...Kapiti Miniature Railway. Their layout is quite complex, and the track does pass over itself.

Palmerston North Model Engineering Club. Their track was only just getting underway in the eighties

Wanganui (Now Whanganui) used to have a club and a track, I don't know if they still do.

New Plymouth has a track New Plymouth Society of Model and Experimental Engineers.

Hamilton has a track, Hamilton Model Engineers.

Rotorua used to have a track, that society now has their track in Cambridge (NZ)

Napier has the Hawkes Bay Model Engineering Society.

There is quite a nice track in Tauranga, that got started in the late seventies and has now developed to have both ground level and raised tracks.

But most of these are not on the direct route between Wellington and Hamilton

John

Hi John-O - Thanks for the answer.

I was a member of the Hutt Valley Model Engineers, so certainly not that one.

Had quite small children at the time, so most trips ended up in childrens' playgrounds, not live steam tracks.

I remember the start of the Palmerston North track, and it's not that one.

I'll do some more googling - you never know what one may find....

JohnS.

Do you mean a figure of 8? (As in Scalextrix basic set) If so that might jog more memories..

Neil

Would have to be rather large for a crossing.

I know its not the North Island but the South Canterbury model engineers had a ground level track as an oval. We have it now in private use as a raised track and its much like LBSC "Polar Route" of about 75 metres around.

Hmmm - maybe I was hallucinating after lack of sleep and spoon feeding kids.

Neil - I do seem to remember two circles, not a figure 8, but two circles one inside the other, with the high/low points being a bridge so you did two "laps" before coming back to the start.

I'll keep googling, it is easier than trying to brush up on my Feynman Diagrams just so Neil can get an accurate measuring tape.... (joke about another thread...)

JohnS in Canada.

Hi John,

I'm a member of the New Plymouth ME club. By your discription it's the one! Two off set circles so that you cross over, the bridge is just before you come into the station. I could give you map reference if you like, but the trees are such that you can't see the track!

Cheers Kerrin

PS forgot to mention it's a raised track if that help jog the memory, oh & the mountain isn't far away!

Edited By Kerrin Galvin on 13/01/2017 06:02:18

Ah, I see now. I had confused myself.

Try google earth.

Neil

.

So ...Would this be the place? **LINK**

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMACPX_New_Plymouth_Model_Engineers_Miniature_Railroad

MichaelG.

Hi Michael,

Yes that's us!

Cheers Kerrin

Hi Kerrin;

Thanks for the reply - it does look a lot more built up than I remember, but the location makes sense from memory.

Glad to see that it is a going concern - I'll share the link with our club members as we are embarking on rebuilding our elevated track.

JohnS.