|
Waiouru
Waiouru is a small town in the Ruapehu District, in New Zealand's Manawatū-Whanganui region. It is located on the south-eastern North Island Volcanic Plateau, north of Palmerston North and 25 kilometres south-east of Mount Ruapehu. The town had a population of 765 in the 2018 census. The main attraction of Waiouru is the National Army Museum, opened in 1978, which features static displays of New Zealand's military heritage. The rest of the township consists of a small cluster of a police station, two garages, a petrol station/postal agency, a panel beater, two motels, a tavern and half a dozen cafe/restaurants spread along the highway. There are three unmanned diesel refueling sites for the 700+ big freight trucks that pass through Waiouru each day. Nearby are the yards of a roading contractor and a maintenance contractor. A grocery store, hairdresser and beautician are in the Army housing area two kilometres away, and a medical centre, public library, cafe and department ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waiouru Army Camp
Waiouru Military Camp is a camp of the New Zealand Army in the central North Island of New Zealand near Waiouru. All New Zealand Army soldiers complete their initial basic training, the All Arms Recruit Course (AARC), at Waiouru Military Camp. The camp is also the site of the army marae. The marae is the home of ''Ngāti Tūmatauenga'', literally 'the tribe of the God of War', the Māori name for the New Zealand Army. History The New Zealand government chose the sheep station at Waiouru as the location of a North Island training area for its Territorial Forces in the 1930s. The sheep station had large areas of inexpensive open land, and existing road and rail access to the North Island coastline. The artillery was the first branch of the New Zealand Army to use Waiouru. In 1937, Waiouru farmhand Cedric Arthur wrote: :''The Military (artillery) Camp is here again for its annual big shoot, so Waiouru is exceedingly busy with huge lorries, tractors, guns and horses, not to menti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waiouru Railway Station
Waiouru railway station in Waiouru, New Zealand was an intermediate station on the North Island Main Trunk line. It was opened for goods traffic in March 1907, and for passengers on 1 July 1908. At 814 m above sea level, the station was the highest station on the New Zealand rail system. The last passenger train on the NIMT to stop at Waiouru was the Overlander, but from 10 April 2005 it no longer stopped here. The station had been closed for goods traffic on 13 October 1986. In 1940 a branch was built to the military camp A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ..., including a platform. The branch opened on 15 November 1940. It stretched about north east from the station and was still in place in 1966. References External links 1906 photo of cutting being e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Army Museum (New Zealand)
The National Army Museum () is the museum of the New Zealand Army. It was formerly known as the Queen Elizabeth II Army Memorial Museum.National Army Museum www.armymuseum.co.nz Retrieved 22 March 2009. It is located on State Highway One, on the southern side of the small military town of Waiouru. The 1300 square metre museum is fortress-looking in design, complete with a bridge and moat. It took the 2nd Field Squadron of the Royal New Zealand Engineers (RNZE) 276 days to build, [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tangiwai Disaster
The Tangiwai disaster was a deadly railway accident that occurred at 10:21 p.m. on 24 December 1953, when a railway bridge over the Whangaehu River collapsed beneath an express passenger train at Tangiwai, North Island, New Zealand. The locomotive and the first six carriages derailment, derailed into the river, killing 151 people. The subsequent board of inquiry found that the accident was caused by the failure of the tephra dam holding back nearby Mount Ruapehu's crater lake, creating a rapid mudflow (lahar) in the Whangaehu River which destroyed one of the bridge piers at Tangiwai only minutes before the train reached the bridge. The volcano at Mount Ruapehu was not erupting at the time. The disaster remains New Zealand's worst rail accident. Bridge collapse On 24 December 1953, the 3 p.m. express train from Wellington to Auckland consisted of a NZR KA class, KA class steam locomotive hauling 11 carriages: five second-class, four first-class, a Conductor (railway), Gu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ruapehu District
Ruapehu District is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in the centre of New Zealand's North Island. It has an area of 6,734 square kilometers and the district's population in was . Features The district is landlocked, and contains the western half of the Tongariro National Park, including Mount Ruapehu and the western sides of Mount Ngauruhoe and Mount Tongariro, as well as part of the Whanganui National Park. The district is also home to the world-famous Raurimu Spiral on the North Island Main Trunk, North Island Main Trunk railway line. The tourist towns of Raetihi, Whakapapa Village, National Park, and Ohakune are located near Mount Ruapehu in the south-east of the district. Waiouru, with an elevation of 815 metres, is in the extreme south-east of the district and houses the large Waiouru Army Camp. The southern section of the infamous Desert Road section of State Highway 1 (New Zealand), State Highway 1 runs through the east of the district, fr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rangipo Desert
Te Onetapu (), commonly known as the Rangipo Desert (), is a barren desert-like environment located in New Zealand, located in the Ruapehu District on the North Island Volcanic Plateau; to the east of the three active peaks of Mount Tongariro, Mount Ngauruhoe, and Mount Ruapehu, and to the west of the Kaimanawa Range. Etymology Two main names have been given to the desert, both of which are derived from te reo Māori and describe the area's history. The first of these, Te Onetapu, is derived from the words - beach or sand, and - sacred. This name refers to the death of Taiteariki, an ancestor of the Ngāti Rangi iwi who was killed at a location in the desert in early Māori history after conflict arose between him and two children of Houmea, Tura and Rotuia. Following Pākehā settlement and expansion into the region, the desert became known as Rangipo, from the Māori words , meaning sky, and , meaning night or darkness. This name references the story of Ngātoro-i-rangi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Island Main Trunk
