railways

The North Island main trunk line

• 

  All aboard! The North Island main trunk railway was 100 years old in 2008. Take a trip back in time to explore the epic story of its construction, the heyday of the steam passenger train and the place of the iconic railway refreshment room in New Zealand life.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – Building the main trunk

  On 15 April 1885 Premier Robert Stout, Wahanui Huatare and Rewi Maniapoto ceremonially turned the ‘first sod' of the central section at Puniu, near Te Awamutu.

• Page 3 – Rise and fall

  A history of the North Island railway main trunk line since the first through train left Wellington on 7 August 1908

• Page 4 – Travelling by train

  For most second-class travellers, travelling the main trunk meant a long, sleepless journey on hard-backed seats, struggling to find 'elusive comfort with the NZR pillow'.

• Page 5 – Refreshments

  Refreshments are an essential and often talked about part of any train journey.

New Zealand disasters timeline

• 

  The disasters timeline and map give an overview of New Zealand's worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major loss of life.

  Read the full article

• Page 1 - New Zealand disasters timelineThe disasters timeline and map give an overview of New Zealand's worst natural disasters, transport accidents, fires, mining accidents and other tragedies that have caused major

Railway stations

• 

  Before most people had cars or telephones, let alone television and the Internet, the railway provided many communities with their main connection to the outside world.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – A community hub

  In the heyday of rail travel the station was a vibrant hub of community life.

• Page 4 – The dark side

  Like other public facilities, railway stations often attracted loafers and drunks, bored teenagers or lonely souls seeking human contact.

• Page 5 – The changing rail landscape

  Today fewer than 100 railway stations survive, and only about 40 wooden stations remain on their original sites.

Rail tourism

• 

  From the late 19th century the expanding rail network opened up exciting leisure and tourism opportunities for ordinary New Zealand families. New Zealand Railways promoted rail holidays through bright, attractive posters and its own popular monthly magazine.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – Day excursions

  From the early days of rail, excursion and special trains gave people new opportunities to visit beaches, lakes, parks, racecourses and shows.

• Page 3 – Holidaymakers

  As well as day excursions, from the mid-1890s New Zealand Railways offered special deals for travellers taking longer rail journeys over the Christmas and Easter holiday

• Page 4 – Railways Studios

  In 1920 New Zealand Railways established it own Railways Studios – the country’s first outdoor advertising studio. The studios produced posters, pamphlets, maps and

• Page 5 – Railways Magazine

  During the inter-war years no other monthly magazine matched New Zealand Railways for its commitment to promoting a popular literary culture in New Zealand.

• Page 6 – Post-war changes

  After the peak years of the 1920s and late 1930s, tourist travel all but ceased during the Second World War.

Tangiwai disaster

• 

  New Zealand's worst railway disaster occurred 60 years ago on Christmas Eve 1953, when the Wellington–Auckland night express plunged into the swollen Whangaehu River near Tangiwai. Of the 285 people on board, 151 were killed. The tragedy stunned the world and left a nation in mourning.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – Wrong place at the wrong time

  The unfortunate sequence of events that led to the Tangiwai disaster

• Page 3 – Search and rescue

  How locals and police responded to New Zealand's worst railway disaster

• Page 5 – Death at Tangiwai: a class affair

  Survival at Tangiwai depended on which class of carriage you were travelling in.

• Page 6 – Further information

  Recommended links and books relating to the Tangiwai Disaster

The Vogel era

• 

  In 1870, Colonial Treasurer Julius Vogel launched the most ambitious development programme in New Zealand’s history. The ‘Vogel era’ was a decisive moment in New Zealand’s 19th-century transformation from a Māori world to a Pākehā one.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – New Zealand in 1870

  Three decades after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s two main islands were like two different countries.

• Page 3 – Vogel's vision

  In June 1870, Vogel unveiled the most ambitious public works and assisted-immigration programme in New Zealand’s history.

• Page 4 – Building Vogel's railways

  Julius Vogel wasn’t the first colonial politician to promise public works and immigration on the back of borrowed money. But the early 1870s offered better prospects for

• Page 5 – Vogel's legacy

  After the initial enthusiasm of the 1870s, Julius Vogel’s reputation suffered in the 1880s when New Zealand’s economy slumped into a long depression that was triggered by an

NZ Railways at war

• 

  The railway system and its workforce was one of the most valuable assets available to the New Zealand state to support the national effort during the First World War

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – Railways in the First World War

  The steam railway was a driving force of the industrial revolution and European imperialist expansion

• Page 3 – NZ Railways in 1914

  On the other side of the world, New Zealand’s rail network was a small link in the vast wartime supply chain

• Page 4 – Railwaymen in the NZEF

  More than 5000 permanent NZR employees served overseas during the war, about 40% of the 1914 workforce

• Page 5 – Manpower challenges at home

  How did New Zealand Railways (NZR) keep up its massive manpower commitments during the First World War, while still maintaining services to its customers?

