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The story of the restoration of the red Cass railway jigger
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TitleThe story of the restoration of the red Cass railway jigger 
DescriptionThe story starts when I was invited to join the Rolleston 150 years Committee as the KiwiRail representative and a resident of Rolleston for the 150 years celebrations in 2016.
The Rolleston 150 committee was Chaired by Selwyn District Council (SDC) Councilor Jeff Bland who at that time was looking at four themes for Rolleston's heritage: Rail, Military, Agriculture and Culture.
With these themes in mind Jeff asked me if I could get a rail jigger to represent the Rail theme, which was planned to go into the new Rolleston Library. I then worked with KiwiRail Management to find a rail jigger that could be restored for Rolleston heritage, and I was able to find one in Barrie Drummond's jigger shed at the famous Cass railway station.
Jeff Bland and I then went to Cass with a trailer and picked up the jigger on 2nd March 2019 and brought it back to Christchurch where it was taken out to Kirwee and placed in a shed there for restoration. The restoration team was made up of three of us, Ian Dixon, Danny Leonard and myself with each of us at that time working as train drivers (Locomotive Engineers) at KiwiRail. The shed at Kirwee where the jigger would be restored was on Ian Dixon's property. The jigger was stripped down completely and took three years of hard work and much passion to fully restore it after which it was agreed for the Jigger to be placed into the SDC Headquarters building in Rolleston and at that time an official unveiling was arranged between KiwiRail and SDC to officially hand over the jigger. The official unveiling took place at the SDC Headquarters on 3rd May, 2022.
The jigger then remained at the SDC Head Office on display to the public in the main foyer until it had to be moved to free up space and on 6th October 2023 the Jigger was moved to its current location at the Selwyn Heritage Park, Leeston and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was put in place by SDC and the Leeston Heritage Park that the Jigger would be on loan for a five year term in which time the SDC would find a place in the new Rolleston Town Centre where the Jigger would be on display to the public in a secure building so the Jigger would not be exposed to any possible vandalism.
I recently met with Mayor Lydia Gliddon and Deputy Major Big Red to update with any further progress in finding a place for the Jigger in the new Rolleston Town Centre which is looking doubtful, but I am still holding a hopeful mind that a place will be found as the Jigger I believe is a true icon for the representation of Rolleston's rail history. My passion for rail is huge with having grown up in a Rail family in a small country town called Ward and having ridden on rail jiggers as a young boy with my Dad Gordon Lawn who was a Signals Maintainer at Ward from 1953 to 1968. I worked for 51 years at Rail as a train driver (locomotive engineer) and my family have 100 years of service in rail over three generations, so again my passion for rail and its history is huge.
Graham Lawn
21 October 2026
Date21 October 2026SourceGraham Lawn
DescriptionThe story starts when I was invited to join the Rolleston 150 years Committee as the KiwiRail representative and a resident of Rolleston for the 150 years celebrations in 2016.The Rolleston 150 committee was Chaired by Selwyn District Council (SDC) Councilor Jeff Bland who at that time was looking at four themes for Rolleston's heritage: Rail, Military, Agriculture and Culture.
With these themes in mind Jeff asked me if I could get a rail jigger to represent the Rail theme, which was planned to go into the new Rolleston Library. I then worked with KiwiRail Management to find a rail jigger that could be restored for Rolleston heritage, and I was able to find one in Barrie Drummond's jigger shed at the famous Cass railway station.
Jeff Bland and I then went to Cass with a trailer and picked up the jigger on 2nd March 2019 and brought it back to Christchurch where it was taken out to Kirwee and placed in a shed there for restoration. The restoration team was made up of three of us, Ian Dixon, Danny Leonard and myself with each of us at that time working as train drivers (Locomotive Engineers) at KiwiRail. The shed at Kirwee where the jigger would be restored was on Ian Dixon's property. The jigger was stripped down completely and took three years of hard work and much passion to fully restore it after which it was agreed for the Jigger to be placed into the SDC Headquarters building in Rolleston and at that time an official unveiling was arranged between KiwiRail and SDC to officially hand over the jigger. The official unveiling took place at the SDC Headquarters on 3rd May, 2022.
The jigger then remained at the SDC Head Office on display to the public in the main foyer until it had to be moved to free up space and on 6th October 2023 the Jigger was moved to its current location at the Selwyn Heritage Park, Leeston and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was put in place by SDC and the Leeston Heritage Park that the Jigger would be on loan for a five year term in which time the SDC would find a place in the new Rolleston Town Centre where the Jigger would be on display to the public in a secure building so the Jigger would not be exposed to any possible vandalism.
I recently met with Mayor Lydia Gliddon and Deputy Major Big Red to update with any further progress in finding a place for the Jigger in the new Rolleston Town Centre which is looking doubtful, but I am still holding a hopeful mind that a place will be found as the Jigger I believe is a true icon for the representation of Rolleston's rail history. My passion for rail is huge with having grown up in a Rail family in a small country town called Ward and having ridden on rail jiggers as a young boy with my Dad Gordon Lawn who was a Signals Maintainer at Ward from 1953 to 1968. I worked for 51 years at Rail as a train driver (locomotive engineer) and my family have 100 years of service in rail over three generations, so again my passion for rail and its history is huge.
Graham Lawn
21 October 2026
Date21 October 2026SourceGraham LawnConnections
CollectionRed Cass railway jiggerPlaceCassTauwharekākaho RollestonMore InformationReport on the unveilling of the jigger at SDC HQ
PlaceCassTauwharekākaho RollestonMore InformationReport on the unveilling of the jigger at SDC HQAttribution
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The story of the restoration of the red Cass railway jigger (21 October 2026). Selwyn Stories, accessed 28/10/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/7165