Steam Incorporated - Centennial South Island Rail Tour 2015 (HD)

An 85 minute long video production that we presented at the annual Canterbury Railway Society meeting in February 2017 - enjoy! One of New Zealand's recent major events in the heritage rail movement in modern times was the undertaking of a steam hauled tour train around the South Island railway network undertaken by mainline heritage operator Steam Incorporated, based in Kapiti, Wellington during October - November 2015. The purpose was to celebrate the centennial of the country's war memorial steam locomotive Ab class no. 608 since being built at Christchurch's Addington Workshops in 1915. The locomotive has been named "Passchendaele" in remembrance to those railway workers who lost their lives during the dark times of World War One, 100 years ago. The locomotive hauled a consist of 4 wooden open platform carriages, a steel paneled buffet car and a wooden guards van which is on a long term loan from the Glenbrook Vintage Railway in Auckland, all from the similar time period when the locomotive was in operation with the NZR. We capture exclusive footage of this special rail tour as it travels right across the railway network of the South Island, travelling to many places such as Picton, Christchurch, Dunedin, Taieri Gorge, Greymouth, Hokitika & Westport, plus a visit to the Weka Pass Railway in North Canterbury, including never-seen before footage of the excursion. A rail tour of this size in today's ongoing change of environment is unfortunately not likely to be repeated in the future, due to current issues that all New Zealand mainline heritage operators are facing at the moment. Nevertheless enjoy the magical experience of steam on the mainline for a period of 3 weeks, bringing back the memories when steam ruled the railways of New Zealand during the 20th century!
Links to the music used in this production are down below:
That Feeling by HookSounds www.hooksounds....
Creative Commons - Attribution 4.0 International - CC BY 4.0
creativecommon....
Music provided by Audio Library • Video
Adventures by A Himitsu / a-himitsu
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons....
Music release by Argofox • A Himitsu - Adventures...
Music provided by Audio Library • Adventures - A Himitsu...
Traveller by Lyvo / lyvo
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons....
Music provided by Audio Library • Traveller - Lyvo (No C...
THE HAPPY SONG by Nicolai Heidlas Music / nicolai-heidlas
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons....
Music provided by Audio Library • Video
SUNNY HOLIDAYS by Nicolai Heidlas Music / nicolai-heidlas
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons....
Music provided by Audio Library • Video
QUEEN OF THE SKIES by Nicolai Heidlas Music / nicolai-heidlas
Creative Commons - Attribution 3.0 Unported- CC BY 3.0
creativecommons....
Music provided by Audio Library • Video

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Video, That was a great Video, brilliant capture and editing, thanks for sharing

[@kerryjames7150]

I like it a lot when I appear in the first clip.

[@blairhinton7535]

A tourist attraction in the making. Take the old Kingston Flyer. Base her in Greymouth. It then meets the Tranz-alpine from CHCH. Offer trips to Hoki and Westport on alternate days. Encourage oversea train boffins to book accommodation so they get the opportunity to ride steam to other destinations on the coast, bringing tourist spending to the crafty shops in Hoki and the history towns like Reefton and Westport. Plenty of coal to feed the firebox. Plenty of engineering firms in Greymouth to do the maintenance/repairs/boiler certs. Costly to start up, but a consortium of businesses could bank roll it until it becomes a bit more self sufficient. Wouldn't take long for it to start making profits (Once the world opens up again) when you consider the Tran-alpine is already world renowned for its spectacular scenery and PPL come to NZ specifically to travel on it. I might be making it sound to simplistic, but it seems like a no brainer too me.

[@JohnSmith-pl2bk]

Here in April 2021..8.2k views.....a great vid with no music...yay!

[@LyfovRyan51]

Definitely on my bucket list to do.

[@trajan231]

Will we ever see Ab 608 double headed with Ab 663

[@kevinboyd-kevinboydvideosa6961]

There seems to be a lot of the tour listed and not shown.Is there a part 2 ?

[@turbochargedtractionproduc8073]

Long description!