History

Purchased from UK firm, The Midland Card Company, box wagon K 543 probably entered service in 1900. It joined the fast-growing ranks of the K class, later members of which survived well into the 1970's. In its original form it would have carried general cargo, although little information on its career has survived.

Some forty years later, it returned to the workshops, this time Addington, for re-manufacturing. The original body was removed, including the floor & headstocks, and a new sleeping hut body was built on the old frame.

This body was constructed with a seemingly random selection of Rimu and Kauri timbers. Framing timber was unusually heavy for wagon construction, being 87mm x 63mm secured by pinned mortise and tennon joints with continuous checked cross members. Conventional tie-rods were not used. Intended as workers accommodation, it was fitted out with a single shed-type hinged door, bunks, stove, cupboards and folding tables. Four small opening windows completed the somewhat unusual picture.

The vehicle was eventually relegated to tool storage duties as more spacious retired carriages became available for use as living quarters. Around this time, it was reclassified as E1165 to reflect its non-revenue status. It eventually ended its career as a smoko hut at Hillside Workshops with a large crane makers-plate set up inside as a card table.

The wagon found its way to the Ocean Beach Railway in the mid 1980's after residing briefly at the Otago Excursion Train Trust's Anzac Avenue site. At Ocean Beach, it attracted vandals and junk in equal proportions, finding use only on the occasional work train.

Restoration

Serious consideration was given to beginning the restoration of the vehicle in 1989. First impressions of the vehicle weren't good. Rain-soaked and smelling strongly of decay, the wagon presented a poor picture in the dim torchlight. It seemed the committee had decided to have it restored into a home for coal and locomotive junk.

The first task was to sort out the ten thousand wet and rusty bolts that the wagon had attracted. Despite the assistance, we were sorting for weeks. Then the cladding and remaining half of the roof were removed, revealing very rotten framing timbers and some chainsaw carpentry used in installing the large windows on one side. At that stage, it was questioned whether the wagon could be restored and serious thought was given to demolishing it. Progress was patchy over the next couple of years but with some donated demolition timber, the framing was eventually repaired with all of the B-side being replaced. The interior was rebuilt with salvaged timber from the exterior cladding.

The society had a special run of tongue and groove cladding manufactured which held some unusual properties but eventually proved to be satisfactory. The interior had been painted numerous times with lead paint. Heat-gunning it off was time-consuming with many sections having to be done twice to get back to bare wood. The number of splits, holes and gashes on the interior was unbelievable with much of the visible timber face owing its existence to various fillers trialled over the years. A broken headstock and cracked transom at opposite ends of the vehicle slowed proceedings again. After overcoming this, new arrival XP 3193 queue-jumped, on the mistaken belief that it would be restored quickly because of its sound condition.

Replacement of the roof was the one stage completed ahead of schedule. We purchased some decent timber for the roof and it assembled it wet after being coated in primer paint to create a tight joint. To make the job easier, each board was pulled into place with a large sash-cramp. The completed job was much more rigid to walk on than the steel-reinforced roof of XP3193 and was completed faster than the repairs to the XP roof. Sprayed polyurethane was again used for cost and durability reasons. This had to be done under urgency as the workshop roof was now in such bad condition that the wagon was starting to deteriorate again.

The sole surviving window frame was rebuilt and three replicas made to match. These have been glazed and fitted. The exterior has returned to the original red-oxide colour, much to the surprise of a number of members.

The finished result is quite pleasing. It has distinctive turn-of-the-century lines, character, and a unique place in history. Performance wise, it is probably the worst-riding vehicle I have ever travelled in, being piped, it has no braking effort and it fulfils no apparent need. However, the roof is extremely watertight, unlike the shed it lived in, and the finish is of high quality. It seems that it is the sole survivor of this once common wagon type. The interior of the wagon has recently been returned to its original 1940's fit-out with cupboards, bunks, tables and shelves now in place.