'East Town Railway Workshops' Book Launch With Laraine Sole

[@thedublorailway3803]

I must get hold of this book. Between the ages of about four and six when I was in Wanganui I used to wander along to the workshops and talk to the men working there. I remember them all being very nice to me and one even offered me a Ka he was working on because it was due to be scrapped in the near future. My mother wasn't sure that it would fit in the back yard. Health and safety not being such a big deal 60 years ago I was not the only young enthusiast to show up to nose about. I feel very lucky to have been able to do so.

[@MarkSeconi]

Thankyou for sharing your memories. I was a child of the 1980's and deregulation, restructuring and closing down of factories across many sectors made for a hard time in Wanganui. There was many a grim discussion between the adults over the family dinner table when I was a child. Both my grandfathers worked at East Town, Joseph Hoey (a fitter and turner) and Tom Seconi (paint shop). Many of our neighbours were railwaymen, so I naturally took an interest in the Wanganui East railscene. In this video, Ive included clips of passing container trains. It shows that railfreight is still on the move, but the freight is carried in modern ISO shipping containers and not in old-fashioned wooden 4-wheel wagons, a type of which used to be maintained at East Town. One thing I learned from the book, is that East Town was constantly threatened by change; there are two or three occassions in it's hundred year history where it could have been packed up and had its activities transfired elsewhere in New Zealand

[@jamieshotter3655]

My grandad did his appearanceship in East Town workshop as he flowed his father working on the railways and then he worked in Taranaki till he retired

[@MarkSeconi]

Everybody knows New Zealand suffered when its Apprentiship schemes were restructured. This is still being felt today

[@terrybrown8539]

I lived in Wanganui between 1984 and 1987. I recall the local Labour MP saying he'd resign if the workshops closed. They did but he didn't. I also recall a bloke buying the workshops with much fan fare but not being able to turn a profit on the purchase and eventually paying the price. Locals will know who he was.