Main Trunk Century
This new documentary is a celebration of the centenary of New Zealand’s North Island Main Trunk Railway, one of the last great engineering triumphs from the frontier days of the Age of Steam. A 1000 pound wager was made by the Minister of Railways if the line completed in time for a special train to get to Auckland to meet the american Great White Fleet.Two tiny L locomotives built way back in 1877 were restored to head the Centennial Special, 100 years after Frederick Furkert had temporary tracks laid over swampland to get the first train through. Two stories unfold in parallel with participantsí comments on the 2008 journey, and flashbacks to authentic accounts from passengers on the original 20.5 hour pioneer journey.
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Rimutaka Incline
In this unique programme, produced by the international award-winning Memory Line team, a surviving fitter, driver and fireman return to the abandoned Incline to relive tales of agony and triumph of the Fell engines battling the mountain range. Also featured is the worlds’ only remaining Fell loco. H199, shown in its restored splendour in the Fell Engine Museum at Featherston. This present-day footage , combined with detailed archive film never seen publicly before, brings to life an amazing railway which was surely steam’s ultimate test. Purchase DVD...
On Denniston
In this fascinating documentary produced by the award-winning Memory Line team, we return to the remote and inhospitable Denniston Plateau with some of the miners and men who worked on the Incline. As they tell their story, high quality 35mm archive movie film graphically shows how the coal was taken from the mines high in the hills down to the ships at Westport, including an exciting ride down the Denniston Incline on a Q class railway wagon full of coal. Finally we are left to wonder at a chapter in New Zealand’s history, when there was life On Denniston. Purchase DVD...
Rails in the Wilderness
Steam log haulers dragged the felled trees on skylines and through dense undergrowth. Centre stage in this drama were the tramway engines, or lokeys — legendary designs from the USA like Heisler and Climax and New Zealand-built Price and Johnston - hauling the logs out over high timber trestle bridges, along slippery steel and wooden rails laid hastily over thousands of miles of wilderness. Brought to you by the international award-winning Memory Line team, this documentary recalls an era that New Zealand will never witness again. Purchase DVD...
North Island Main Trunk
Here are legends and stories of the railway men and women - colourful anecdotes of the Refreshment Rooms, of smuggling liquor into dry areas and tales of tragedy and humour. The romance of a pioneering life-line which created new towns and brought development and prosperity to the entire North Island.
This compelling international award-winning documentary is brought to you by the professional Memory Line film-making team. Purchase DVD ...Total Steam
Make a nostalgic trip on a rural branch line into New Zealand’s heartland and potter around the quaint branch railways of the Waikato Coal Fields and the smoky shunting yards at Auckland Station.
Brought to life in sharp brilliant colour with a painstakingly recreated sound effects track, entertaining anecdotes from the men and women of the time add a personal touch to this tribute to the great era of TOTAL STEAM. Purchase DVD ...Toogood Tales
Selected from films shot by the National Film Unit which featured or were narrated by Selwyn Toogood, including a behind the scenes look at ‘It’s in the Bag’ radio show, this is a unique celebration of the Kiwi way of life before the days of Television. Purchase DVD ...
