Last Train to Paradise

LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE is a celebratory account of a time when train travel was more than just the accepted means of travelling around New Zealand. It was also an era when rail journeys provided excitement, companionship and romance.

Royal trains, troop trains, rugby specials, tourist trains ... all come to life in Graham Hutchins’ evocative descriptions of rail travel in the golden age.


LAST TRAIN TO PARADISE describes the halcyon days of New Zealand rail, some of which the author was fortunate enough to experience personally. The ‘name’ trains and journeys cover a considerable period of New Zealand’s history, from the late 1800s to the golden era of train travel (the first five decades of the twentieth century). Among the special journeys covered are the Prince of Wales’ royal progress through New Zealand in 1920, and travelling with fans on the ‘Test Match Special’ to enjoy the rugby in 1956. Graham Hutchins vividly evokes a way of life that has all but disappeared, recalling a host of characters and incidents from an age less obsessed with the motorcar. The book includes a wide variety of fascinating and unfamiliar photographs, both of the trains themselves and the people who travelled in them.


Graham Hutchins is a long-time railway enthusiast and a frequent traveller on the New Zealand rail network. Among several books he has written on the subject is ‘Great New Zealand Railway Journeys’ (Exisle 2008). He has also written extensively on rugby, cricket, rock music and a range of other subjects. Although some of the lines described in ‘Last Train to Paradise’ have closed, he remains optimistic about the future of train travel in New Zealand. Graham Hutchins is a full-time writer living in Hamilton.