The Western Springs Railway

02/06/2026

On the evening of Saturday 30 May MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology) was delighted to host the delegates from the annual Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand - FRONZ conference. We had 5 locomotives in steam- F180, L507, Y542, Mainline Steam's Bagnall and Bertha- as well as the Fowler traction engine. The Oberursel and Dsa223 also ran during the evening. A really fun, atmostpheric night of trains and trams was was enjoyed by all, along with workshop tours and dinner in the Aviation Hall.

On the same day we also had Unit Standard assesments for two of our firemen- Pranz Cortez and Cameron Teague- both of whom now have boiler tickets as a result! Congratulations, guys! And a big thankyou to David Maciulaitis for doing these assesments!

01/06/2026

Congratulations to our 2026 award winners - you smashed it out of the park!

The MOTAT Society Steam Locomotive Restoration Award goes to Lumsden Heritage Trust for the static restoration of D6.

The Pounamu Travel Carriage/Guards Van Restoration Award goes to Mainline Steam Heritage Trust for carriage AO 100.

The Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand Restoration Award goes to the Dunedin Tunnels Trail Trust and Dunedin City Council for the Chain Hills Tunnel project.

The MOTAT Society Tramway Restoration Award goes to Western Springs Tramway for the restoration of Wanganui Trailer No. 21.

The NZ Safety Blackwoods Motive Power Award goes to Steam Incorporated for the restoration of DC 4375.

The KiwiRail Infrastructure Improvement Award goes to Glenbrook Vintage Railway and Gisborne City Vintage Railway: GVR for their North Yard retaining wall & siding, and GCVR for their new rail passenger loading platform.

The Glenbrook Vintage Railway Young Achiever Award goes to Pranz Cortez from MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology).

The Glenbrook Vintage Railway Volunteer of the Year Award goes to David Rowland from Steam Incorporated.

The Paul Dillicar Memorial Award for Innovation goes to Pounamu Tourism Group, Steam Incorporated and Canterbury Railway Society for their cooperative and innovative effort to boost additional passenger rail services in the South Island.

The Paul Heighton Memorial Award for Excellence goes to Leyton Chan of MOTAT (Museum of Transport and Technology).

Amazing work to all our winners and nominees!

27/05/2026

This Saturday evening we’re being visited by delegates from this year’s Federation of Rail Organisations of New Zealand - FRONZ conference. This visit will see our trains running after dark, and as part of these operations we will for the first time have F180 operating with a full set of oil lamps. The two headlights are both genuine ex. NZ Railways lamps and have recently been fitted with new glass flues which we’ve had made. In the cab the water gauge lamp was made for is some time ago and is based on an original lamp that was loaned to us as a template.

F180’s new lamps were completed and tested last week, as seen in these photos. Today we also prepared all the tail and side lamps for the event so we are now all set for Saturday!

In the workshop Ka941’s cab has returned from storage so we can install the corner pieces of boiler cladding, kindly donated to us by Steam Incorporated earlier this year to compliment the parts that we already had for this project.

16/05/2026

Steam Live Day Today!

We’re all steamed up and ready to go for today’s Live Day! Our dedicated team are now undertaking the final prep work on all of the locomotives, engines and boilers ready for the gates to open at 10am. The weather is perfect for a great day of steam and trains- we look forward to seeing many of you today!

12/05/2026

Steam Live Day: Sunday 17 May

This Sunday is one of the biggest Live Days of the year for our team. We’ll have all 5 steam locomotives in steam for the day- Y542, F180, L507, Bertha and the Bagnall- as well as the Fowler traction engine, the Wallis and Steevens roller, the Marshall portable engine and the Cochranette stationary boiler.

As part of our preparations for the day we have F180 in steam tonight to test the lubricator after some repairs. The locomotive is also sporting new whistle levers in the cab, replacing the later style whistle cords which were previously in use.

Come along and see us on Sunday for a fun day of steam and trains! Gates open at 10am.

18/04/2026

Train Rides Today!

It’s Live Day today and we’re all set and ready to go! Y542 and Mainline Steam’s Bagnall are in steam, as are the Fowler traction engine and the Marshall portable engine. Thankfully the rain cleared overnight so it should be a great day! We are open from now until 4pm and train running has just started. Come along and enjoy a fun day of trains and steam!

17/12/2025

F180 had a great first weekend of running on the Silver Stream Railway on 13 and 14 December! On Saturday she was steamed up in the afternoon for some test runs and carried members of the SSR who were on site for a meeting. And then on Sunday she had her first public runs, hauling many trainloads of happy passengers! Tommy Mortimer got some great footage of the two days of running, as seen in this youtube clip: https://youtu.be/rWgleG3o-Ec?si=iLDym9N6XzQRs5sH Thanks for posting the video, Tommy!

Finishing the year off with a fun weekend of exclusive steam action. For the 150th anniversary of the Wairarapa Line reaching Silverstream and Upper Hutt, Th...

12/12/2025

Following on from our post this morning: F180 has made it to the Silver Stream Railway safe and sound and is now tucked up ready for this weekend’s running! Go along and see her on Sunday if you’re in the area!

We are excited to announce the arrival of F180 all the way from the Western Springs Railway at MOTAT in Auckland. The loco is visiting to help us celebrate 150 years of railways in the upper Hutt Valley.

This coming Sunday the 14th of December marks 150 years of the railway reaching Silverstream. Come along and enjoy a ride along our section of railway behind this historic locomotive built back in 1874. We are open from 11am with trains running every 25 minutes until the last train for 2025 leaves at 3:45pm.

Stay tuned for some other events in 2026.

11/12/2025

F180 On Tour!

Today was an exciting day for F180 and for our team! At 6am this morning we commenced loading the locomotive on to a transporter, and at the time of writing she is now heading south towards the Silver Stream Railway in the Hutt Valley!

We are delighted to be able to support our friends at Silver Stream as they celebrate 150 years of their railway line this summer, and over that time F180 will be operating trains on their railway on a number of dates: 14 December 2025; and 4, 18 and 19 January and 1 February 2026. F180 will then return to MOTAT in time to be back in service for our Steam Live Day in May.

This trip marks a number of ‘firsts’:
• The first time F180 has operated on another railway since her restoration was completed in 2018
• The first time F180 has left MOTAT in almost 60 years, having been delivered on 15 April 1966.
• The first time F180 has been in the Wellington region in 93 years- having last been there when she narrowly avoided scrapping at Hutt shops in 1932
• The first time a MOTAT locomotive has visited another railway since L507 went to the Bush Tramway Club in 2015.

We hope those of you who are in Wellington over this period will be able to come and see F180 in action and to support the Silver Stream Railway’s events!

18/11/2025

To round off our annual Rail Live Day on 16 November we marshalled both trains together and did two runs with all 5 steam locomotives on the head. Here we see the first of the two runs led by Bertha, Mainline Steam’s Bagnall, L507, F180 and Y542. This is somewhat of a tradition at the end of each of these days- a fun way to round off a very successful weekend!