Rotorua: Railcruising in New Zealand

As a railway enthusiast, I've been fortunate to have traveled on plenty of trains in Australia. But when I heard about Rotorua's Railcruising experience when planning our first family holiday to New Zealand, I was hooked. I simply had to sample this novel way to ride along the rails for myself.

There are a lot of things that we Aussies have in common with our Kiwi cousins from across the Tasman. Just think of the rivalry we have built between us in cricket and rugby. So maybe this is just another thing that the Kiwis can say they've beaten us at, building the world's first self-drive railcruisers. So what is a railcruiser? A railcruiser is the world's first fully automated, petrol-electric, self-drive hybrid rail vehicle. It can seat 4 people and even comes with clear drop-down waterproof sides and onboard heating if the weather should turn nasty, as New Zealand is known to do. With onboard commentary and an anti-collision system overseen by GPS tracking from a central control point, each railcruiser travels along the tracks of the former Rotorua railway line at a speed of 20 km/h. They are fast, safe and a whole lot of fun!

Arriving at the railcruising headquarters at Mamaku, (20 minutes north of downtown Rotorua), the first thing you'll notice is the rather impressive log cabin station. Neil Oppatt (General Manager and brainchild of the Rotorua Railpark), explains that over the years leading up to the closure of the Rotorua railway line, all the railway stations, buildings and platforms had gradually been removed. So when the idea of railcruising was first floated as a tourist attraction, they needed a building that would welcome tourists to the little town of Mamaku. Fortunately Neil was able to purchase the large log cabin from a film set once the movie studio had finished filming. So Ranger Smith's cabin from the movie Yogi Bear is now the departure point for our railcruising experience.

A driver's eye view of the clear line ahead gives riders a reason to smile as they swoosh through the cutting heading out of Mamaku.

Leaving Mamaku Station (pronounced Mama-Cow), the line descends on a 1 in 35 gradient towards Rotorua. Mamaku was the highest point on the Rotorua line when it opened in 1893, and being a 3'6" gauge railway line (as all mainline New Zealand railway lines were), there are plenty of twists, turns and cuttings as the line descends towards the picturesque Dansey Scenic Reserve. The onboard commentary draws your attention to points of interest along the way, and at 20 km/h there's enough time to spot each one, while still being fast enough for the wind to blow through your hair from the open sides of the railcruiser.

Descending the 1 in 35 grade through Dansey Scenic Reserve.

Dansey Scenic Reserve is easily the most picturesque part of our journey. The railway line disappears into this 500 hectare reserve of native forest and even treats riders to some amazing tree top views as it spans the gully on a high embankment. Dansey Scenic Reserve is also home to Rotorua Canopy Tours, a ziplining, tree-top tour for the young and young at heart that also borders the Rotorua Railpark. When fully complete, the Rotorua Railpark will be a 300km circuit of bike paths, railcruising and rail biking that will include the majority of the 50km former branch line into Rotorua.

D'Oh! A deer. A female deer? I'm not sure, but there were plenty of these beautiful creatures taking a curious look at us as we raced by in our railcruisers.

Keep your eyes peeled to the left as you exit the Dansey Scenic Reserve. There is a large deer farm, and you're certain to see a few of these four legged friends staring back curiously at you as you swoosh past. As the railcruiser nears our destination and turning point for the journey back to Mamaku, riders are treated to a postcard view of Lake Rotorua from the top of the rolling countryside. The view gives you and an idea of how difficult it must have been for railway engineers to find a suitable way down from the top of the Mamaku Ranges.

Looking over Lake Rotorua from the railway line between Dansey Scenic Reserve and Tarukenga Railway Station.

After passing beneath the Thermal Explorer Highway, the railway line winds its way to a halt at the newly constructed Tarukenga Railway Station, (you would have passed the site of the original Tarukenga Railway Station just before passing under the highway). Here there is a chance to get out, stretch your legs and take a photo of the view and the Toi Tu Whenua sculpture that stands 5 metres high between the station and the adjoining highway rest stop.

The 5 metre high brushed aluminium sculpture of Toi Tu Whenua stands in the carpark of the highway rest stop that adjoins Tarukenga Railway Station. Although I only learnt when I was back in Australia that I'd photographed the rear of it. The sculpture faces the highway not the railway station. D'Oh!

Railcruising is for people of all ages. My teenagers were grinning from ear to ear when they arrived at Tarukenga Railway Station, as were the 70 year old couple that arrived shortly after in the next railcruiser.

Returning to your railcruiser, you'll notice that they have all been turned around and are facing back up hill in the direction of travel. The return journey is a chance to see the same scenery from a different direction. The cuttings, embankments and every twist and turn all have a different feel as the little railcruiser hums its way back up hill. With the wind rushing by and the constant clack of the rails beneath you, this is as close as you will come to feeling that you are in control of your own train. There is even an electronic push button diesel horn in case a sheep should wander onto the tracks. Although it was too hard to resist the young boy that is still in me, I had to give it a blast just for the thrill of it. Railcruising is certainly fun for all ages. The return trip on the Mamaku Express takes approximately 1.5 to 2 hours and considering it is a 19 km return journey it is quite reasonably priced. I only wish there was something like this back in Australia.

Rotorua's Railcruising experience was just one of the many interesting locations that feature in my book 30 Years Chasing Trains, and is available exclusively through the links below.

