The new title from Denmark's bane bøger, "Denmark's most beautiful railway", was the unofficial name applied to the railway from Horsens to Bryrup, which was inaugurated in 1899. Steam trains with two daily departures in each direction transported people and goods; later steam changed to diesel. But after nearly 70 years of operation, its trajectory was finally taken over by walkers, cyclists and horse riders in 1968.
Fortunately a 5 km stretch between Bryrup and Vrads was preserved and sees Veteran Railway train rides every year in summer.
It raises the question - what are the most scenic railways of New Zealand that have been lost? The two most obvious are the Motuhora Branch near Gisborne and the Tahakopa or Catlins River branch in Southland. The whole 36 km Lumsden to Kingston route of the Kingston Flyer was also very nice, now only the northern 14 km at the Lake Wakatipu end survives, which hopefully will see steam operations resume this summer.
But the present Minister of Transport Steven Joyce and his Treasury cronies are threatening much more scenic lines in the North Island - including the Stratford to Okahukura, Rotorua and Napier to Gisborne lines - let's make sure they don't succeed!
Incidentally, North Americans may find it strange that "smuk", from German Schmuck for jewellery, means beautiful, since the Yiddish word, widely used, means a contemptible person - perhaps a case of a sarcastic use becoming the only meaning?
the old Roxburgh branch looked nice, going by the pictures that have been published of it.
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