Snowball Express, 8 August 2009

On 8 August 2009, I travelled on the Railway Enthusiasts Society's excursion, the 'Snowball Express', made up of a 'Silver Fern' railcar, from Auckland to Ohakune and return.

The excursion made a short stopover in Taumarunui to allow the passengers to stretch their legs, as it was running ahead of time at that stage in the journey. I took the chance to take some shots.

Upon arrival at Ohakune, I was able to view the northbound Overlander train, before paying short visits to the Turoa skifield and the Mangawhero Falls on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu with friends, as seen here, as well as Ohakune township, before the railcar headed back for Auckland.

The passengers were unloaded on the southern end of the old and the new Hapuawhenua Viaducts, near Ohakune, to traverse the old viaduct recently opened as a Department of Conservation walkway, but it was gated off. The railcar waited as we were spontaneously allowed to cross the new, operational viaduct! I only had time to capture a brief shot, given that it took a while to cross the viaduct when walking at a good pace, with it being over 400 metres in length! Nonetheless, the shot captures a bit of the surreality of the experience.

The 'Silver Fern' then carefully crossed the viaduct, after the passengers, to stop and pick them up to continue on to Auckland.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Snowball
• Express
• August
• 2009
• Railway
• Railways
• Railroad
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• Enthusiasts
• excursion
• Silver
• Fern
• railcar
• Auckland
• Ohakune
• Taumarunui
• Turoa
• skifield
• Mangawhero
• waterfall
• Ruapehu
• Hapuawhenua
• Viaduct
• viaducts
• DoC
• Department
• Conservation
• passenger
• passengers
• train
• trains
• NIMT
• Main
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• North
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• Zealand

[CaptYanknBank]

Looks like ya had a gr8 day, weather was beaut & Ruapehu shots awsum.

[GaryFarrowNZ]

It was an outstanding day - we couldn't really have asked for better in the midst of winter! I was pretty impressed at how the Ruapehu shots turned out as well. :) Thanks for the comment!

[teletubby10000]

very well done video