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Driving Creek Railway
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| [Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note |
Driving Creek Railways & Potteries
Driving Creek Railways & Potteries is New Zealand's only narrow-gauge train ride in the Coromandel along with a working pottery and wild life sanctuary.
The one-hour return Coromandel train ride on innovatively designed trains takes you through replanted native kauri forest and includes two spirals, three short tunnels, five reversing points and several large viaducts as it climbs up to the mountain-top terminus. The especially designed passenger trains were built at the Driving Creek Railway's own engineering workshop located beside the potteries. The latest is the Possum, an 18-seater twin-bogie diesel railcar built in 1994. The Snake is a double-articulated three-bodied train-set, a truly ambitious project that was built in 1992. Like a snake it can twist and turn around the sharp curves abounding up the line. There are two older diesel locomotives and various wagons used for conveying clay, wood, native plants for the extensive forest replanting project up the line, and others for construction purposes. A steam locomotive for occasional non-fire season use is on the drawing board.
The railway and pottery complex blends into the natural bush setting. As well as touring the pottery complex you may also want to spend some time in the craft shop viewing the finished works. You can also find well-researched material on local history and ecology. Track laying began in 1975 by Barry Brickell shortly after he established the pottery workshop. As a railway enthusiast he saw the practical and environmental advantages of having a narrow-gauge railway system through his rugged scrub-covered land to give all-weather access to clay and pine wood kiln fuel. Dieselmouse was the very first passenger train Brickell worked on. For 15 years he poured a considerable amount of money into railway construction before it was licensed to carry fare-paying public in 1990. This huge gamble has now paid off, while returns from the pottery have been steadily diminishing. A recent move into the tile and brick-making industry is an exciting new development. Today, the railway carries more passengers than raw materials because it has become a major and unique tourist attraction. Unlike most other tourist railways, the DCR is newly built rather than being an old line that has been restored. It is New Zealand's only narrow-gauge mountain railway. All earlier such railways built to convey minerals have been demolished.
This is a photo of one of the tunnels on the railway line. |
Unicorn1, Sharpshooter, gracestout2008 has marked this note useful
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Hello Ralph
Superb colours on the brickwork and the greenery, and the rails do a good job of taking the eye through the shot. Is it 15” gauge – it looks like it?
Hope to see more!
Regards, Leslie
Nice photo Ralph, I like the way you've captured it. Good composition and POV, I love the 'light at the end of the tunnel'. The green from the plants and the orange from the bricks blend well too. TFS.
I like the perspective of this shot. Well captured image. Well balanced colours and good tones. Good work Ralph!
Grace
- Dawn
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1134 W: 100 N: 3363]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-g-g.gif)
(17532) - [2009-03-12 21:22]
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Isnt this a neat place to go to Ralph. I was there a couple of years back...gosh I must have been through that hole.. but it looks too tiny! :-)))
Nice capture, and well done on handling the light well here.
Regards
Dawn
Catch up with you on Sunday!
![Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Note Writer [C: 351 W: 2 N: 289]](http://i1.treklens.com/misc/g-n-g.gif)
(1982)