Charming Creek Railway–A Link With The Past

This amazing bush railway was built to carry coal from the Charming Creek coal mine to the Ngakawau railhead in 1929. Building of the line began in 1927 and it took two years to complete. Construction gangs had to negotiate dense bush and the steep, rocky Ngakawau Gorge, in a 350ft climb to the mine. Production from the mine began as soon as the line was completed but it is no longer in use.

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An old wooden suspension bridge still spans the Ngakawau River. Here the line is 60ft above the rapids

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Many tunnels roughly hewn from solid rock are scattered along the route

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A miniature Hawks Crag gives the railway access through a gorge on the Ngakawau River

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A waterfall near the gorge, seen from the old railway