NZ Rail 150 was a celebration to celebrate 150 years of the New Zealand Railways, held in 2013 by KiwiRail, the Canterbury Railway Society, Ferrymead Heritage Park, and the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
Overview
The celebrations commenced 19 October with the Christchurch Model Train Show and carried on the next day. KiwiRail commenced their part in the celebrations on 29 September with their Exhibition Express that commenced in Auckland and traveled south to Invercargill and then finally to Lyttelton on 26 October. The Mainline Steam Heritage Trust also commenced their part for the celebrations on the 19 with a steam excursion from Auckland to Northland hauled by JA 1275 and returned the next day. On the 21 they commenced JA 1240s delivery trip from Auckland with being towed by DL 9014 to Wellington with two days in Picton and then to Christchurch on the 24. Also during that day RM 24 arrived in Christchurch from Dunedin. On the next day DG 772 from the Diesel Traction Group and DJ 1209 from the Taieri Gorge Railway hauled an excursion from Christchurch to Kaikoura and return. On the 26 Ja 1240 hauled an excursion to Arthurs Pass and returned and the 'DG' and 'DJ' hauled an excursion to the Weka Pass Railway while the Canterbury Railway Society was running at the Ferrymead Heritage Park with Mainline Steams KA 942 and the Silverfern Railcar running trips between Ferrymead and Lyttelton with The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum ran night runs with their A 64 and Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Societys B 10. On the 27 Ferrymead held another open day with running their own and visiting locos while The Plains Railway were also running the 'A' and the 'B'. Then on the following day 1240 headed to Timaru with the Timaru Flyer. The Plains was running the 'B' and K 88. The Silverfern Railcar was running trips between Christchurch and Rolleston plus Christchurch and Rangiora. On the following day Mainline Steam ran a 4-day excursion from Christchurch to Greymouth on that day, then to Westport the following and then on the next two days returnomg to Greymouth and Christchurch. During the 29 the Silverfern Railcar hauled a train from Christchurch to Springfield and return. Then on the next day it headed back to Dunedin.