This years Federation of Rail Societies of New Zealand (FRONZ) conference was held in Nelson over Queens Birthday Weekend. It was great to see an array of familiar faces, including many past and present members of our own society. The Friday evening was largely taken up with social activities, a local restaurant being somewhat perplexed when a large contingent descended on it, making good use of the specials board.

After introductions from the FRONZ president, Paul Dillicar; representatives from the host, the Nelson Railway Society, introduced themselves. This was followed by a look at the year in review and a round up of the issues to be addressed in the year ahead. A key theme was the myriad of costs, codes and certifications, as well as negotiation and training all for the mainline operators. These far exceeded the expectations of the participants and continues to do so.

Trevor Burling then presented an in-depth paper, outlining considerations for handling materials and potential pollutants throughout their life cycle.

Land Transport New Zealand (LTNZ) gave an illustrated talk to update participants on the changing licensing environment for groups like ours. It was great to be able to put faces to the new names at LTNZ. They seem generally happy with the transition to the new legislative environment, ours being one of the 15 groups to have forwarded a Safety Case pursuant to the act to date.

The convenors reports revealed no startling surprises, a tribute to the excellent work that are doing.

Hugh McCracken presented an informative session highlighting the advantages of producing multi-purpose editorial and feature article content for Web Sites, Newsletters, and other reports; and illustrated this and web-specific issues in a review of off-shore sites.

Peter McCallum presented a particularly relevant paper on Interpreting Railway Heritage, with a particular focus on fulfilling the public expectation. The theme of legacy and the need to respect the exhibits passage through time were alluded to, particularly when undertaking conservation work or producing interpretive material. Also, providing “real” experiences for the customer and allowing a slightly fun element to the product are important.

The changing nature of the membership of FRONZ and the need to keep the content of the Conference relevant and affordable was discussed. This was in part necessitated by the increasing number of station precinct or special interest groups that now subscribe to the organisation that have needs and interests that differ from operating rail groups.

The Field Trip to the Pigeon Valley Steam Museum was a particular highlight. Despite murky weather, it was fascinating to see the array of boilers, stationary steam engines, traction engines, operating sawmill, trucks and bush tramway machinery; much of it in running order and a wide selection operating for our visit.

Following dinner, an intriguing review of the many and varied tramways and railways of the Nelson / Marlborough region was presented by John Orchard. A particular highlight was the crisp historic photographs which when enlarged revealed a wealth of detail.

The Annual General Meeting yielded few surprises although it was nice to see long-serving member Nigel Hogg elected to the FRONZ executive and inherit the convenorship for attracting and retaining new and younger members to the rail preservation movement. This brings the number of our members on the executive to 3.

After lunch, the national and global affiliations of FRONZ were outlined, giving them and presumably us substantial resources to draw upon for resolving technical issues. Some statistics for New Zealand and Australia were presented. Currently in NZ, groups like ours have a combined membership of over 5000 people, 1000 of which actively participate in the restoration and operation of heritage equipment. Given that there are currently around 60 member groups in FRONZ, dividing these numbers by 60 to get an average shows that we are slightly larger than the 50 percentile group.

Bill Rayner then described the work of the International Association of Transport Museums organisation, which has widespread links in the preservation industry.

Euan McQueen introduced the Riga and Burra Charters which contain useful considerations and protocols for preparing the Conservation Plans used in the restoration of vehicles like ours.

Bob Murray present some modifications they had made to vehicles in their fleet to accommodate the nature and constraints of their operation.

William Peat from Ontrack presented a refreshing view of the National Rail Network and the major investment programmes that they have embarked on. He gave an insight into issues for heritage operations on the mainline and the conventions they are challenging, but indicated there is much work to do in this area.

No to be confused with LTNZ, the Ministry of Transport gave an overview of the work they are doing that is of relevance to us. They have a particular interest in railway crossings with a focus on both design and enforcement.

The glamour event of the Conference is always the Awards Dinner, this year being no exception. The Ontrack Infrastructure award went to the Blenheim Riverside Railway, the A & G Price Award went to Feilding's Wab 794, Glenbrook picked up the Rolling Stock Award with Ferrymead's B car and tank wagon also receiving recognition. Nelson's Hunslett DSA received the United (replaces Alstom) Award and a beautifully restored Auckland tram secured Motat the tramway award. The new “variable drive” (self steering bogies) railcar won Barry Brickell the award for Innovation while the excellence award was presented to Euan McQueen for his many and varied contributions to heritage rail activities. The Rail Heritage Trust announced that the Dunedin City Council will receive the restoration award for the restoration of the former NZR Road Services Depot, now part of the Otago Settlers' Museum. The Certificate of Merit went to the Papatoetoe Railway Station Preservation Trust.

On the following morning, Grant Craig gave a brief outline on the proposed Station Centenary event for Labour Weekend. Reknown photographer DLA Turner gave an in depth explanation on archiving material such as photographs in a digital form without compromising quality.

The final item on the agenda was a field trip to Founders Park. The railway, historic village and working brewery were all excellent; made all the more pleasant by the warm sunny weather and the copious morning tea.