DL 9037 passing through Matapihi with Train 483
2On a sunny (albeit cloudy) Saturday afternoon, we see the fourth-oldest member of the DL class passing through Matapihi with Train 483 - the afternoon run from Kinlieth to Mount Maunganui. This train carries logs and newsprint from the paper mill south of Tokoroa, and takes it to the Port of Tauranga for export.
Matapihi is a location that I don't think I've ever filmed at before. It's an unusual place, in the sense that it's a somewhat rural area surrounded almost entirely by a large and developed city. Annoyingly it is somewhat difficult to get to. The only way of getting there by road is by going over the Tauranga Harbour Bridge, along Hewletts Road and down past the Bayfair shopping centre. I hate this route because the traffic along there is just horrendous.
The alternative route is by driving the car right down to the end of The Strand and walking or riding a bike across the wooden path that's attached to the side of the railway bridge.