Last year, the Canterbury Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (CSMEE) sought a new lease agreement with the Christchurch City Council which would allow for the current 1.5 kilometres of railway to be extended to just over 2 kilometres.
A hearings panel, chaired by Councillor Anne Galloway, considered all the submissions and recommended to the Waipuna Halswell-Hornby-Riccarton Community Board that they approve the new lease.
The railway, located at the Halswell Domain, runs every Sunday for the public between 1pm and 4pm.
The project manager of the railway, John Hamilton, has been an integral member of the engineers club for 45 years. He says the bid for more railway has been well supported.
“When the council did the public consultation for us there were over 261 public submissions. All but three of the submissions received supported CSMEE’s plans.”
Hamilton says this has always been in their sights.
“We were always going to do it. We used to be in Addington for 60 years, and we outgrew that size so we moved to Halswell in 2003. It was the last thing we were planning to do in the shifting.”
But all they will need to do now to get the building started, is a resource consent.
Hamilton says it will be another couple of months before they get the resource consent, so they're hoping by this time next year they will have the first stage completed - the first 232 metres of the track.
Hamilton is excited about the upcoming expansion, saying that having the railway is an inclusive and cheap attraction for young families.
“It means we can run the public on one loop and if the members want to try out new engineers or play or we get new engines then we keep them nicely separated.”
Community Board Chair, Mike Mora, says the miniature railway is a wonderful asset, and caters for the whole of Christchurch.
“The railway is a wonderful, low-cost attraction for families and the Canterbury Society of Model and Experimental Engineers has done a great job building and running the railway for many, many years,’’ Mr Mora says.
"A concern was raised during the consultation on the lease application that a small area of vegetation needs to be removed to allow for the new track.''
Mr Mora says that to combat this, it will be replaced with a larger area of vegetation so overall there is a net gain.
