trains

The North Island main trunk line

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  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.

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• 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.

Tangiwai disaster

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  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.

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• Page 1 - Tangiwai railway disasterNew 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

Notes for My Successor

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  Until the late 1960s New Zealand's Governors-General were British, mainly minor aristocrats or admirals or generals.

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• Page 7 - The Governor-General on the moveHow the Governors-General moved about the

Seddonville

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  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.

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• 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