Extra carriages were brought in to cater for the crowds of commuters, who lined up to travel between Dunedin, Waitati and Mosgiel on the suburban service. However, the popularity of the service caught out some school holiday commuters, as they missed out on seats on the train.
Taieri Gorge Railway operations manager Grant Craig said about 2825 people had brought tickets to travel the 10 train trips yesterday.
"We were completely overwhelmed by the response. Last year, we only had 720 people travel and we based our schedule on those numbers," he said.
Mr Craig apologised to any people who missed out on their train ride, because "we didn't anticipate such a huge turn-out".
He was unsure why there had been such a demand for the services, with good fine weather and a late start to the holidays this year, potential contributing factors to the overwhelming numbers.
Trainspotting mum Kjesten Nilsson, of Portobello, said her family took whatever chances they could to ride trains.
"They are such an unusual form of [commuter] transport here in Dunedin and they hark back to the past in such a wonderful way," Ms Nilsson said.
