Welcome to New Zealands
Bay of Islands Vintage Steam Railway

The Bay of Islands Vintage Railway Trust (BOIVRT) is a heritage Steam railway in Kawakawa, Northland, New Zealand. The railway operates on part of the former Opua Branch railwayand offers steam train rides to visitors to the Bay of Islands throughtout the year.

A current Trust was formed and Mike Bradshaw on his return from Argentina was persuaded to join the railway and get it back on track. As trains had not been running for six years so there was a large amount of work to be done to get trains running again. Two coaches and ‘Fredrick the Diesel Engine’ were the first to be refurbished and painted. Followed shortly after by Gabriel the Trusts beautiful Steam locomotive which now offers steam train rides to hundreds of visitors each year.

As every bridge had to be re-surveyed it meant that initially we only ran trains through Kawakawa to the first bridge out of town. As each bridge has been signed off and the track been brought up to running standard we now over bridge eight. There are fourteen bridges and one tunnel on the fourteen kilometers of track to Opua – so lots of work still required to achieve our goal of returning to Opua.

Now that we have reached Taumarere our next major goal is get over the ‘long bridge’ and on to Opua.

We hope you enjoy your visit to The Bay of Isands Vintage Railway. If you would like to know more about how you can help us to keep these beautiful trains running of if you are interested in becoming a volunteer please click here.

Click the links below to visit other sites of interest...

Kawakawa Hundertwasser Park Trust

Destination Northland