Available now through my Books page

See also; Ngongotaha: New Zealand's Rotorua Branchline

Mamaku: New Zealand railway ingenuity

In 1881 it took the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company 12 months to find a suitable passage over the Mamaku Ranges. When the New Zealand Public Works Department took over and finally completed the line to Rotorua in 1893, Mamaku Railway Station became the highest point on the Rotorua Main Line as it was known at the time. There was however, a very good reason for taking a railway line to a height of 560 metres or 1,840 feet above sea level, on a 1 in 35 gradient. Timber.

Timber was something that Mamaku had plenty of at the turn of the 20th Century. At one point there were five sawmills operating in a town that was rivaling Rotorua for size. Over the course of the town's history there were 15 sawmills built around Mamaku, and all were connected to the New Zealand Government Railway line by private bush tramways that were built to haul the timber from the forest. As the steam engines that hauled these heavy log loads began to wear out and were banned from operating within the forests for fear of a fire risk, new methods were needed to haul the logs to the main line. It took a bit of Kiwi ingenuity from a bloke by the name of Oliver (Olly) Wallace Smith to design and build a rail tractor (above) that could haul 70 tonne loads up gradients as steep as 1 in 10. So it seemed fitting that his 6 cylinder Bedford Truck fitted with 12 driving wheels has found a special resting place in front of King Hill Reserve.

The Rotorua Branchline passed by the Mamaku Sawmilling Co, the only remaining still operating in Mamaku, 2013.

History however has a unique way of reminding us that not everything lasts forever. Gradually the tramways disappeared along with Mamaku's unique little logging tractors, and a decade after its designer Olly Smith passed on in 1993, even the Rotorua railway line itself had become history. Today there is only one surviving sawmill in operation, the Mamaku Sawmilling Co., which still stands on the original site of the New Zealand Railways Mill. A little up the road however near the Kaponga Street level crossing (Kaponga incidentally was the original name for the town up until 1890), you'll find another example of some Kiwi-inspired ingenuity, where a newly constructed log station signals the beginning of an extraordinary tourist attraction.

This, (in my opinion), is the future of railway tourism. Safe, fun and without the price tag of a volunteer railway preservation group spending millions of dollars to restore and operate a tourist train.

Started by Neil and Jane Oppatt in 2009, railcruising has quickly become one of Rotorua's must-do attractions. The idea is simple, self-drive rail cars spaced 250 metres apart travel as a vitual train at 20 km/h along one of New Zealand's most picturesque railway lines. As trains have not used this line in more than a decade, this is a unique way to sit back, relax and enjoy a driver's eye view of the clear line ahead. I was hooked before even climbing on board one of the railcruisers. So, with my family in tow there was only one thing left for me to do. Climb on board and retrace the last 19 km of railway track into Rotorua.

Available now through my Books page

See also; Rotorua: Railcruising in New Zealand and Ngongotaha: New Zealand's Rotorua Branchline

Tirau: New Zealand train watching

There's something unique about being in another country for the first time and searching for trains that you've previously only seen pictures of on the internet. That was the case on my New Zealand road trip from Matamata to Rotorua, following parts of the Kinleith-Rotorua branchlines. A good section of Highway 27 parallels the railway line between Matamata and the small town of Tirau, so I was disappointed not to have passed a train on a weekday that sees up to 8 trains a day using the line to Kinleith. However, a quick stop at Tirau to track down what became of the old railway station there, turned this quirky tourist stop into a moment of train photography heaven.

The first thing you notice when you enter the town of Tirau is the quirky information centre. It is a huge two story corrugated iron structure constructed in the shape of a sheep dog. Situated 180 km from Auckland on the junction of Highways 1, 5 & 27, Tirau is an important crossroad in the Waikato Region of New Zealand. So by my reasoning there should have been an important looking railway station somewhere on the outskirts of town. I was wrong. After giving the man behind the information desk his most unusual question of the day; "Mate, you wouldn't happen to know where I could find the railway station would you?" And getting a very puzzled reply; "The railway station? I couldn't even tell you how long ago they would have pulled it down." He did give me a map and obligingly point me in the direct of where it once stood, at the end of the aptly named Railway Street.

The park alongside the town of Tirau's railway track as photographed in December 2013.

A few moments later, I pulled our hire car alongside the picturesque, tree lined park that adorned the side of the railway line that passes by the edge of town, and stepped out in a light shower of rain to photograph the stone water tower that still stands in the park beside the track. I was just about to make a beeline for the car when the familiar sound of level crossing bells caught my attention from the distance. To the amusement of my family waiting in the car, I was told I looked like a puppy dog chasing its tail as I first ran left, right and left again trying to see which way the train was coming from. Luckily the train finally appeared from the direction of the water tower I had just photographed, the rain stopped and I had just enough time to stand back and snap some photos of the first KiwiRail train I had encountered on my holiday.

KiwiRail locomotive number 9325 was the first New Zealand train photograph I snapped as it headed north through the town of Tirau.

A KiwiRail freight train from Kinleith bound for the harbour at Mount Maunganui passes through Tirau. The former station platform is located in front of the trees to the right.

Although the branchline today survives only to service the giant Kinleith Mill at the end of the line, we were heading to Rotorua. I wanted to retrace the Rotorua branchline that is now closed beyond the junction of nearby Putaruru. It was time to leave behind the excitement of photographing trains, and the Kinleith Branch and head east on Highway 5.

Available now through my Books page

See also; Rotorua: Railcruising in New Zealand