Riding the Pleasant Point Railway, South Canterbury

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For parents of train obsessed kids, a ride on the Pleasant Point Railway is an obvious choice when exploring South Canterbury. An old steam train (that looks a lot like Donald and Douglas from Thomas and Friends) takes you a few kilometres down the line to a musuem. It doesn’t take long and won’t break the bank!

Riding the Rails

Our little one started bouncing (as he does when he’s excited) when he saw the historic steam engine pull into Pleasant Point Station. He’d been on metros in Asia before but nothing like this! We climbed aboard and had a whole carriage to ourselves. The ride to the museum takes around 10 minutes, the perfect distance for a toddler’s first steam train ride.

The engine we rode was an Ab 699 tender steam locomotive, and we also saw the RM class Model T Ford railcar carrying passengers to and from the museum. There’s also a D16 tank locomotive (which seems to be the one running during the winter) in the museum.

One of my earliest memories is riding a steam train on the Pleasant Point Railway. I must have been around four at the time and it was cool to do it again with my own son all these years later — definitely a memorable experience for a kid who loves trains!

The Museum

We spent around 15 minutes looking around the museum before the whistle blew and it was time for the return journey. You can also stay longer and catch the next train back.

There are some trains / carriages in there as well as a model railway. There’s also a large “toy” train aimed at kids that has a face just like on Thomas and Friends (we thought it looked like Rosie if she had painted black).

Pleasant Point Railway: The Details

The Pleasant Point Railway runs often during the warmer months (usually from around 11am – 3pm on Sundays). It seems to also open up occasionally during winter. Check out their Facebook page and you should be able to see when it’ll be running.

It cost us around $30 for the two of us (kids under three are free) and we also got a free book about trains which we looked at a lot over the next month or so. Pleasant Point is located in South Canterbury, 15-minutes drive from Timaru. 

Other Heritage Railways in the South Island

The Kingston Flyer, near Queenstown, is a great one to do if you get the chance. There are other heritage railways (and some interesting non-heritage ones) around the island. Some of these include Weka Pass, Oamaru, Ashburton (heritage lines) and the Taieri Gorge Railway and Tranzalpine (scenic journeys).

Are you planning a trip to South Canterbury? Check out our Timaru Travel Guide for lots of information!

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Jon Algie

I'm a South Island local -- born in Timaru and raised in Dunedin. I left the island in 2006 and returned 10 years later. Having seen a good chunk of the world I realised how special this place is -- the most beautiful island in the world! Seven years (and almost 400 posts) later I'm still helping locals and tourists alike plan their trips around the South Island.

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