{"id":11210,"date":"2024-04-29T22:53:00","date_gmt":"2024-04-29T10:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/?p=11210"},"modified":"2024-05-06T22:48:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T10:48:04","slug":"all-aboard-the-driving-creek-railway","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/myblogary.com\/index.php\/2024\/04\/29\/all-aboard-the-driving-creek-railway\/","title":{"rendered":"All Aboard The Driving Creek Railway"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

April 29<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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We quickly packed up and said sayonara to the Harborview Motel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We drove to town and had a great breakfast and equally great coffee at UMU Reataurant and Cafe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Last night we decided to book a two-hour train journey on the Coromandel Driving Creek Railway<\/a>. Let\u2019s just say it\u2019s not your ordinary train journey. It was quite the adventure and we\u2019re so glad we rode these tracks of history to learn about how and who built this incredible system of tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barry Brickell had big dreams as a potter. And he had remarkable ingenuity and talent, too. Born near Auckland, he began his career as a school teacher. In 1973, Barry purchased the land for its rich terracotta clay so he could focus on his craft full-time and teach other artists his art. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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He became New Zealand\u2019s first full-time handcraft potter and started a commune of sorts thanks to his hippy lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barry traded pottery and beers to help pay for the construction of his railway that he could use to access much richer clay from the hills he owned above his studio and home. He also used the mountain hillsides to build the country\u2019s first wooden kilns, far away from his neighbors, who complained about all the smoke from kilns he had near the village.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barry constructed the narrow-gauge railway to transport large quantities of clay 150 feet from the original clay pit to the pugmill in the pottery. He purchased old mining rails for his tracks from a coal mine that went out of business. He also exchanged his pottery with a local landowner for old rotten rock to use as ballast. He sent felled pine logs on the property to the local sawmill to cut and treat it for the rail ties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But still, he needed to get higher up the mountain to access even more clay. After 5 years of precise surveying, track laying and building of four bridges by hand, Barry\u2019s railway reached its first end point named Ravington. Ravington became the scene of many parties at the end of a good day’s work. As word spread about the railway, visitors came asking for a train ride, which originally went to Ravington and back for a small donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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