Train derails at Taieri Gorge

The train derailed between Schools Road and Dukes Road in North Taieri. Photo / Linda Robertson via ODT

A crane was on site to lift a Taieri Gorge Railway carriage back on the track after the train derailed north of Mosgiel earlier this afternoon.

Passengers have had a lengthy wait on a warm day.

Stephen Sutherland, of Auckland, had finished riding the Otago Central Rail Trail with his family this morning and they had boarded the train from Middlemarch, set for Dunedin.

However at 1.20pm, just north of Mosgiel, the train tried to change tracks at a slow speed to allow another past in the opposite direction and the baggage car came off the rails, he said.

"We've just been shunting back and forwards."

Stephen Sutherland said a baggage carriage derailed this afternoon. Photo / Stephen Sutherland via ODT

It was not too much of a hassle, he said.

"We've got a couple of kids, they are pretty excited about it, they're playing cards so they're happy."

There were some people on the train anxious about making flights, however stopping so close to the airport may have worked in their favour, Sutherland said.

Some cruise ship passengers were likely annoyed they could not make it out into the gorge as the track was now blocked both ways, he said.

The lines looked to be bent.