Unveiling the Heart of a High-Country Community

Having connections to your surrounding community is truly wonderful. As a high-country station, we are fortunate to possess a strong sense of community, where everyone is willing to help those in need at any given time - a reflection of the Kiwi way that I remember from my youth.

One of our connections I greatly admire is a single individual who manages to bring together people of the valley and the high-country. He is affectionately known among the locals as the Mayor of Cass. Cass, with a population of one (one of the few places in the world with only one resident), is home to Barrie. His talents include, but are not limited to, supplying free-range eggs, lawn mowing services, neighbourly chats, ensuring authorities stay in line, and as per Wikipedia, running the Cass Trust Hotel and Tavern out of the Old Ministry of Works Shed. This local gem is colloquially referred to as “Barrie’s Bash”- BYO and whitebait fritters or snarlers cooked on a train engine-converted firwood BBQ. 

During the construction of the railway in 1910 that connected the west and east coasts, Cass was home to a population of 800. Since 1987 the world-famous Tranzalpine Express has traveled through FLOCKHILL and Cass. Passengers aboard can catch a glimpse of the Cass Railway Station, immortalized in a 1936 painting by Rita Angus. It is one of New Zealand’s best-loved works of art.

Whether it’s the locals gathering around a BBQ or the legacy of an artist, sharing the history of such an extraordinary area is truly remarkable.