All Aboard Dunedin Railways!

The perfect rainy day activity

So our journey to the start of the Taieri Gorge Railway starts by using a main trunk line from the centre of Dunedin, through the suburbs and out to outer city farmlands. The Taieri Gorge Railway when we split away from the main trunk line at Wingatui Junction. From here, we are now heading on New Zealand’s longest privately-owned railway line on a journey to Pukerangi.

We admit it, before getting on this train today, we were a little worried about the visibility considering the sky is white and the rain is coming down hard. However, the visibility is not impeded whatsoever. It’s perfect for views that get more and more impressive the more we travel down the Taieri Gorge Railway!

Yellow flowers

After moving through the farmlands of the Taieri Plain, we meet up with the Taieri River. At this point, it is just winding its way not too far below us with just a few trees separating us from the river. The river is backed by small hills covered in bush with yellow flowers called gorse. Now, this is a pest species of plant in New Zealand that has got out of control along the Taieri River, but some might argue that the yellow flowers decorate the hills quite nicely – it depends how you prefer to look at it, we suppose.

In our very own carriage aboard the Dunedin Railways

Narrow tunnels and viaducts

Windows and small decking areas between carriages provide the opportunity to capture photos of uninterrupted views. However, you really need to know what is coming alongside the railway up ahead before sticking your camera out of the window. The sound of the train’s horn usually means we are approaching a tunnel and, boy, are these tunnels narrow! The longest tunnel is the Salisbury Tunnel at 437 metres which is wide enough just to fit the train in!

As well as going through narrow tunnel after narrow tunnel, we cross over plenty of viaducts, such as the Wingatui Viaduct. At 197 metres long and 47 metres above the Mullocky Stream, it is one of the largest wrought iron structures in the Southern Hemisphere!

Mount Allan, Little Mount Allan and Christmas Creek

Throughout the trip, commentary is given through the speakers in each carriage, telling the history and significant facts of each place we are passing through. The Taieri Gorge Railway was a late-comer to the railway game in New Zealand, with its completion being in 1921. However, sections we are riding today first opened to traffic in 1889. Its main use was for the transportation of farm produce and fruit. For this reason, the stops we see along the way are mostly to farming stations signposted with large traditional train station posts of names like Parera, Mount Allan, Little Mount Allan and Christmas Creek. The train actually stops at the next train station for passengers to enjoy the views and history of Hindon Station.