About Old Coach Road
Exploring Today
What to Do
The Local Area
Extra Info
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to;
- John McIlroy
- Mike Ryan
- Ron Rutherford
- Bob Norling
- Tim Dodge
- Warwick Silvester
- Robert McClean
- Chris Carter (ex Conservation Minister)
- Glen Hazleton (Dept of Conservation)
- Tongariro Natural History Society
- Department of Conservation;(research funding)
- Historic Places Trust; (research funding)
- Main Trunk Rail Ohakune Inc;(research funding)
- Winstone Pulp International (funding for records and presentation)
Tongariro/Taupo Conservation Awards 2005
Main Trunk Railway Ohakune
The Main Trunk Railway Ohakune (MTRO) is a group dedicated to preserving our railway past and with it the influence early rail construction had on the town of Ohakune.
MTRO became proactive in pursuing access to the to the historic Hapuawhenua Rail Viaduct via the Ohakune Old Coach Road, an old cobbled coaching road, running through Tongariro National Park from the end of Marshall’s Road, Ohakune, to Horopito.
The research work, submissions and lobbying by Robert Norling and Errol Vincent and other members of MTRO Inc. brought about the inclusion of the Old Coach Road in Tongariro National Park Draft Management Plan and its Historic Places Listing as a nationally important historic heritage site.
The Old Coach Road preserves major aspects of New Zealand's pioneering history and reflects the technology used and the hardship endured in opening up the central North Island for further development.
