Rimutaka Tunnel fire suppression equipment, following the Pike River Mine disaster enquiry. Initially New Zealand DC class locomotives were used for the Wairarapa Connection, then from 2015 the DFB version of the New Zealand DF class locomotive (1979). The tunnel is used for freight from the Wairarapa to Wellington, notably logs from local pine forests and wood products from the Juken New Zealand Ltd timber mill at Waingawa, just south of Masterton. Rimutaka Tunnel The Rimutaka Tunnel (officially Tunnel 2, Wairarapa Line) is a railway tunnel through New Zealand's Remutaka Range, between Maymorn, near Upper Hutt, and Featherston, on the Wairarapa Line.
Rimutaka Incline was held in Featherston, including a visit on 29 October to Cross Creek to commemorate 50 years since the last train ran on the Incline. On the same day a "first spike" ceremony was held at Maymorn to mark the beginning of the Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust’s project to reinstate the railway. A museum dedicated to the preservation of the only remaining H-class "Fell" locomotive was opened at Featherston in 1984. H 199 had previously been given to the town of Featherston, and had been a static display in a local park from 1958. Later, a lease was secured