The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and serves the large cities of Palmerston North and Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton. Most of the NIMT is Single track (rail), single track with frequent passing loops, but sections at each end that also handle suburban commuter traffic are double tracked: * The section known as the North-South Junction between Wellington railway station, Wellington and Waikanae railway station, Waikanae, except for of single-track through tunnels between North Junction ( from Wellington) and South Junction, ( from Wellington), on the Pukerua Bay railway station, Pukerua Bay to Paekakariki railway station, Paekākāriki section, * between Hamilton and Te Kauwhata railway station, Te Kauwhata (except for the single-track Waikato River Bridge at Ngāruawāhia rai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army (, ) is the principal Army, land warfare force of New Zealand, a component of the New Zealand Defence Force alongside the Royal New Zealand Navy and the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Formed in 1845, as the New Zealand Military Forces, the Army traces its history from settler militia raised in that same year. The current name was adopted by the New Zealand Army Act 1950. During its history, the New Zealand Army has fought in a number of major wars, including the Second Boer War#New Zealand, Second Boer War, the First World War, First and Second World Wars, New Zealand in the Korean War, Korean War, the Malayan Emergency, Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, New Zealand in the Vietnam War, Vietnam War, and more recently in Iraq War, Iraq and War in Afghanistan (2001–2021), Afghanistan. Since the 1970s, deployments have tended to be assistance to multilateral peacekeeping efforts. Considering the small size of the force, operational commitments have remaine ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overlander (train)
The Overlander was a long-distance rail passenger train between Auckland and Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). It was operated by Tranz Scenic. The service was replaced from Sunday 24 June 2012, by the ''Northern Explorer''. The Overlander replaced a previous service operated by RM class ''Silver Fern'' railcars on Monday 2 December 1991. Following the withdrawal of the overnight '' Northerner'', it was the only regular passenger train on the NIMT between Pukekohe and Palmerston North. After being threatened with cessation itself in 2006, it gained significantly in popularity, partly because of increased tourism promotion for the service. It was called one of the best-value scenic rail trips in the world by the British ''Guardian''. It is also acknowledged as one of the world's classic scenic rail journeys. Route History Origins The first regular daylight Wellington-Auckland passenger train services, augmenting the ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand State Highway 1
State Highway 1 (SH 1) is the longest and most significant road in the New Zealand state highway network, New Zealand road network, running the length of both main islands. It appears on road maps as SH 1 and on road signs as a white number 1 on a red shield, but it has the official designations SH 1N in the North Island, SH 1S in the South Island. SH 1 is long, in the North Island and in the South Island. Since 2010 new roads have reduced the length from . For the majority of its length it is a two-lane single carriageway, with At-grade intersection, at-grade intersections and property accesses, in both rural and urban areas. These sections have some passing lanes. Around of SH 1 is of motorway or expressway standard : in the North Island and in the South Island. Route North Island (SH 1N) SH 1 starts at Cape Reinga, at the northwestern tip of the Aupōuri Peninsula, and since April 2010 has been sealed road, sealed (mainly with either chipseal or asphalt concrete, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
HMNZS Irirangi
The Naval Communications Station Irirangi of the Royal New Zealand Navy, which is 2 km south of Waiouru and near the Waiouru Army Camp, was established in World War II (1943) as the Waiouru W/T (Wireless Telegraph) Station. Its location, in the middle of the North Island, put it far away from the sea. The station was commissioned in July 1943, and at the peak period of the war had an establishment of about 150 personnel, of whom more than eighty were women, many from the Women's Royal New Zealand Naval Service. Tens of thousands of code groups were handled each day, mostly for the British Pacific Fleet in Japanese waters. A dozen or more circuits were manned simultaneously and teleprinter land lines fed the signals to the Navy Office in Wellington. In 1951 the station was designated HMNZS Irirangi. ("Irirangi is a Māori-language word, meaning "spirit voice".) In the late 1980s the equipment was modernised, and in October 1991 a feasibility study into the remote controlling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northern Explorer
The ''Northern Explorer'' is a long-distance passenger train operated by the Great Journeys New Zealand division of KiwiRail between Auckland and Wellington in the North Island of New Zealand, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). Three services operate per week in each direction between Auckland's The Strand Station and Wellington railway station. The ''Northern Explorer'' replaced the ''Overlander (train), Overlander'' from 25 June 2012. It was suspended in December 2021, after suspension in August for COVID-19 lockdown. However, it restarted on 25 September 2022. History Origins The first regular daylight Wellington–Auckland passenger train services, augmenting the older overnight services, were the steam-hauled ''Daylight Limited'' and diesel-hauled ''Scenic Daylight'', which ran primarily during summer months and Easter holiday period for many years from the 1920s onwards. The arrival of the ''NZR RM class (88 seater), Blue Streak'' and later ''Silver Fern'' rail ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
