Bush Tramway Club

Pukemiro, Nr. Huntly, North Island, New Zealand

There are several railways in the greater Auckland area referred to as 'tramways' or 'tramlines'.  This use of tramway or tramline refers to an industrial light railway.  I have given some details of the other two as follows:

Waitakere Tramline
This 2ft diesel-operated tramline runs passenger service on Sundays operated by volunteers and otherwise is used for repairs to the water pipe that the line follows. Their own website is http://www.waitakeretramline.org.nz/

Nihotupu Bush Tramway (Rainforest Express)  
This longer 2ft diesel-operated line runs tourist and service trains.  Both are operated by the owner Watercare who provide water for Auckland. The Watercare website is www.watercare.co.nz/default,recreation.sm

In addition, the Whangaparoa Steam Railway operates a narrow-gauge (15 inch) line north of Auckland and MOTAT (the Museum of Transport and Technology) has an operating electric urban tramlway (with typical urban tram cars) and also a short demonstration line used for their preserved steam and diesel locos.

The Bush Tramway Club represents an ambitious attempt to preserve and operate 3ft 6in gauge logging and industrial locos in a bush setting (in NZ the bush is the equivalent of a forest or a jungle).  It has the best collection of geared steam locos in New Zealand with 1 Heisler, 1 Climax and 2 locally made Price versions of the Climax design.  Unfortunately, none of these are in working order although one of the Price locos is undergoing boiler repairs and the club members have made the restoration of the Heisler a top priority.  Donations would certainly help these projects and I encourage anyone interested in geared locos or bush railways to donate generously to get all 4 of these wonderful locos in working order.

The Bush Tramway Club have their own website at http://www.bushtramwayclub.com  You can contact them by email at secretary@bushtramwayclub.com