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Kā Kōrero o Waikirikiri Selwyn Stories

Tom Ferguson

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TitleTom Ferguson DescriptionMany of the images you can see on Selwyn Stories were taken by Springfield local Tom Ferguson. He captured daily life in the Selwyn area; particularly trains, rail links and the people who worked in rail. As train examiner at Springfield for most of his working life, he had the perfect opportunity to capture a slice of life now long gone. As the man in charge of repairing the wagons, he worked through all manner of weather conditions, from bitterly cold winters to heavy rain and floods. Trains were derailed, bridges washed away, a fire at the Springfield station – and then there was the time a train ran into a bull at Craigieburn. In wartime, he would smuggle soldiers under tarpaulin sheets in the wagons. These huge steam engines hauled all manner of goods, from livestock to food and cars. Sometimes it was the passengers who caused the most fuss! “They used to take horses by rail in in horse boxes to the West Coast. And it was one Sunday morning, around four or five o’clock, they came across from the Coast and the chap was abusing me for not having the tearooms open. I waved my hammer at him – the train examiner’s hammer – and as he was going out, he said, “Good bye Pom!” He first encountered the Midline Line at the age of six weeks when his parents Thomas and Mary Ferguson moved to Otira in 1916. The perilous job of building a tunnel though the Otira Gorge was already underway and Ferguson senior was hired as a miner on the Otira side. He worked on the tunnel until its opening in 21 August 1923 and stayed on in the area for another two years. Tom joined the Railways in Christchurch when he was 18, and moved to Springfield to become a Train Examiner. For most of his life Tom lived in an old miner’s cottage in Queen Street in Springfield. There were three train examiners in Springfield and their job was round-the-clock role repairing the steam engines. In his downtime, Tom was an avid deer hunter (his favourite spot being Mount White Station up the Hawdon River) and also jet boating. Today the Midline Line is one of the greatest railway journeys of the world – passing through spectacular scenery, rugged forges, towering viaducts and numerous tunnels. The TranzAlpine, a tourist and passenger rail service, made its first journey on 22 November 1987. After Tom’s retirement from Springfield, TranzApline brought back Tom to share his wonderful knowledge of Midland Railway and its construction. Tom would hop on board the TranzAlpine once a month over six years to give passengers some history on the Midline Line, sometimes doing the commentary and sometimes chatting with the passengers – “they gave me a free pass for that”. Kia ora Tom for all the memories. Pictured right: Tom Ferguson and Thelma Olorenshaw (nee Topp)

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Mr Thomas Knott Ferguson's oral history

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Tom Ferguson