The train hidden in the Waitākere Ranges - and the fight to bring it back
Kia ora neighbours, a tourist train nestled inside the Waitākere ranges has been rusting away for nearly a decade – but a group of volunteers hopes to get it running again.
The Rainforest Express was a miniature railway that ran 6km through the ranges from Jacobson's Depot on Scenic Drive to the Upper Nihotupu Dam, one of the main water supply reservoirs in West Auckland.
At the end of 2014 the express was closed after a geological report found there were 20 at-risk sites across the tramlines, with nine of those posing a “significant” risk to public safety.
Since then the rainforest express and its tramlines have been “rusting away”, Waitākere ward councillor Ken Turner said.
Read the full story below.
We're talking new year resolutions...
Tidying the house before going to bed each night, meditating upon waking or taking the stairs at work.
What’s something quick, or easy, that you started doing that made a major positive change in your life?
What word sums up 2024, neighbours?
If 2020 was the year of lockdowns, banana bread, and WFH (work from home)....
In one word, how would you define 2024?
We're excited to see what you come up with!