Off the Rails - Rail Rider (Episode Nine)

Marcus Lush goes "right up the guts" of the North Island from Wairarapa to Gisborne, in this episode of his award-winning romance with New Zealand's railways. He meets railcar restorers and recounts the murders by rail porter Rowland Edwards in 1884. Special praise is reserved for the "spectacular and beautiful" Napier to Gisborne line (now mothballed) with its viaducts at Mohaka and Kōpuawhara. The latter is on the site of the 1938 flash flood that killed 21 workers inspiring an idiosyncratic Lush countdown of Aotearoa's then 10 worst disasters. Further reflection on this series can be found in this backgrounder.

What I’ve found is that there’s two sorts of train people, there’s those who are into diesel and there’re those who are into steam, and I what I reckon is that I’m partial to railcars.

– Marcus Lush nails his colours to the mast

Key Cast & Crew

Scott Flyger

Editor

Marcus Lush

Producer, Presenter

Melanie Rakena

Producer, Director

Jane Andrews

Producer, Director

Peter Allison

Director

Tony Manson

Network Executive