North Island Main Trunk (Documentary, 1998)

[@BigAmp]

Superb production, thanks for posting. Days long gone of a better and more capable New Zealand.

[@tuggaworsley4281]

Great editing and skillful dubbing - this is a fine production - thankyou.

[@ciphowler8370]

I owned a VHS copy of this documentary which sadly died on me a short while ago so I can't play it anymore. So naturally I'm glad to see it uploaded here so I can enjoy it again. This has always been my favourite of the Memory Line series, itself a fantastic series of productions, exploring and capturing NZ's Golden Era of Railways.

[@AotearoaRail]

Thank you so much. It’s great to hear of your experience. A few years ago I copied all of my rail VHS to DVDs for safe keeping, and then recently I thought, why not make them available to everyone for posterity on KZbin. I agree, the Memory Line series is amazing. All the production was way ahead of its time.

[@TheSonic10160]

@@AotearoaRail Hey man what happened to your Steam on the Midland Line video? Did it get copyright struck or something?

[@AotearoaRail]

@@TheSonic10160 Hey mate. I was informed by the licence owner that it was copyrighted, yes, so I had to take it down. No actual copyright strike which I was thankful for.

[@TheSonic10160]

@@AotearoaRail Oh phew, still, a bit dirty of them for an over 30 year old niche video

[@richardbell9939]

Collin Manning. 34:46 locomotive Driver Taumarunui. I miss our driving days Colin.RTH Bell ex locomotive Driver Taumarunui.

[@richardbell9939]

Robbie Aston .2:43. Locomotive Driver Taumarunui. Miss You Robbie.

[@devilsadvocate2656]

In 2019, I took the Northern Explorer from Auckland to Wellington, a journey of over 11 hours. The overnight sleeper trains were long gone by then having been replaced by buses which are more flexible in their scheduling & seating capacity. There's an attached cafe car now negating the need for station stops (although the food leaves much to be desired. The trip is pretty relaxed... however I do have a few 'criticisms'. Firstly heading south via the Raurimu Spiral is underwhelming. I was in the observation car during the traversal, and I was left with the "was that it?" feeling. Secondly, food options in the cafe car are limited to prepackaged sandwiches, frozen pies, frozen meals (& barista coffee). Surely toasted sandwiches & local bakery pies aren't too much to ask for? Lastly there's no modern amenities such as power points of Wi-Fi. Given that the NIMT is out of range of cell reception most of the time, the only entertainment available is music (assuming you have enough phone charge) or a book...

[@philiprufus4427]

Enjoyed that,first came accross New Zealand Railways in a book in the Local Library when I was about fourteen fifty six years ago. The family had just moved back to Glasgow in Scotland and The Remains of The N.B Loco Works were not far away. Many Early N.Z. Locos were built there,along with locos for Aus,Canada,India,etc. As a seventy year old who travelled by train in The UK as a kid before buses took over its easy to see NITR must have been something else to travel on. Bus,gets you there,but I for one am thankfull to get off !

[@andrewhorsburgh2549]

NEW ZEALAND RAIL