Passenger services Rewanui was inaccessible by road, thus a considerable number of passenger trains operated by the standards of New Zealand branch lines. Although primarily for miners, the trains became minor local tourist attractions in the later years of the line due to the scenic nature of the route. During holiday periods at the mine, special tourist trains were operated, while during regular operations, tourists typically caught the early afternoon service. A number of the regular services acquired nicknames: • 6:35am Greymouth to Rewanui: "Miner's Train". • 7:35am Rewanui to Greymouth: "Fanny Train", as it was primarily used by the wives of miners in Rewanui and Dunollie to travel to their own jobs in Greymouth. • Early afternoon service to Greymouth: The "wet-timer", as miners working in wet parts of the mine had shorter shifts and used this train. • Sunday to Thursday
mixed train that reached Rewanui at 11:30pm: the "
Paddy Webb" or "
Bob Semple", after the miners who became
New Zealand Labour Party government ministers and first organised the service to benefit those miners whose shift began or ended at midnight. In addition, a
bicycle track was located alongside the line for miners working shifts without convenient train service.
Freight services Freight traffic was almost exclusively coal. It came from the state-owned Liverpool Mine, for which the line was expressly built, as well as from a number of nearby privately owned mines.
Motive power Motive power had to be specially modified to work on the Rewanui Branch past Dunollie. In the
steam era, motive power came primarily from the three members of the
WE class. In 1902, two members of the
B class of
tender locomotives were converted into WE class
tank locomotives for work on the
Rimutaka Incline. One, WE 377, was transferred south at the time of the Incline's opening, followed by WE 376 in 1927. The third WE, 375, was not converted from the B class until 1943.
W and
WA class locomotives sometimes hauled light trains on the Incline, and in the 1960s, three members of the
WW class were modified to work to Rewanui. After extra brakes were fitted to the three WWs and WE 375, the Fell centre rail was removed in 1966 and only those four engines were permitted to run to Rewanui. In June 1969,
diesel locomotives fitted with modified brakes took over from the steam locomotives. These were primarily of the
DJ class, but
DSC class shunters operated some services. These locomotives worked the line through to its closure. One quirk of the line's motive power was a
Land Rover converted to run on rails. It was based in Rewanui from May 1960 and functioned as an ambulance. Previously, miners who were injured had to travel down the Incline in a specially modified "gravity powered" wagon.
Fell Vans Special fell brake vans were used on the Rewanui Incline between Dunollie and Rewanui. Six vans were built with three being allocated for use on the Rewanui incline and the other three on the
Roa Incline. They were similar in design to the vans used on the
Rimutaka Incline, over the Wairarapa Ranges, but had no duckets, and instead, had windows at either end. The chassis and brake gear, however, remained the same. With the closure of the Rimutaka Incline in 1955, surplus vans were transferred to
Greymouth for use on the Rewanui and Roa Inclines. ==Closure==