It's a pleasure to share these experiences, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

I don't think the Wairarapa is ready for bullet trains yet, too many level crossings. ;-)

Yes, when I saw "High-speed train - Masterton to Wellington" I thought, bro you be trippin'. Cool video Tim!

I used to travel the line north of Upper Hutt on a motor trolly over 20 years ago. And have gone all the way to Masterton as well on one. good ol days😊 Excellent video.

I'm pleased you enjoyed the ride.

Thanks, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

New Zealand's fascinating railways and outstanding scenery are a winning combination.

Hi Claire, in the past this line was well known for the Rimutaka Incline, a section of line that included steep gradients worked by Fell engines that gripped on a centre rail. The incline was closed when the tunnel opened. The line continues past Masterton to join the Palmerston North to Napier line. This section is seldom used as Freight trains to Napier are usually routed from Palmerston North through the Manawatu Gorge. Occasionally special passenger trains are run in conjunction with events such as the Art Deco weekend in Napier. It is such a shame that these highly scenic routes have lost their passenger services, but I was fortunate enough to ride a recent special to Napier via the Gorge. I will be posting videos covering that train in the next week or two.

High-speed trains being overtaken by cars, in the real world that could happen in Germany. Seeing the people hurrying around reminds me of the old Laurel and Hardy movies.

Cheers, I'm pleased you enjoyed it.

The first time I went to New Zealand there were billboards beside the roads sporting a body bag with a foot hanging out, there was a label attached to one of the toes with "Speeding Ticket" written on it. Doesn't look like that campaign worked too well.

Kph not mph

Hi, I first visited the station at Wellington in 2005, I was surprised to find some many British manufactured units and second hand BR Mk2 carriages. The ex BR carriages had received a first class make over before entering service on locomotive hauled trains to and from Masterton and Palmerston North. The overnight trains to Auckland were history by then, today the only service to Auckland is the three times a week Northern Explorer. There is still some activity in the freight yards, mostly in conjunction with the train ferry to South Island and the shunter also operates the locomotive from a hand held controller, it looks odd to see a locomotive shunting without a driver in the cab. That is the rugby stadium, my son says it has been nick named "the Cake Tin". I bet you enjoyed riding a freight train around the Kapiti coast. I don't work in the rail industry, but I have to say all the drivers I've met in the Wellington area have been nice guys, sadly there is always one in most work places, that's life.

Cheers Arthur, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed the ride, I guess you took the high-speed train on the return.

Thank you.

Hi, glad you enjoyed it.

Hi, it's nice to hear from India and you are correct, the video was sped up by 5 times, I'm glad you enjoyed it.

I bet the regular commuters wish it really did speed them to and from work as quickly as this train 😊

Hi, the trip round the bay is very scenic, I will post another video in a few weeks showing the view across the bay from the passenger seat.

The service between Wellington and Masterton is good, with a reasonable choice of services in comfortable carriages. I haven't travelled on the Te Huia service, although I get the impression from speaking to other people that ridership is improving, I looked on their website to see the service frequency. There are 2 or 3 trains a day, please click on this link to see their timetable - www.tehuiatrain.co.nz/timetables/

kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbmkqdx3qMjFpZ8.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJOAdtlnvpO1f40.html Hi, click on these links to see trip in real time.

Hi, I've posted several real time videos of the trip, you might prefer one of these - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q7BzhqWYmbuvdYU.html - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pLhhh6x8l9jTiqM.html

Things have really moved on since mallard, wonder what the future holds - regular passenger trains travelling at 500 mph or more?

Hai Tim,wel see the T.G.V. and the Maglev,lol.hi speed. have a nice day .

Way more problems than just that...

Travelling a little slower gives more time to enjoy the wonderful scenery.

The_ALEX_ELLIS_Channel If we had the right topography and equipment, we could easily have high speed trains. Three foot six trains could go just as fast as standard gauge trains.

bigkiwimike NZ is not have a big land...Train with Speed of 150 km/h is well enough then very high speed train...

