# Tuahiwi Valley Lumber survives 7.1 earthquake



## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Got woken 4.35am this morning with a bit of shaking. To the point where standing or walking wasn't really on the cards, for either the main event or the first aftershock some 10 mins later...

Turns out we were in the middle of at 7.1 quake centred 20 miles from here, and shallow at 6 miles deep. Local city of 350,000 is fairly stuffed, water and sewage pipe damage is the main issue. Plenty of buildings down, centre of town is cordoned off, and curfews are in place for falling rubble at night.


* Christchurch Earthquake*


No damage here at home, very lucky but power was out until lunchtime. Aftershocks were clicking magnitude 5+ on a regular basis. I tell ya what each one of those gives you an adrenaline shot - seems like the big one is starting again. We've had 3 more small ones as I type this, you can hear them coming. I know its not a train or plane 'cause they are all shut down.. Definitely not good for the nerves.

So. No power, family, home and neighbours all safe, instructions to stay at home - whats a battery guy to do!










The inspection crew walk the first tunnel to check for fallen rocks, then take the Heisler up to the first bridge. Engineer Tom does a visual check for damage.



















Were all those cracks in the rock there yesterday?
All seems ok so they head on up to the main trestle. No knowing if this is safe or not... 



















Only 1 way to find out for sure!



















Whew!

In the afternoon TVL management send a freight up into the hillls with supplies and machinery for the folk up there.





































Yours shakily
Neil


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## SteveC (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil

That' GREAT news, after hearing the reports on the quake I was wondering about our Kiwis and how you had made out. Didn't happen to hear anything about MLS - caferacer he's supposed to be located somwhere around Christchurch too?


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## Gary Armitstead (Jan 2, 2008)

When I heard the news about the quake in your area, I was thinking about you. Glad to hear you are safe and OK. We haven't had a plus seven in our area for a while. Thankls for letting us know. 

Great story using your layout to tell about the aftermath of a shaker.


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

Glad to hear that you're OK, Niel. Yes, looks like the RR faired right well even though shaken a bit. 

Trust all will be back to normal very quickly...


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## caferacer (Jul 22, 2010)

Neil glad you are well was big news here in OZ about the Christchurch quake glad the Tuahiwi Valley Lumber is all ok and operational our block of land were we were going to build has a huge crack in it about 200 ft long and one side is 2-3 feet higher this morning from the other side dead set right bang in the middle were the D & P Misty Cove Railroad was just about to be built **** of a shock,really glad no one was killed caferacer


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil: Glad to hear you guys are OK down there. Those things are really scary


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

Glad you guys were okay, thought about you, thanks for posting.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Hi Neil 

We're glad to hear you and the family are ok. 

You got a great looking railroad and it's good to hear it survive also 

Randy


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

Photo labeled #7, I just love that section of your RR. Very realistic....


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## Ray Dunakin (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi, glad to hear you made it through the quake ok. Sure is a nice looking layout!


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Thanks guys. Its certainly been an experience.. 

Gave the house a decent once over today. Some cracked brickwork - pretty minor but photographed for the insurance. Also had a look at the chimney, the flashing around it was 1/2" clear on all sides. So either we had an unreinforced brick column, or several tonnes of concrete tiles on timber truses swaying over our heads during the quake, or both. Both ideas are not pleasant. 

The only thing that prevented loss of life was the timing. If it had happenned during business hours or while the nightclubs were full with queues outside many would have been buried. We got off lightly! 

In further news TVL management had a report of 2 broken beer bottles that had toppled from a high shelf in the maintenance shed. The Heath and Safety officer for TVL was hopping mad and demanding to know why there was alcohol present in the workplace. The Maintenance Manager was hopping mad that the beer was stored in such an unsafe place and not in the beer fridge in his office. The apprentice has been quietly sent hopping down the road to get some replacements.. 

Cheers 
Neil


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## John J (Dec 29, 2007)

I am glad to hear you are ok. Those are some great Pictures. # 9 is contest quality. You should enter it.


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## NTCGRR (Jan 2, 2008)

We just need to talk to you about weathering your rolling stock.


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## Mike O (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil, 

Glad to hear you and your family are fine. Kudos to the railroad's engineering department for design and construction of a right of way that can take a 7.1 shaking without damage. 

Mike


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil:

Glad to hear that with the exception of the beer, you and your family survived. A quake of that size can sure cause a lot of damage and injury.

Caferacer:

It's a good thing that you hadn't started construction. I heard on the news this morning that the fault was an new one, one that geologists didn't know about. I had always thought that all the major earthquakes in NZ on the South Island happened along the Alpine fault that runs down the west side of the island.

Chuck N


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## Stan Cedarleaf (Jan 2, 2008)

I'm quite partial to image #9.... Could Durango if they ran a Shay...


