was the founder of the Taieri Gorge Railway and was the joint owner of the company with the Dunedin City Council until April 2020, when the company was put into "mothballs" by the DCC. The "mothballed" operation is now administered by Dunedin Venues a subsidiary of the DCC. The Trust was an active participant in the operation of the Taieri Gorge Railway with its award winning volunteer members hosting passengers on the cruise ship excursion trains up until the "mothballing" The future of the of the former company and it's assets is now in the hands of the DCC.

The Trust was formed in 1978 but its genesis goes back to the 1950's when the Otago Branch of the New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society (NZRLS) began running excursion trains both into Central Otago and on other New Zealand Railway (NZR) lines out of Dunedin. The decision of NZR in 1976 to cease operating excursion trains led to the formation of the National Federation of Rail Societies and an agreement with NZR to allow operation of privately owned carriages on their tracks.

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The OETT  is a member of the  FEDERATON OF RAIL ORGANISATIONS NZ INC. previously  known as FRONZ.  They also publish a monthly magazine entitled Journal.

There is a link to FRONZ Journal November 2021 Issue 217 here, earlier editions are also available.