Skip to main content

Story: Wairarapa region

Fell engine on the Remutaka incline

Image
Climbing the line

A Fell engine train enters a tunnel on the line as it climbs the Remutaka Range, around 1900. Fell engines were used on steep inclines. The line had a third rail that was gripped by horizontal wheels under the engine, pulling the train up the hill.

Using this item

Alexander Turnbull Library, Albert Percy Godber Collection (PA-Group-00048)

Reference: APG-0153-1/2-G

by Albert Percy Godber

Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

All images & media in this story

How to cite this page

Ben Schrader, Wairarapa region – Transport, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/12116/fell-engine-on-the-remutaka-incline (accessed 24 June 2026).

Story by Ben Schrader, published 2 March 2009, updated 1 March 2017.