Historical Sources 

Use these websites and books to find out more about New Zealand’s rail history.

• NZHistory.net.nz – includes features on The North Island main trunk line, rail tourism, railway stations and the Tangiwai railway disaster
• Te Ara website – articles from the 1966 Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
• Wikipedia – articles on New Zealand rail transport
• Techhistory.co.nz – includes articles on the steam railways and  railway electrification
• History of the Taieri Gorge Railway
• Dunedin Railway Station – City of Dunedin website
• New Zealand historic heritage – explore the Department of Conservation website for information on historic bridges and other rail heritage sites
• Register of Historic Places – search the Historic Places Trust’s online register for information on New Zealand railway stations, tunnels, viaducts and other historic structures
• Timeframes – search the pictorial collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library for historic rail photographs, painting and poster

• Neill Atkinson, Trainland: how railways made New Zealand, Random House, Auckland, 2007
• Euan McQueen, Rails in the hinterland: New Zealand’s vanishing railway landscape, Grantham House, Wellington, 2005
• Robin Bromby, Rails that built a nation: an encyclopedia of New Zealand railways, Grantham House, Wellington, 2003
• Geoffrey Churchman and Tony Hurst, The railways of New Zealand: a journey through history, Transpress, Wellington, 2001
• David Leitch and Bob Stott, New Zealand railways: the first 125 years, Heinemann Reed, Auckland, 1988
• Bill Pierre, North Island Main Trunk: an illustrated history, Reed, Wellington, 1981