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D-class locomotive
Much of the locomotive power on New Zealand's Vogel-era railways was provided by small British-built tank engines like the 2-4-0T D and 0-6-0T F class. D 170, built in Glasgow in 1880, is currently on...
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Invitation to the Dunedin-Christchurch rail link banquet
Toffs and toasts: on 7 September 1878 Dunedin's mayor hosted a lavish banquet to celebrate the arrival of the first train from Christchurch. The completion of this railway was one of the major...
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Vogel-era locomotive
Just after 6 a.m. on 7 September 1878, this Rogers steam locomotive, K 88 Washington, left Christchurch hauling the first train to run on the newly completed railway to Dunedin. When it arrived in the...
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New Zealand's first railway, Christchurch, 1863
This painting shows the Canterbury provincial railway’s locomotive Pilgrim during its historic first journey at Ferrymead in December 1863. Painted by the renowned rail artist W.W. Stewart, it captures...
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Early railway construction workers
While this photograph of railway ‘navvies’ (labourers) was taken some years later, it gives a sense of the working conditions and methods employed during the4 Vogel era. Rail construction in the 1870s...
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Railway workers at Chain Hills tunnel
Railway construction workers at the Chain Hills tunnel, near Mosgiel on the Dunedin–Clutha line, around 1874.The railways built in New Zealand during the Vogel era of the 1870s were rudimentary by the...
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Hyde railway disaster memorial
The memorial cairn to the 21 people killed in the Hyde railway tragedy of 4 June 1943. The memorial was dedicated on 17 February 1991. The location of the cairn is about 500 metres south of the site of...
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Ōtira rail tunnel opened
The 8.5-km Ōtira tunnel, which pierced the Southern Alps and linked Christchurch with Greymouth, was formally opened by Prime Minister William Massey. At the time it was the longest tunnel in the...
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Rail tragedy on the Rimutaka Incline
Four children were killed and 13 adults injured when two rail carriages were blown off the tracks by severe winds on a notoriously exposed part of the Rimutaka Incline railway. This was the first major...
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Bere Ferrers rail accident
Ten New Zealand soldiers were killed when they were hit by a train at Bere Ferrers in the United Kingdom.The accident occurred as troops from the 28th Reinforcements, NZEF, were being transported from...
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Lyttelton Rail Tunnel
Lyttelton Rail Tunnel (1867)Extraordinary engineeringIn 1850 settlers sweated over the steep, narrow Bridle Path from Lyttelton to the swampy site of Christchurch. Heavy goods had to be unloaded at...
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Makatote Viaduct
Makatote Viaduct (1908)The main trunk unites the North IslandThe South Island main trunk line linked Christchurch and Dunedin by 1878 and was extended to Invercargill the next year, but another three...
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Police officer and search volunteers at Tangiwai
Police officer and search volunteers at the scene of the railway disaster at Tangiwai, December 1953.Credit:Alexander Turnbull LibraryReference: PAColl-4875-1-01-09Photographer: Morrie...
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Destroyed railway bridge at Tangiwai
View of Tangiwai in the aftermath of the railway disaster of 24 December 1953, showing destroyed carriages on the banks of the river, and a photographer on the remains of the bridge at...
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Travel by train poster, 1948
From the 1920s the Railways Studio and Publicity Branch produced hundreds of eye-catching posters. In the 1940s and 1950s there was a high demand for railway services around public holidays, especially...
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Volunteers at Tangiwai disaster
At the scene of the railway disaster at Tangiwai, December 1953. A second-class railway carriage lies on its side with men standing alongside and on top of the wreck.Credit:Alexander Turnbull...
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Greymouth NZ Railways memorial plaque
This memorial plaque commemorating those of the Greymouth section of New Zealand Railways who died in the First World War is displayed in the Greymouth Railway Station. Its transcript is copied...
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Southland NZ Railways memorial plaque
A wooden memorial plaque commemorating those of the Invercargill section of New Zealand Railways who died in the First World War is stored in KiwiRail's offices in Invercargill. Its transcript is...
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Whangarei NZ Railways memorial plaque
This memorial plaque commemorating those of the Whangarei section of New Zealand Railways who died in the First World War is displayed at the Whangarei Museum and Heritage Park.Credit: Mike Mellor,...
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Canterbury Railway Society memorials
The Canterbury Railway Society is responsible for a memorial plaque and garden dedicated to former staff members of the Addington Railway Workshop who died in the Second World War. Both the wooden...
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