Rail Heritage

INTRODUCTION

The origins of rail heritage efforts in New Zealand are probably too obscure to definitively record, but the commencement of documenting NZ rail heritage matters must fall to the efforts of Tom McGavin in establishing the Railway Correspondence Society in 1944, and from this developed the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. From the outset Tom produced a publication called the New Zealand Railway Observer which has continued to this day as the primary rail heritage publication in New Zealand. While this group was originally strongly Wellington based, it quickly spread it reach throughout New Zealand with Branches being established in most areas with a larger population. In 1958 an Auckland based group calling themselves the Railway Enthusiasts Society was established to promote the organising of excursion train trips (of which many were run), but after acquiring the closed branch line to Waiuku in South Auckland in 1970, their main focus is now maintaining and operating the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. But prior to that, in 1961 already, the Otago Branch of the Railway and Locomotive Society made the first bold step in acquiring a locomotive for preservation and within about two years had a heritage steam train operating in Dunedin. So this is really the point in time when physical rail heritage began in New Zealand. Since then many heritage groups have come into existence (and some have had to close) and now every part of the country has some form of physical rail heritage activity not far away.

The rest of this page will summarise the various heritage groups that exist(ed) throughout New Zealand and provide links to pages where their activities can be recorded in greater detail and where applicable, also provide links to their individual websites.