Remutaka Range 30 October 1955, when it was replaced by the Rimutaka Tunnel. The former route is now the popular Remutaka Rail Trail and part of the Remutaka Cycle Trail. The Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust has plans to rebuild the railway from Maymorn, including the Incline, as a tourist and historical attraction. Remutaka Range The Remutaka Range (spelled Rimutaka Range before 2017), is one of several mountain ranges in the North Island of New Zealand that together form a ridge running parallel with the east coast between East Cape and Wellington. The ridge is at its most pronounced in the southern
Rimutaka Tunnel Incline and its Fell engines. The original route between Upper Hutt and Featherston was often the subject of criticism, even before it was built. In 1898 J. H. Dobson completed several surveys on behalf of the Public Works Department into possible alternatives. Conclusions reached in 1899 as a result of these surveys did little more than confirm previous opinions. One promising possibility was a tunnel between Mangaroa and Cross Creek, which received so much attention that it nearly became the much-sought deviation. By 1900, however, it was realised that the cost of constructing such a tunnel could not be contemplated