• Page 6 – Railways war memorials

  Railway workers honoured the service and sacrifice of their colleagues in numerous ways.

• Page 7 – Further information

  This web feature was written by Neill Atkinson and produced by the NZHistory team. Primary sources5th New Zealand Light Railway Operating Company - War Diary, 5 February

Cook Strait rail ferries

• 

  On a fine, calm day ‘Cruising on the Interislander’ can be like a luxury Mediterranean cruise. But on a bad day Cook Strait can be one of the world's roughest stretches of water: seasickness, dodgy food and wildcat strikes have all been part of the colourful Cook Strait ferry story.

  Read the full article

• Page 2 – 'The floating bridge'

  Before 1962 rail struggled to compete with ships for inter-island business, but the road/rail ferries changed that.

• Page 3 – 'An array of awful pies'

  In the 1960s, the ferries' food and services fell short of the glossy ads, but now they are more upmarket.

• Page 4 – Rough crossings

  Crossing Cook Strait is often idyllic, but it can be one of the world’s roughest stretches of water as it's part of the westerly wind belt known as the Roaring Forties

• Page 6 – Strikes and strandings

  Cook Strait ferries were vital to the flow of freight and passengers between the North and South islands, and  interruptions because of bad weather, mechanical problems

• Page 7 – Fast ferries on Cook Strait

  The old fable about the tortoise and the hare was replayed on Cook Strait as fast ferries offered travellers a quick dash across the ditch.

Māori King movement - 1860-94

• 

  King Tāwhiao's reign was dominated by the Waikato War and its fallout.

  Read the full article

• Page 6 - Tensions easeIt was clear by the 1870s that the Kīngitanga posed no threat beyond its borders and was in no fit shape to fight a war. Attempts were made to ease relations between the king and

State housing

• 

  New Zealand's first state house was formally opened on 18 September 1937. But the government has provided rental housing for New Zealanders for more than a century. Explore the history of this country's various state housing schemes and their contribution to the New Zealand way of life.

  Read the full article

• Page 8 - Outside the mainstreamMany of us associate the beginning of state housing with the hipped-roof cottages built by the first Labour government of the 1930s and '40s. But the origin of state housing has

The 1920s

• 

  The 1920s was the decade that modern New Zealand came of age. Despite political and economic uncertainty, the country shrugged off the gloom of war to embrace the Jazz Age - an era of speed, power and glamour. Explore an overview of the decade and a year-by-year breakdown of key events.

  Read the full article

• Page 7 – 1924 - key events

  A selection of key New Zealand events from 1924

Passchendaele: fighting for Belgium

• 

  Ever since 1917 Passchendaele has been a byword for the horror of the First World War. The assault on this tiny Belgian village cost the lives of thousands of New Zealand soldiers. But its impact reached far beyond the battlefield, leaving deep scars on many New Zealand communities and families.

  Read the full article

• Page 8 - Remembering the deadJust under 100 war cemeteries in Belgium and around 500 memorials in New Zealand serve as permanent reminders of the terrible toll of 1917.

Dominion status

• 

  On 26 September 1907 the colony of New Zealand ceased to exist. It became, instead, a dominion within the British Empire.

  Read the full article

• Page 6 - New Zealand in 1907What was New Zealand like at the time of becoming a dominion?

Rolls of honour and obituaries

• 

  Government rolls of honour and obituaries published at the end of the First World War.

  Read the full article

• Page 6 – Railway workers' obituaries

  Obituaries were published during the First World War in the New Zealand Railway Review,

Seddonville

• 

  The West Coast coalmining settlement of Seddonville, 50 kms north of Westport, was named in honour of the Liberal Premier Richard Seddon. It was also the site of an early experiment in state socialism – New Zealand's first state coal mine opened there in 1903.

  Read the full article

• Page 7 - Seddonville's rail heritageThe Ngakawau-Seddonville branch line was built solely for the transport of coal from mines near Seddonville to Westport harbour, where it was then transported around New Zealand