Total Steam

DOCUMENTARY It’s before the advent of diesels and New Zealand Railways are dominated by huge black locomotives, panting steel dinosaurs that breathe smoke and fire. You have just entered the lost world of TOTAL STEAM. Live the spectacle of steam and snow on the Tranz Alpine Railway through the Southern Alps and the tortuous route of the North Island Main Trunk line. Take an exciting ride on the South Island Limited Express between Invercargill and Christchurch as it races at speeds at up to 75 miles per hour, or lurch at walking pace on a “bush lokey” along a tramway into a remote forest in Westland. Travel sedately behind a Baldwin loco dating back to 1901 on the “Hokitika Mixed” or hitch a free ride on a freight train from Frankton to the Bay of Plenty through the spectacular Karangahake Gorge and its notorious tunnel, hated by engine crews. 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.