Pleasant Point (N.Z.)

Pleasant Point is a small country town in southern Canterbury, New Zealand, some 19 km (12 mi) inland from Timaru, on State Highway 8. It is a service town for the surrounding farming district. One of its main attractions is the heritage railway, the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway, which operates steam locomotives and one of only two Model T Ford railcar replicas in the world. It attracts about 10,000 people a year. For almost one hundred years, the Fairlie branch line railway passed through the town. It closed on 2 March 1968, and the heritage line utilises 2.5 km (1.6 mi) of track along the branch's old route. Pleasant Point is also known for glassblowing, taxidermy, blacksmithing and custard squares, and Māori rock art can be viewed nearby. Vineyards have also been established in the area. It also has two primary schools, a preschool and a play centre. Pleasant Point High School was closed by the Labour government in 2004. It has two rivers nearby, the Ōpihi and the TeNgawai; the two rivers meet just to the north of the town. A 1901 census placed the town's population at 749.