By popular request, real-time cab footage with audio*, from a freight train in New Zealand, as it travels from National Park to Waiouru in the Central North Island, across some incredible landscape.

Check out the Makatote Viaduct at 9:51, the highest point of the NZ railways at 13:33, and my personal favourite, the Hapuawhenua Viaduct at 21:41.

The weather wasn't ideal, but this was a rare opportunity to get daytime, southbound footage (for me at least). At Te Rapa, we don't often get the opportunity to go all the way to Waiouru (crew change is scheduled around National Park), and when we do, it's mostly in the middle of the night.

When the southbound train is cancelled, we can leave early in a car and intercept the northbound train at Waiouru for northbound footage; but to get southbound daytime footage really requires a lot of luck. (Some might say bad luck, as it's usually a very late northbound train that makes us go to Waiouru.)

* Audio will be muted during radio calls and Locomotive Engineer signal calls, to protect the privacy of all involved.


0:00 National Park to Makatote
8:28 Makatote to Horopito
15:58 Horopito to Ohakune
23:43 Ohakune to Karioi
33:30 Karioi to Tangiwai
39:50 Tangiwai to Waiouru



Footage captured by GoPro mounted on the 2nd Person's side, out of the driver's line of sight, and not touched until the train was stationary and brakes were applied.

All rail personnel are blurred for their privacy.