Proposals to move an historic Ja-class steam locomotive to a new display shed near the Dunedin Railway Station will give the Otago Settlers Museum a "huge boost", museum officials say.
At a settlers museum board meeting yesterday, museum director Linda Wigley and Dunedin City Council community life general manager Graeme Hall discussed plans to move the 100-tonne locomotive to its proposed new home by December next year.
Building the new glass-sided shed, to be located about 50m south of the railway station, would require planning consent.
The move would also be part of the $35 million redevelopment of the council-owned museum, due to be completed in 2012.
Council officials said that building the shed, and associated costs, including moving the locomotive were expected to be about $180,000, and would come within the redevelopment budget.
The locomotive, Ja1274, was the 35th and last of its class to be built at the Hillside Railway Workshops in Dunedin between 1946 and 1956.
"This will be a big boost for us," Ms Wigley said in an interview.
The display shed, visible from the railway station, would help attract some of the station's many visitors towards the museum and would also improve public viewing of the engine, she said.
The museum redevelopment will also result in Josephine, a steam locomotive which entered service in 1872, being prominently displayed in a planned new glass display area linked to and extending north from the museum's original Burnside building.
Josephine was one of the first steam locomotives operated in the Dunedin area.
A new northern entrance to the museum will be located nearby.
The Ja steam engine is not formally part of the museum collection, but is held in trust by the council on behalf of the people of Dunedin.
Mr Hall said that, before opting for the display shed option, the council had inquired about the cost of restoring the Ja locomotive to working order and this, including an upgraded boiler, would cost about $500,000.
A working engine would also require a specialised storage shed incorporating a workshop, which together could cost about $1 million.
Council officials said some steam enthusiasts were keen for the locomotive to be fully restored.
The ends of the shed would be designed to enable the engine to be removed for full restoration, if it was desired to pursue that option in future, officials said.
