Pleasant Point Railway & Historical Society

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.

Credit: National Library of New Zealand

National Library of New Zealand

Remembering the Wars

100 years on 1914 – 2014

July 12 and 13, 2014.

New Zealand had a population of barely 1 million when 100,000 of our men served overseas in World War 1.  Sadly, one in five who served did not return home.  These events touched nearly every family in South Canterbury and around New Zealand.  It shook every community, school, workplace and group.

To remember the sad events our military has been involved in over the years, Pleasant Point Museum and Railway is bringing together displays of equipment and machinery formerly used by military services over the years.  These include Jeeps, trucks, field guns, a Bren gun carrier and a machine gun nest on display in the Keanes Crossing shed. A carriage will also be done up as a Red Cross carriage and steam engine ‘D’16 will be pushing a wagon in front with a machine gun nest mounted on it.

Added attractions on display over the weekend include a working stationary engine display from the Christchurch Historic Machinery Club, the Mackenzie Highland Pipe Band, South Canterbury Traction Engine and Vintage Steam Club and Nigel Gamble’s historic museum tool exhibit.

Running starts at 10.30am on the Saturday and Sunday. The last trains from Pleasant Point station leave at 4pm.

Credit: Jeff Tollan

Model T Ford railcar

 After a huge amount of work, RM4 is back in service after a car drove into it at a controlled railway crossing. 

The Model T suffered damage to its chassis and motor and this meant the daily running at the start of the New Year had to be cancelled.

Thank you to the volunteers and businesses who are helped us get the T back on the rails again. Your effort was invaluable.

And thank you to the community who turned out in droves to support us and help raise funds to pay for the Model T's repair. Your generosity blew us all away.

This is the first level crossing crash we have had in our more than 40 years operating and we hope it's our last. 

Please always take care at railway crossings.

Ab 699's 10-year survey

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.

While the engine is being inspected new cladding has been ordered and the 86-ton locomotive's boiler will get a fresh coat of paint before it re-enters service.

In the meantime, 126-year-old D 16 is hauling the trains over the holiday period. 

The society hopes to get the Ab back on the rails by July.

150 years of rail in New Zealand

Pleasant Point joined the celebrations of 150 years of rail in New Zealand, with a special event on July 20 and 21. 

Two steam engines pulled trains throughout the weekend. Joining it, the Model T Ford railcar, RM4 gave rides on the Saturday, with a motorised track jigger and trolley giving rides on the Sunday.

It turned out to be a bigger event than we ever could have envisaged. Thank you to everyone who came to visit - that's more than 1100 of you (almost the entire population of the township!).