Japan has an extensive 3ft 6inch gauge network and they like fast trains, this link shows some of their fastest trains jrtr.net/jrtr08/pdf/photo.pdf Another interesting example is Queensland's tilt trains en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilt_Train It looks as though 100 mph (160kph) is the fastest speed currently run on 3ft 6inch gauge track.

I bet it will be a good few years before Masterton gets it high-speed connection to Wellington.

Tunnels are controversial, some people like the whole tunnel, others don't. In my later videos I am more likely to include the entire trip through a tunnel assuming the picture is OK.

New Zealand has a small population, that could never justify the cost, but I think they do a good job running trains to Masterton with limited resources.

Lets see what happens with the light rail issue in Auckland and what they come up with. The new technology is going to significantly impact even New Zealand and perhaps change transport, which may bring new ideas/techniques to rail even in NZ. I agree NZ does use its No8 wire mentality to produce some very interesting solutions to things

There is nothing wrong with the No.8 wire mentality, it gets things done one way or another. Those ex British Rail carriages running on the Wairarapa Line are much better than the uncomfortable cramped carriages that replaced them in Britain. Britain is about to start withdrawing second generation DMU's and HST's, both of which if re-gauged would suit New Zealand, although it will be hard to beat the trains running out to Masterton today, they are light comfortable and airy, maybe borrow some driving carriages from the withdrawn Auckland stock, to add to the existing trains avoiding the need to run round the at each end of the journey. As a regular tourist to NZ, better links to Auckland Airport would be a real bonus, I've come close to missing my plane twice now because of accidents, hold ups and roadworks on Highway 1 out of Auckland. There is a Diesel version of the Spanish built trains running in Auckland today, that would be suitable for the Wairarapa Line.

You hit a raw spot with the road traffic problem in Auckland. It is terrible and increasing no matter how much roading infrastructure we try - which is why many think rail is a significant solution - its built and could still be increased. During the steam era we relied heavily on trains; As the technology changed and rules for transport - Trucks came to dominate long haul; Flights became cheaper, and NZers some how forced into cars. Costs to park in the inner city are so horrendous its the only time you think of catching public transport. I live in Mt Wellington, once I decided to leave my vehicle and catch a train to a seminar in Auckland city. The first train went past it was broken down; The second went past it was full; I had to wait half an hour to catch a train to a business meeting. This is intolerable; and put me back into driving to the city. Thanks to the high quality of online video recording of train travel; I am a returnee kiwi; I grew up travelling on steam; diesel, railcars; Hamilton to Wellington, Palmeston North to Napier; Along with my brother-in-law we went to Taneatua where the east coast line was terminated many years ago. I grew up in Taumarunui when Steam was king. The line to New Plymouth. Finally Thank you!! for sharing your love of rail and intimate knowledge of train as well as travel and transport with us. I had forgotten how much I missed this so much.

As I am not a New Zealander I probably shouldn't say anything, but as a tourist I see huge swaths of beautiful New Zealand disappearing under tarmac towards Hamilton, yet a gap was left in the electrification of the parallel railway line and there is even the possibility that the NIMT might lose its electrification. When engineers are in charge things happen, when accountants are in charge, they get rich and nothing positive happens. The scenario is all too familiar, Britain went there 50 years ago, all motorways do is move the problem, proper integrated transport is the answer, with Switzerland providing a first class example of what can be achieved. Most East European and some West European cities and towns have trams and trolley buses, running efficient reliable services that people can trust, this leads to a less congested road system. Denver in North America has a light rail system that runs through the streets in town and along dedicated railway lines to the suburbs, offering the convenience of a bus or car in town with the speed of a train once in the suburbs. Auckland does look to be tackling the problem with improved rail services and maybe a light rail line to the airport long after most of us have passed away. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch all suffer from gridlock and they all ditched their trams, just as happened in Britain. If New Zealand wants to know what the future holds, a look at Britain's problems today will often give a good indication. Growing up in Taumarunui must have have been fun, with all the activity in the rail yards, I was there a little over a year ago to ride the railcarts along the old SOL, I was fascinated by all the ex Auckland suburban trains in the yards opposite the station at Taumarunui. From your description you must have seen KiwiRail in its heyday, I would love to slip back in time to do some of the journeys you did. I hope Kiwi common sense shines through and the town planners realise they don't have to make every mistake the British made 50 years ago, because it is incredibly expensive to put back something that should never have been taken away. I always look forward to my next visit to NZ, its a wonderful place and I am sure Kiwi's will put their wonderful country first, rather than making a few greedy men rich beyond belief.

