The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 8 (November 1939)
A Veteran Railwayman
A Veteran Railwayman.
Living with his wife in the small township of Herbert, North Otago, is one of our oldest remaining railwaymen, Mr. Frances Stringer, who is now in his 86th year. He was born in Faversham, Kent, England, in 1854, and took service on a sailing ship to New Zealand in 1876.
At the time of his arrival, James Brogden was the contractor for the construction of the railway between Oamaru and Dunedin, with whom Mr. Stringer obtained employment at Waianakarua. Later, as ganger, he was to be one of the party of three to first travel through the Otepopo tunnel by train. This was the ballast service driven by Mr. Alex. Sutherland with Mr. Jas. Brooker as fireman.
Mr. Stringer was the first ganger on this particular length. He later spent 12 ½ years in a similar capacity on the Duntroon-Kurow section, after which he returned as ganger to the Otepopo section where he remained until his retirement on superannuation in 1914, at the age of 60 years. Altogether Mr. Stringer was in the N.Z.R. service for 39 years 8 months. His descendants are ten children, forty grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.