Wingatui race day train booked out

Otago voted with its feet in favour of regional rail services yesterday when the Taieri Gorge Railway charter train to Wingatui was booked out. Extra bus services were organised in addition to the train to take racegoers to the racing club's Melbourne Cup Day.

Taieri Gorge Railway operations manager Grant Craig said that 400 tickets were sold, the entire allocation. The train had 12 carriages and locomotives were attached at either end to save the need for shunting.

"People could go out and have a good time without worrying about drinking too much," Grant said. "And then we brought them all right back to the centre of town."

Wednesday's 'Otago Daily Times' (p2, 5 November) had a nice picture of the train's departure from Dunedin.

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from Get the Train group

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ENDS