I'm not sure, although the train did slow a little, I can only guess the guard knew no one wanted to get off and there was no one waiting to get on, maybe it is just a request stop.

Now I'm watching it with the William Tell overture playing in my head, the music and the video go together like strawberry's and cream. High-speed people are hard to find on the run into work, plenty of them on the way home :-)

I'm wondering if you've ever done any videos of Australian train journeys? Not too many months ago, a channel in Aus did a broadcast of the entire south-to-north railway journey, Adelaide SA to Darwin NT - all nine hours of it. Not that you'd need to record for quite that long most of the time. You might be able to start out with something a little shorter... say, four hours ("The Gippslander" from Melbourne to Bairnsdale) or perhaps Melbourne to Ballarat (around 3 hours)... ;) Unfortunately, I'm thinking that the rail authorities in Aus might be a bit too anally retentive to give permission. :p But you could ask.

Hi, I will be visiting Brisbane to film the "Spirit of the Outback" train in Feb 2019, but as yet I haven't managed to get permission to place a small GoPro camera in the cab due to the cost of insurance, I have the correct insurance for Europe, but it doesn't cover Australia, just how dangerous is a GoPro camera? I will try again, hopefully I can get a result because it is a win win situation, free publicity for the kind of rail journey travellers like myself are likely to book and an interesting cab ride for those who enjoy watching them. I will also be visiting Melbourne and the wonderful Puffing Billy Railway.

I'll be interested in knowing when you're going to visit Puffing Billy since I might be able to arrange to be around. :)

Hi Jason, I will be visiting the Puffing Billy Railway at the end of February 2019 where I will be catching up a good friend and travelling companion in his more usual role as Menzies Creek station master.

I'm surprised it survived the Jet Boat ride 😊

@@Timsvideochannel1 Almost snapped!

@@neilforbes416 You take it easy now, we wouldn't want you end up in hospital.

@@Timsvideochannel1 LOL

@@neilforbes416 william tell overture in the background LOL

Hola, aquí hay dos videos a velocidad normal sobre la misma ruta - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJOAdtlnvpO1f40.html - kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bbmkqdx3qMjFpZ8.html

You are correct to point this out, it is even more remarkable that Masterton has a train service at all, bearing in mind how sparsely populated the Wairarapa region is. I think it is largely Kiwi ingenuity keeping this service running, keeping costs down by using refurbished ex British rail carriages and older diesel locomotives. The trains I travelled on were very comfortable and well patronised.

It's always hard to know which speed to pick, possibly 3 x speed would have been a good choice, viewers can always use the KZfaq player to speed the video up by as much as 2 x speed, although the sound is also sped up.

Your right the video has been sped up by 5 times normal speed.

We already know you idiot

Hi Mark, sorry you didn't like the video, I have posted it in real time on this channel, not quite 17 hours long, but if you have trouble sleeping it should help you nod off. I've got a good life, I invent and develop new products for a living and travel the world when I get a chance. OK, so I like trains .... we've all got our Achilles heel.

I live in England, but next time I make the trip to NZ I'll see what I can do.