Pleasant Point Railway & Historical Society

Credit: Jeff Tollan

Jeff Tollan

Happy New Year, and welcome aboard 


A small army of volunteers keep this award-winning charitable group - and all of its equipment - running. They are all working to preserve New Zealand's railway history and the history of the South Canterbury area.

If you're not from the area and don't know where to find us you can pinpoint us here. And if your visit doesn't co-incide with a running day you can arrange a special visit, or simply drop by most Saturdays or Wednesdays, when the team are on site.

A view from the air

Jimmy Ryan caught these shots from his drone. It captures D16 working on a running day, with a view rarely seen!

Ab 699: The work continues

Every year our steam engines undergo a safety audit, but every 10 years it all gets a little more complicated and the locomotives are stripped, with every nook and cranny inspected.

Ab 699 is going through that mammoth process at the moment, and is into its second year out of action.

New cladding has arrived and is in the process of being fitted to the engine. The team will mark the holes that need to be cut and then the cladding will be removed and sent away to be professionally painted by a local panel beater.

In the meantime, the 137-year-old D 16 is hauling the trains on running days.

It's hoped that Ab 699 will be back in action by 2018.

Tr 18 and the work train which is used during track work.; Credit: Jeff Tollan
After ripping out the old ballast and replacing the sleepers, it's time to put some new shingle down.; Credit: Jeff Tollan
It's cold work doing track work, and it was well into the negative digits during this job at Keanes Crossing in July 2015.; Credit: Jeff Tollan
Credit: Jeff Tollan
Credit: Jeff Tollan

Track work 

It's cold, hard work - but someone's got to do it.

During the winter shut-down period, the track team have been busy ripping out old sleepers and replacing them and the ballast they sit in.

With a sleeper every two feet, it's not a quick process and the materials aren't cheap either.

When the society was first relaying track, the then-county council ordered the rails be hidden at grass-level. Together with that, limited funds meant we could only afford river-run shingle - a mix of dirt and stones - to sit the track in. That meant the sleepers didn't get the drainage they needed.

While the track has since been raised out of the ground, it's an ongoing project to remove the old ballast as we spot-resleeper and replace it with proper dirt-free ballast.

To find out how you can help, either physically or financially, contact us here.