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Posted By NTCGRR on 05 Sep 2010 06:21 AM 
We just need to talk to you about weathering your rolling stock. Doesn't leaving them outside count? And whats wrong with shiny B'mann Yellow plastic anyways..









Yes, weathering is getting close to one of the things I have to figure out. Thought I'd start with something a bit easier like a scratch build loco, then I have to tackle the weathering at the end. Kinda force myself into it..


Chuck,

Our whole country is pretty much a fault line. The main one (in the South Is) is the Alpine, I think it has other names as you move north. There are literally hundreds of smaller fault lines where we get all of our quakes from (so far). The Alpine is our equivalent to the San Andreas, last time it went off was approx 900 yrs ago, and I think from memory it has an average return period of 700 yrs. You do the math - I DO NOT want to be around when that one goes! 


If you have a look at the pic in my signature and draw a diagonal line from top right corner to bottom left, the RHS is on the Pacific plate, the LHS is on the Australian plate. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide 'round here..


I like pic #9 as well. That was a blind shot as you can't see where the camera is pointing where it has to sit, unless you are good at updside down levitating.. Might clean the lens some and take a few more there. 


Cheers
Neil


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## Hamers (May 11, 2009)

Hi Neil, 

Good to hear you survived without too much damage. 

4:35am was a bit of a wake up call. I think my partner woke me with a couple of gentle prods... Lucky for me I don't bruise to easy and may also need to see a hearing specialist at some point. 

Due to loss of power the railway was inspected at first light, along with the train room outside. Was a bit nervous when the door was jammed shut where something had fallen over but to my relief all boxes remained shelved and no damage recorded. The track gang was dispatched and inspected track, tunnels, bridges and all look sound. In fact the most damage to the property was the bird bath that had fallen over, but has been stood back up. Got off lightly considering the rumble and shake, compared to those in Kaiapoi where houses have moved over a 1m sideways. 

The Railway was planning a run yesterday afternoon however railway management has suspended all operations until aftershocks cease, due to health and safety... and because those little bumps give me the willy's everytime one hits. (feels like a truck slams into the side of the house each time) 


Catch ya, 
Andrew


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Gidday Andrew, 

Really glad to hear things are ok. I know what you mean with the willies, we are still running on adrenaline I reckon. I still can't believe how lightly we got off, we're only 5 km from Kaiapoi. My run was a bit cheeky, but there was stuff all else to do. 

Haven't gone into town yet so haven't seen much of the damage apart from on the telly, work is in the CBD so we were on shutdown today. Call is open tomorrow but bring your own drinking water.. You won't be short of work for a while! 

Cheers 
Neil


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil:

I realize that NZ is a land of many faults zones. Usually, parts of countries that have low relief, such as the Salisbury Plain on which Christchurch is located are relatively free of mega quakes. Active tectonics is usually in areas of hilly and mountainous topography. There are exceptions, but they are quite rare. The largest historical earthquake in the United States (ca. 1812) occurred in southeastern Missouri. That is pretty much in the middle of our "great Plains". That series of quakes changed the course of the Mississippi River and rang church bells in Boston (about a thousand miles to the northeast). If we had a Richter scale then, it has been estimated that it would have been rated at between 8.0 and 8.5. No mountains anywhere to be seen in that part of the country.


If I had to hazard a guess I would have thought that your biggest geologic threat in Christchurch would be the volcanoes to your east and those are relatively benign basaltic volcanoes. As I recall they are relatively young (in geological terms). 

I have always thought that if I moved to NZ, I would have to pick my potential geological hazard when choosing a place to live--earthquakes in the South Island and explosive volcanoes and earthquakes on the North Island. I had always thought the the Christchurch area was one of the safest (from potential geological hazards) in the country.


NZ is a beautiful country and I (WE) really enjoyed visiting in 1986. It was my first trip, but Nancy had lived there before. She lived in Wellington for 9 years (late 60s and early 70s), before, during and after her PhD in geology at Victoria University. We hope to get back there sometime in the near future.


As an avid fly fisherman, I thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent on your lakes and rivers.


Chuck N


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## wigginsn (Jan 9, 2008)

Hey Chuck,

Glad you enjoyed your visit, make sure you stop by here if you make it over again.

You're way ahead of me on the geology front, I know we have literally dozens of earthquakes every year - mostly unnoticed. We get the fear of the Alpine drummed into us regularly in the media as the one to watch, fooled us completely with this one.

I posted a vid of the fault rupture in this thread, really interesting watching. *Other Thread with YouTube link*

Cheers
Neil


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## chuck n (Jan 2, 2008)

Neil:

I'm a retired geologist. I spent almost 40 years with the US Geological Survey.

We really enjoyed the fly over of the fault zone. It isn't very often that we can see the trace of a fault like that.

Thanks for sending it out.

Chuck N


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