Onboard The Seasider
What is it like onboard The Seasider?
The Seasider combines coastal scenery with a relaxed journey aboard classic railway carriages.
Your experience includes allocated seating, viewing platforms, live onboard storytelling, toilet facilities and food and drinks available from Precinct's onboard café.
The onboard experience is shared across the Seasider family, although journey duration and destinations differ.
Classic railway carriages
Passengers travel aboard classic railway carriages.
Seating is allocated before check-in and your seating details are provided when you arrive.
- Seating is generally arranged in groups of four around a table, with a limited number of paired seats available.
- If you have a seating request, contact the booking office at least 72 hours before departure. Requests will be noted where possible but cannot be guaranteed.
Viewing platforms
Viewing platforms allow passengers to move away from their seats and experience the coastline from a different perspective.
Passengers should follow instructions from the train crew whenever using the viewing platforms. For safety reasons, passengers must come inside the carriage and cannot use the viewing platforms, gangways or viewing carriage while the train is moving through a tunnel.
A dedicated viewing carriage will also be introduced, providing an additional way to take in the scenery.
Live onboard storytelling
Live onboard storytelling introduces the history, communities, landscapes and railway connected with The Seasider route.
Stories are shared throughout the journey by onboard storytellers, helping provide context to the places and landscapes you see from the train.
Food and drink
Food and drinks are available to purchase from Precinct's onboard café.
The Precinct team creates a seasonal menu of locally made food, snacks and refreshments.
You may bring your own snacks onboard, although hot takeaway food and meals from fast-food restaurants cannot be brought onto the train.
Accessibility
A wheelchair-accessible carriage with a wheelchair lift is available on selected services.
To assist with boarding and disembarking, ramps are available at Dunedin Railway Station and at most destinations along our routes. The lift can accommodate wheelchairs up to 900mm long, 700mm wide and weighing up to 200kg.
Accessibility at Ōamaru may differ, so passengers with accessibility requirements should contact our team before booking. There is no accessible option for disembarking at Arc Brewery, and passengers travelling with a wheelchair must choose the full trip to Merton.
Toilets, heating and air conditioning
Toilets are available in each carriage, as are heating and air conditioning.
Travelling to Arc Brewery
If you book the Arc Brewery Stop-Off, you'll leave The Seasider on the outward journey and spend approximately 90 minutes at Arc Brewery.
The train continues without you to Merton and collects you on its return journey to Dunedin.
Food and drink purchased at Arc Brewery are separate from the onboard café service.
Travelling on The Seasider Twilight
The onboard experience is the same as the standard Seasider journey.
The Twilight follows the same route to Merton and takes approximately 3.5 hours, but operates later in the day.
Travelling to Ōamaru
Full Day and Full Day+ services provide a longer onboard experience as the train continues further north to Ōamaru.
Food and drinks are available onboard during the coastal journey, with either three or four hours to explore Ōamaru depending on which Full Day experience you book. The extended stopover on Full Day+ usually aligns with one of Ōamaru's many amazing festivals, including the Steampunk and Heritage festivals.
Before you board
Departure and check-in times vary between Seasider services.
Always check the timetable and booking confirmation for the specific journey and travel date you have chosen.