LET'S TAKE A TRAIN RIDE.

The day train linking Wellington and Auckland is back in operation.  "You’ll feel smug as you settle into your seat and the train glides out of the city against the flow of commuters heading in to work." The suburban zone looks like what you might get if the Denver and Intermountain had remained in operation into the strip-mall era.  Although the train is running on the North Island, there is no such thing as a water level route.

Rivers threading down from their slopes have cut deep channels through the plain, but the smooth journey continues, thanks to more viaducts here. They date back to 1908 and one, marked by an obelisk, was the last link in the completion of the route between Auckland and Wellington. It’s the Hāpuawhenua Viaduct, rebuilt in 1981, that gets everyone jostling for photos. Its elegant 414m curve, on tall concrete pillars rising from the fern-filled bush, is a modern classic.

Trouncing even that, though, is the Raurimu Spiral that comes next. Designed in 1898 to make the steep 139m height difference accessible, the track here winds around on itself with two short tunnels, three hairpin bends and one big horseshoe curve. It’s in equal measure clever, using the topography to avoid the need for bridges, and a testament to engineering skill and, especially, hard work by men with shovels and horses pulling carts. It’s also quite confusing for passengers, able at one point to see their own train heading in the opposite direction on what looks like a separate track. The story goes that a train driver once slammed on his brakes, seeing his own guard’s van light apparently just ahead, and fearing a collision.

The train is primarily for sightseeing, and one rake alternates departures, marking off on Tuesdays.