NZ road trip - what railways/museums to see

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pfx

Well-known member
Hello my Trainz friends, or kia ora in this case. I made a similar post to this a couple of years ago when I did a US road trip (by the way, I ended up visiting Durango railroad and the Colorado railroad museum) and this time I'm heading to New Zealand. My plan is to start in Dunedin and head up the east coast to Picton, then on to Wellington, Napier, Taupo, Coromandel, and Auckalnd. If anyone has any recommendations for rail related things to see en route, I'm all ears.

Cheers,
Innis
 
Cheers, I had a look at that but I wasn't sure if there were any standout ones at all. Was thinking of trying one of those self drive rail cart lines but at 170 bucks a person, they can sing for it.
 
The Taieri Gorge rail trip out of Dunedin was very nice when I did it some years ago. The Dunedin station itself is quite beautiful. Hope for good weather as NZ's weather in that area can be gorgeous or very wet and windy. I've seen both.

The TransAlpine rail trip from Christchurch across to Greymouth and back again is spectacular. That's basically an all day trip and very popular.
 
The InterIslander Rail Ferry is an absolute must if you're visiting Aotearoa (Land of the Long White Cloud).
And the train journey from Christchurch to Piction (to get to the rail ferry across Cook Strait between Picton and Wellington) is one of the most scenic journeys. (Huge amount of new track and alignments since the repairs made following the 7.8 magnitude Kaikoura Earthquake).
And the Northerner from Wellington to Auckland. (Lovely to sip wine or your favourite beverage in the observation car at the rear whilst watching the scenery flash by...)
More details here... https://www.kiwirail.co.nz/ and here: https://www.greatjourneysofnz.co.nz/
 
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Nice one thanks. I lived in Welly for a year about 20 odd years ago. I was fascinated by the old English Electric units on the suburban trains. Ugly and ancient but strangely endearing. I should be able to make it to Mainline Steam but I think my route north will probably take me east of Palmy.

Cheers,
Innis
 
All those quirky old English Electric DMUs are long-gone, as are their Ganz Mavag (Hungarian) replacements.
Now we have some brilliant new S. Korean-built 'Matangi' DMUs on the Wellington suburban lines.
Certainly worth a 'Day Explorer' excursion!
 
I looked them up a while ago and saw that they were all withdrawn (about time really given how old they were) but I was surprised to see the Ganz Mavag units were gone too. Doing a quick search, I see some went to Africa while the rest ended up in landfill due to asbestos contamination, much the same as some older units here did.
 
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