Gisborne City Vintage Railway

The Gisborne City Vintage Railway Incorporated is a railway preservation group based in Gisborne, New Zealand. Operating on part of the northern section of the mothballed Palmerston North–Gisborne Line, the group was founded in 1985.[1]

Gisborne City Vintage Railway
Locale Gisborne, New Zealand
Commercial operations
NamePalmerston North–Gisborne Line
Original gauge3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Preserved operations
StationsGisborne
Preserved gauge3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)
Commercial history
Opened1942
Closed2012

From 1986, the group began restoration of WA 165, the first locomotive built at NZR's Hillside Workshops in 1897. The locomotive was returned to steam in 2000.[1] The group then began running excursions from Gisborne.

Lease

In 2012 KiwiRail announced that it was mothballing the Napier-Gisborne section of the Palmerston North-Gisborne Line, due to the cost of repairing storm damage to the line. This put the future of Gisborne City Vintage Railway in question. In 2013 the group's president, Geoff Joyce, told the Gisborne District Council that the group was preparing a business case to take over the lease of the line from KiwiRail.[2] The plan includes leasing 34 km of track from Gisborne to Beach Loop.[2]

As at 01 January 2021, inspite of repeated election promises by various NZ political parties, the line from Napier to Gisborne had still not been fully re-opened. The section from Napier to Wairoa was restored in 2019 to allow trains carrying logs harvested from forests (mainly in the Wairoa area) to be carried to the port of Napier, mainly at weekends and in competition to existing road transport. However with one exception, no trains operate north of the Wairoa Railway Station, where a road-to-rail log transfer yard has been built.

The exception is the Gisborne City Vintage Railway, which operates the steam engine Wa165 on public excursions from Gisborne south to Muriwai (a distance of about 17km). Gisborne City Vintage Railway has an agreement with KiwiRail which enables them to lease the line from Gisborne to Beach Loop, but in addition to paying the lease, they also have to maintain that section of the line including all of the bridges. Currently (as at 01 January 2021), damage to the track at Beach Loop was preventing Gisborne City Vintage Railway from operating south of Muriwai.

Gisborne City Vintage Railway runs charter and public excursions, mainly from October to June.

References
  1. "Gisborne City Vintage Railway - History".
  2. Marino Harker-Smith (15 May 2013). "Lifeline for rail line". Gisborne Herald.

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