The Gisborne City Vintage Railway (GCVR) Incorporated is a railway preservation group based in
Gisborne, New Zealand. Operating on part of the northern section of the mothballed
Palmerston North–Gisborne Line, the group was founded in 1985.
After signing a lease with KiwiRail, Gisborne City Vintage Railway now operates its steam locomotive
WA 165 on public excursion trains from Gisborne south to Muriwai, a distance of about . GCVR runs charter and public excursions, mainly from October to June.
From 1986, the group began restoration of W
A 165, the first locomotive built at NZR's
Hillside Workshops
Hillside Engineering Group is a trading division of the rail operator KiwiRail in Dunedin, New Zealand. Most of its work is related to KiwiRail, but it also does work for the marine industry in Dunedin. On 19 April 2012 KiwiRail announced it was ...
in 1897. The locomotive was returned to steam in 2000.
The group then began running excursions from Gisborne.
Lease
In 2012
KiwiRail announced that it was mothballing the Napier-Gisborne section of the Palmerston North-Gisborne Line, due to the cost of repairing storm damage to the line. This put the future of Gisborne City Vintage Railway in question. In 2013 the group's president, Geoff Joyce, told the Gisborne District Council that the group was preparing a business case to take over the lease of the line from KiwiRail.
The plan included leasing 34 km of track from Gisborne to Beach Loop.
In September 2015, Gisborne City Vintage Railway signed a License to Occupy agreement with KiwiRail, which enables them to lease the line from Gisborne to Beach Loop. In addition to paying the lease, they also have to maintain that section of the line including all of the bridges.
Repairs and maintenance
As at 1 January 2021, damage to the track at Beach Loop was preventing Gisborne City Vintage Railway from operating south of Muriwai. In December 2022, the Eastland Group announced that the
Tūranganui River railway bridge, used by the train to collect cruise ship passengers from the port was no longer considered safe. As an interim measure, a bus was arranged to take cruise ship passengers from the port to connect with the train. Later that month, the Gisborne City Vintage Railway reported that it aimed to raise $800,000 to undertake repairs and maintenance on the line to Muriwai.
See also
*
NZR WA class
The NZR WA class locomotives were a class of Tank locomotive built by New Zealand Railways Department, New Zealand Railways (NZR). Eleven were built at NZR's own Addington Workshops in Christchurch and Hillside Workshops in Dunedin. Four more wer ...
*
Locomotives of New Zealand
References
External links
Gisborne City Vintage Railwayofficial web site.
From ruins to steamYouTube video clip
{{coord, -38.6719, 178.0228, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title
Heritage railways in New Zealand
Rail transport in the Gisborne District
3 ft 6 in gauge railways in New Zealand
Tourist attractions in the Gisborne District