A question I’d had at the back of my mind for many years was whether it might be possible to flash one of the Midland Line viaducts. While there was always the lingering fear that after a great ... (more)

DCs 4761 and 4628 head a westbound TranzAlpine passenger train across the bridge over the Cass River after emerging from a thick fog that blanketed the line between Springfield and Cass.

With every one of its matchsticks creaking under the load, two DCs bring a loaded coal train from Rapahoe into Greymouth across an S shaped wooden truss bridge dating from the late 1800s. I heard ... (more)

It's not quite as fancy as Switzerland's Landwasserviadukt, but New Zealand makes do with the locality of Staircase (population:0). After leaving an unmanned passing loop of the same name, wes... (more)

The TranzAlpine teeters across the Slovens Creek Viaduct on its journey back east under a speed restriction imposed due to aftershocks from the 7.1m Christchurch earthquake 11 days prior. Within t... (more)

DXs 5258 and 5327 leave the Waimakariri River behind with their coal train and head for Cass. The bridge here over the Cass river has recently been replaced by a less-quaint concrete version.

Empty coal train 849 heads west through the native forest alongside the picturesque Arnold River. DXs 5172+5304

At the end of the earth: After being a tourist in New Zealand with the good woman for the past few weeks, I finally get a trainspotting day pass and have to drive 300km north in cloud before fin... (more)

Freshly repainted KiwiRail DCs 4513 and 4761 head an off-season TranzAlpine passenger back towards Christchurch, with a few hardy souls out on the open-air observation van platforms braving the la... (more)

There's no finer way to travel the rails! Bruce Lord is a lucky man, being the regular track inspector on one of the most spectacular and remote sections of railway line in New Zealand. He pilots ... (more)

With a precious few days holiday in NZ, I got up hours before sunrise and drove back into the hills in the hope of getting a shot of the weekly swap-out of Otira-based banker locos - catching them... (more)

Ahh no! they've replaced the character-laden rickety old wooden bridge across the Cass River with this clean and functional item. DCs 4513 + 4761 head west with a decent off-season train of seven ... (more)

KiwiRail driver Mike Kilsby gets loaded coal train 832 on the move after crossing Reefton-bound 829 at the Mawheraiti loop/siding. Most freight trains in New Zealand are single manned, so in addit... (more)

And my vote for world's worst livery goes to... DFT 7023 heads the Picton-bound TranzCoastal passenger right onto the beach beside the Pacific Ocean. It wears the horrid faded-vomit paint scheme a... (more)

The sole pair of South Island based KiwiRail painted DXs (at the time - there are now more but with the vertical colour separation) were paired up for a few days in March 2009 after we arranged to... (more)