Mixed manifest train from Palmerston North to Napier emerges from Tunnel 2 in the Manawatu Gorge. The line was built with mainly hand tools in the 1880's. Photo taken from along highway supported ... (more)

As the rain comes down, Mike Kilsby amps up the power on train 826 after stopping to attach three bankers (helper locos) for the 3% climb up through the 8km (5 mile) long Otira Tunnel.

The Fifty One Things. The night train photographers I know say there are fifty things that can go wrong when taking these pictures - and I’ve experienced most of them. I’ve fallen seve... (more)

In the early hours of the morning, banker driver Mike Kilsby idles train 826 out of the Otira tunnel and across the highest point of the Midland Line which links the east and west coasts of the So... (more)

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)

The pointy end of loaded coal train 846 glides through the yard at Otira.

If you're ever on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, you owe it to yourself to enjoy what is arguably the Best Burger In the World and perhaps the second best tempura-coated fish a... (more)

While the eastern rail approach to the Southern Alps is more rugged and dramatic, the West Coast (which has unfairly garnered a reputation as having a permanent pall of miserable weather) has a ch... (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 The bridge here over the Cass river has recently been replaced by a less-quaint concrete version.

5258 and 5327 work eastwards past the Mt White Bridge across the Waimakariri River

Loco Engineer Neil D. connects the MU cable and brake hoses between three banker locos and the road power of an eastbound coal train for a run up through the 3% Otira tunnel. 5304 is the lead lead... (more)

DXs 5431 and 5039 work east across the Slovens Creek Viaduct and through tunnel 16 with export coal bound for the Port of Lyttleton, near Christchurch.

A mixed up mess of colour leads a loaded coal train through the scrub covered Waimakariri River floodplain towards Cora Lynn. 5258 is a KiwiRail patched Toll green snotbonnet while 5327 wears the ... (more)

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

DXs 5039 and 5402 cross Big Kowhai Viaduct to reach relatively high speed Canterbury Plains trackage after a long slog through the Southern Alps. The willows in the creek are brandishing their spr... (more)