The Feilding and District Steam Rail Society, also known as Feilding Steam Rail, is a railway preservation society located in Feilding

Feilding, New Zealand

Feilding is a town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North....

 in the Manawatu region of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. The society has restored or is presently restoring a number of locomotives and wagons once used on New Zealand's national rail network

Rail transport in New Zealand

Rail transport in New Zealand consists of a network of gauge railway lines in both the North and South Islands. Rail services are focused primarily on freight, particularly bulk freight, with limited passenger services on some lines...

, with its star attraction currently being a W^AB class

NZR Wab class

The WAB class locomotives were steam locomotives designed, built and used by New Zealand Railways Department. Their wheel arrangement is described by the Whyte notation 4-6-4T. The locomotives were designed by NZR chief draughtsman S.H. Jenkinson as tank versions of the AB class 4-6-2 Pacific...

 tank locomotive

Tank locomotive

A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...

, W^AB 794. The society also has X

NZR X class

The NZR X class was a pioneering class of eighteen 4-8-2 steam locomotives designed by A. L. Beattie that operated on the national rail network of New Zealand...

 442 and F

NZR F class

The NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 1067 millimetres was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new 1067 mm railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers...

 163. Although nine members of the F class are preserved, this is the only one in mainline running condition. The society also possesses two small diesel shunters, DSA 227 and TR

NZR TR class

The NZR TR class is a class of diesel shunting locomotives built by many different manufacturers. Many of these locomotives have been withdrawn, but some are still in service. The first locomotives of this class were built by the Drewry Car Co in 1936, and had 52 kW or 90 kW petrol engines...

 13, along with a large mainline diesel locomotive, DA

NZR DA class

The NZR Da diesel-electric mainline locomotive class ran on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. With 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to operate in New Zealand, just five more than the AB class steam locomotive....

 1401, and a varied collection of rolling stock including both passenger and freight wagons.

The society's depot includes the turntable

Turntable (railroad)

A railway turntable is a device for turning railroad rolling stock. When steam locomotives were still in wide use, many railroads needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in many...

 from Palmerston

Palmerston, New Zealand

The town of Palmerston, in New Zealand's South Island lies 50 kilometres to the north of the city of Dunedin. It is the largest town in the Waihemo Ward of the Waitaki District with a population of 890 residents...

, a town in north Otago

Otago

Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...

 in the South Island

South Island

The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...

, as well as the Taonui station building that used to be located near Feilding on the North Island Main Trunk Railway at the junction with the short-lived Taonui Branch.

Feilding Steam Rail operates excursions from its Feilding base to locations such as Wanganui

Wanganui

Whanganui , also spelled Wanganui, is an urban area and district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region....

, Ohakune

Ohakune

Ohakune is a town in the North Island of New Zealand. It is located at the southern end of the Tongariro National Park, close to the southwestern slopes of the active volcano Mount Ruapehu. Part of the Manawatu-Wanganui region, the town is 70 kilometres northeast of Wanganui, and 25 kilometres west...

, Dannevirke

Dannevirke

Dannevirke , is a rural service town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island, New Zealand. It is the major town of the administrative Tararua District, the easternmost of the districts in which the Regional Council has responsibilities...

, and Pahiatua

Pahiatua

Pahiatua is a rural service town in the south-eastern North Island of New Zealand with an urban and rural population of over 4,000. It is between Masterton and Woodville on State Highway 2 and the Wairarapa Line railway, north of Masterton and east of Palmerston North...

. When severe rainfall and floods caused destructive slips in the Manawatu Gorge

Manawatu Gorge

The Manawatu Gorge runs between the Ruahine and Tararua Ranges of the North Island of New Zealand, linking the Manawatu and Hawke's Bay regions...

in 2004, the society operated sightseeing trains through the Gorge.

External links

• Official website of the Feilding and District Steam Rail Society