Railways of New Zealand

At the January Hybrid meeting our speaker was Colin Brading who presented Railways of New Zealand. Colin started by explaining that this was based on a trip he did in 2002 with Inside Track. We were shown a map of the Railway Lines of both North and South Islands, although a lot have been closed, some just before the start of the trip, leaving only a main spine down the islands and a couple of branches. The tour started in Auckland with visits to several railway museums and the Museum of Transport and Technology which has both rail and tram exhibits amongst the collections. We were shown J class steam locomotive 1211 on a wedding special, which the tour group managed to hire for a run between duties! All of NZ railways are 3’ 6” gauge, and in Auckland there is a metro service. Apart from Railways some of the most scenic areas were visited (by coach) including geysers and volcanos. The North Island main trunk was travelled to Auckland. At Featherstone, the museum showing the history of the former Fell Rail Incline was visited, and we saw one of the Fell locomotives and a brake vehicle. In Wellington we saw some of the EMUs used on the city commuter services. The ferry was used to transfer to the South Island from Wellington to Picton. The railways were privatised in the 1990s but lacked investment and was renationalized in 2008 under the KiwiRail brand. Several Heritage lines on the South Island were visited to see both steam and early diesel locomotives and railcars. At the Canterbury Fell Railway a 5-way point for access to the depot was seen. The original Railway in Christchurch ran to the port of Littleton, and this is now also a heritage line. Colin commented on how friendly and helpful all the folks at the Heritage Railways were. Throughout the excellent presentation we saw the spectacular scenery that New Zealand in famous for and our grateful thanks to Colin for showing us what the Country of New Zealand has to offer tourists and Rail Enthusiasts alike.

Steve Ollive