Our Carriage Fleet

A 523 – Addington Workshops

A 523 is the oldest carriage in the Weka Pass Railway fleet, built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 43-foot 9-inch wooden paneled elevated roof Clerestory carriage. It entered service in 1896. No records exist for its exact date of commissioning, or its primary location, though it was likely used on a number of South Island mainlines and branches.

The carriage entered a new life in late May 1954 as EA 2674 – the EA classification representing a change of purpose for the carriage from the Passenger to the Ways and Works department of the NZR. The carriage was written off on the 9th September 1972 and was sold to the Shantytown Railway of Paroa, and later to the Weka Pass Railway, where it arrived in 1986. Unlike all of our other carriages, there is no intention of restoring A 523 to operational condition – it perfectly serves as the society’s bunkhouse.

A 1720 – Addington Workshops

A 1720 is the most recent addition to the Weka Pass Railway fleet, built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 50-foot steel paneled suburban carriage, recently acquired to compliment the remainder of our carriage fleet. It entered service on the 10th October 1931 on Dunedin suburban trains. It was renumbered as A 50084 around 1978 due to the introduction of the traffic monitoring system (TMS).

In 1983, the vehicle was sold to the Otago Excursion Train Trust. The carriage spent many years as Carriage ‘N’ on the Taieri Gorge Railway. It was renumbered as XPC 588 during its time with OETT.

The carriage was sold to the Weka Pass Railway in late 2019, and arrived onto our site in March 2020 for future restoration.

A 1732 – Addington Workshops

A 1732 was built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 50-foot steel paneled suburban carriage. It entered service on the 10th October 1931 on Dunedin suburban trains. It was renumbered as A 50157 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

The carriage was written off on the 13th August 1983. It was sold to the Taieri Gorge Railway (now Dunedin Railways). After spending many years in storage, it was acquired by the Weka Pass Railway to complete our A car numerical sequence, and it arrived in Waipara on the 13th March 2009. It is currently in storage, and its restoration is planned for sometime in the medium-term future.

A 1733 – Addington Workshops

A 1733 was built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 50-foot steel paneled suburban carriage. It entered service on the 10th October 1931 on Dunedin suburban trains. It was renumbered as A 50167 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

The carriage was written off on the 13th August 1983. It was sold to the Weka Pass Railway, and arrived at Waipara on the 10th December 1983. A 1733 was used until 2003 when it was taken out of service for repairs, it returned to service shortly after. The carriage was again used until April 2010 when it was taken out of service for major repairs and a cosmetic tidy-up. A 1733 once again returned to service in January 2012.

A 1760 – Addington Workshops

A 1760 was built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 50-foot steel paneled suburban carriage. It entered service on the 10th October 1931 on Dunedin suburban trains. It was renumbered as A 50223 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

The carriage was written off on the 13th August 1983. It was sold to the Taieri Gorge Railway (now Dunedin Railways). Just before the purchase of the carriage by the Weka Pass Railway, it was undergoing rebuilding as a buffet car, but the work halted after it was decided to rebuilt an ex-Wairarapa Connection 56-foot carriage. It was acquired by the Weka Pass Railway, and arrived in Waipara on the 1st October 2008. A 1760 is currently in storage.

AC 3548 – Addington Workshops

A 1935 was built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 56-foot steel-paneled mainline carriage. It entered service on the 9th December 1939 as A 1935. The carriage was assigned to the Southerner passenger service between Christchurch and Invercargill. It was renumbered as A 3338 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

In 1988, the carriage was rebuilt at Addington Workshops, where it was fitted with 37 aircraft type reclining seats, food supply facilities, the electrical equipment was changed to be run off head-end power supply, was also fitted with high-speed type 28020 bogies, and reclassified as AC 3548. It was assigned to the Capital Connection long-distance commuter service between Palmerston North and Wellington.

Al 1697 – Addington Workshops

Al 1697 was built by Addington Workshops in Christchurch as a 50-foot steel paneled suburban carriage, A 1697. It entered service on the 10th October 1931 on Dunedin suburban trains. The carriage was rebuilt as a car-van (a carriage with a built-in guards compartment) in October 1969 and reclassified as Al 1697. It was renumbered as AL 50026 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS. Note the capitalisation of the ‘L’.

The carriage was written off on the 13th August 1983. It was sold to the Weka Pass Railway and arrived at Waipara on the 10th December 1983. Restoration started in 1990 and was complete in 1993. It’s restoration has enabled wheelchair access on the train. Al 1697 was taken out of service in December 2017 for cosmetic and mechanical repairs but has since returned to the running fleet.

At 155 – Addington Workshops

At 155 was built by Addington Workshops as a 30-foot T class cattle wagon. It entered service circa 1960 as T 155. It was renumbered as T 385 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

It was written off on the 7th November 1981. The wagon was later purchased by the Weka Pass Railway in 1984, and work to modify the wagon as a covered viewing car started not long after. The wagon entered service for the railway in 1988, and was reclassified as At 155. This follows the NZR convention of classifying passenger carrying vehicles with an ‘A’.

At 157 – Addington Workshops

At 157 was built by Addington Workshops as a 30-foot T class cattle wagon. It entered service circa 1960 as T 157. It was renumbered as T 409 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS.

It was written off on the 7th November 1981. The wagon was later purchased by the Weka Pass Railway in 1984, and work to modify the wagon as an open viewing car started not long after. The wagon entered service for the railway in September 1993, and was reclassified as At 157. This follows the NZR convention of classifying passenger carrying vehicles with an ‘A’.

Guards Van – F 497 – Hillside Workshops

F 497 was built by Hillside Workshops as a 47-foot, 6-inch wooden body guards van. It entered service on the 23rd July 1927. It was renumbered as F 962 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS. It was written off on the 23rd April 1983.

The van was later purchased by a Weka Pass Railway member (who donated it to the railway), and the van arrived in Waipara in April 1985. F 497 was restored in 1998, and has been in service since. Whilst the van is larger than F 699, it has a much smaller guards compartment. Due to the length of our storage shed, F 497 is not normally used on our train, although it makes occasional appearances on special events and charters. The vehicle is known as the ‘big van’ by Weka Pass’ operational volunteers.

Guards Van – F 699 – Addington Workshops

F 699 was built by the Addington Workshops woodwork apprentices as a 37-foot, 6-inch wooden body guards van. It entered service in 1964. It was renumbered as F 2854 around 1978 due to the introduction of TMS. The van was assigned to Dunedin in its later life, working on winter goods trains up the Otago Central Railway. The gas heaters on the more modern ‘FM’ vans could not cope with the frigid winter temperatures – the coal-fired pot belly in 699 being favoured. It’s heat-trapping abilities are put to the test on our annual ‘Mid-Winter Night Trains.’ An ‘Otago Central Line Only’ sign is fitted to the interior of the van as a memento to this period of the vehicle’s life.