On the 16th of December 2017 the Western Springs Tramway (WST) at the Museum of Transport and Technology (MOTAT) will celebrate its Diamond Jubilee. It is incredible to think that a group of dedicated volunteers banded together in 1964 to construct the permanent way and successfully open and operate a tramway only three years later.
Not only did the WST volunteers construct the permanent way, they also carried out the earthworks and put in place site drainage, along with erecting all the overhead poles for the museum system. The tramway was also dual gauge to allow for the operation of both Wellington and Auckland Cars, and was truly unique in this regard.
16 December 1967
Video credit: Brian White
To commemorate this event the trust has, with the assistance of the WST Social Club, migrated around two and a half hours of 8mm film footage from the Stewart Collection. High resolution digital scans of the fragile films have been made to facilitate future image restoration and colour grading.
Once the migration of the entire library of 8mm films to digital file has been completed, the original footage will be deposited by the AET Trust with Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision in Wellington.