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)

After traveling across the South Island from the east coast to the west in the morning, the TranzAlpine heads back home again in the afternoon. The train is snapped here following the Arnold river... (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)

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)

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 The bridge here over the Cass river has recently been replaced by a less-quaint concrete version.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

A pair of cleanish KiwiRail DCs roll the TranzAlpine passenger train across the Broken River Viaduct, the third of four viaducts it will cross on its westward journey. While it's hardly the Orient... (more)

Clean KiwiRail DC 4761 and ratty old blue 4628 head a westbound TranzAlpine passenger train in the sun between Cora Lynn and Arthur's Pass

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)

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)

After traversing the Waimakariri gorge, Staircase and Broken River, the TranzAlpine passenger train reaches relatively flat land for a brief period as it heads toward the Southern Alps on a lovely... (more)

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

After being holed up for a week at my mother's house due to a "50 year snowstorm" which dumped snow right down to sea level, I took a chance on the first fine day to go train chasing. Here DXs... (more)