The Mercer Project

Timeline to Mercer:
MSHT had a depot in Auckland housed in the ex NZR diesel depot in Parnell. In the early 2000’s it became apparent that this would soon become unavailable and a new home would need to be found for the Auckland collection.
Mainline investigated a number of possible locations:
- Helensville – 2012 – investigated – found to have shortcomings.
- Ranui – 2012 – restricted site for train handling.
- Opaheke – 2013/4 - got the project over the line through the AC OPW process. Unfortunately the final design had a number of shortcomings with space and train handling.
- Glenbrook – 2014/15 – Thoroughly explored the possibilities at Glenbrook but again a number of issues arose which would have created operational difficulties and increased costs.
- Mercer – 2016 – contacted the owner of a block alongside the old Mercer railway station site. This was Jeanette Thomas. Jeanette was hugely supportive from the start, recognizing the historical significance and the value of the project to the Mercer and wider Waikato communities. At a subsequent meeting with locals gathered to form a Citizens and Ratepayers Association we had immense support from all sections of the community including iwi. This support has never wavered.

Proposal:
After some concept development it was clear that we only need around 4Ha of the 12 Ha block. Historically this block had access from a dedicated road past the station. Properties on this road were predominantly for railway houses. In the early 1940’s Railways decided to build a triangle at Mercer as the existing turntable was too short for the largest locomotives (the K class). This resulted in a compulsory purchase under the public works act and the road access to the separate lot was cut off. This was not an issue at the time as the block of land was owned by the same person who owned the next block over. The separate titles remained and Jeanette purchased them together.
When it was decided to realign the boundary between the two lots this was done to ensure that Mainline would own as much land as was needed leaving Jeanette with enough land to maintain a viable operation. This led to the successful application to the council to realign boundaries.

The new depot will have a 70mx32m shed to house the excursion train and the maintenance operation. There will be a back shunt to assemble excursion trains and a turntable. The intention is to build a roundhouse as a museum. A roundhouse is a traditional locomotive depot of which there were three in New Zealand – none of which survive. The Mainline Steam Roundhouse will have 16 roads.