Driving Creek Railway

Driving Creek Railway
The brick tunnel near the highest point of the rail line, with one of the trains visible in the distance.
Locale	Coromandel, Waikato Region, New Zealand
Terminus	'Eyefull Tower'
Commercial operations
Built by	Barry Brickell[1]
Original gauge	15 inches (380 mm)
Preserved operations
Stations	Two
Length	ca 3km[2]
Preserved gauge	15 inches (380 mm)
Commercial history
Opened	1975 (initially for private use only)[2]
Preservation history

The Driving Creek Railway is a narrow gauge bush and mountain railway on the outskirts of the provincial town of Coromandel on the northwestern coast of the Coromandel Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island. The railway leads up the mountain to a viewing platform building 165m high above the surrounding Coromandel west coast country.^[1]

History

The line was built by the potter Barry Brickell on his 22-hectare property, which he had acquired in 1961, aiming to start a pottery collective.^[3] He started construction of the 15-inch gauge rail line in 1975, originally mainly using it to transport clay and pine wood fuel to his kiln.^[2]

The Driving Creek Railway (DCR) was slowly expanded over the next 25 years to become one of the very few completely new railway lines in New Zealand in recent years. The project required significant civil engineering works due to the steep and complex terrain that the line traverses. Among these are a double deck rail bridge, three tunnels, five viaducts and inclines as steep as 1 in 15. The trip takes approximately 1 hour return.^[2]

The attraction now brings over 30,000 people to the railway per year, with much of the proceeds funding nature conservation works.^[2]

Trains

The line operates a number of items of rolling stock, the most important of which are the three diesel railcars, which were built on site by the owners. Possum is an 14-seater two-car unit and Snake and Linx are 36-seater, three-unit vehicles.^[4]

Site features

The line climbs the hill behind Brickell's pottery, changing direction five times at reversing points to zigzag across the face of the hill. At the terminus is a wooden building, the "Eyefull Tower".^[1] Although this is a pun on the name Eiffel Tower (and on the wide land and sea views from the tower), its octagonal design^[2] is based on a much nearer landmark, the Bean Rock Lighthouse in Auckland Harbour.^[5]

There are a variety of other features on the site, such as a growing areas of re-planted native forest (including kauri), a wildlife sanctuary and a sculpture park (throughout the site and along the rail line, varying pottery and brick artworks abound, and also include retaining walls made of glass bottles).^[3][2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Coromandel: Like taking a step back in time". The New Zealand Herald. 16 August 2010. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10666452. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} "Coromandel: Water world". The New Zealand Herald. 7 June 2009. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10576645. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Road trip: Free-range foray". The New Zealand Herald. 26 January 2009. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/travel/news/article.cfm?c_id=7&objectid=10552860. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
4. ^ "Building Driving Creek Railway". Driving Creek Railway. http://www.drivingcreekrailway.co.nz/CreatingDCR.cfm. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 
5. ^ "New life in Coromandel town". The New Zealand Herald. 14 August 2005. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/whitianga/news/article.cfm?l_id=330&objectid=10339488. Retrieved 27 June 2011. 

External links

• Official website

Coordinates: 36°44′13″S 175°30′14″E / 36.7369°S 175.5040°E / -36.7369; 175.5040