But the man who was a key figure in saving the popular tourist train when it faced at uncertain future in 1990, was yesterday confident he was leaving the operation in good health.
He had guided the service from a ''hobby operation'' offering infrequent excursion train services, to one that offered regular daily services and excursions that acted as a magnet for cruise ship tourists.
Last year the railway even turned a small profit, he said.
Asked yesterday if he was leaving the railway operation in good health, Mr Farry predicted it would continue to go ''from strength to strength''.
''I wouldn't leave otherwise. I think it's in very good health.''
It was confirmed yesterday Mr Farry would be replaced by incoming chairman Geoff Thomas, a director of Dunedin International Airport Ltd.
Mr Farry's departure was one was of four from Dunedin City Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries announced yesterday, along with the appointment of four new directors.
Mr Farry had been recruited in 1990 to head a community fundraising drive to save the deteriorating train, which faced an uncertain future after the Minister of Railways announced plans to close the Otago Central railway line.
The council immediately announced plans to purchase the line for $300,000, but only if the community raised another $1 million to rejuvenate the train service, operated at the time by the Otago Excursion Train Trust.
The goal was exceeded when - through the efforts of Mr Farry and many supporters - the amount raised reached $1.2 million, he said.
In 1995, the trust and council together formed a new operating company, Taieri George Railway Ltd, as a local authority trading enterprise (Late), with the council taking a majority share.
The company later became part of Dunedin City Holdings Ltd's stable of council-controlled organisations.
Passenger numbers had multiplied in the years since, to hit 80,000 last year, while turnover had increased to $5 million in 2012-13, and was still rising, he said.
The company also employed 40 fulltime-equivalent staff, while being helped by another 70 essential volunteers, he said.
More importantly, it was also now an attraction for the city, Mr Farry said.
The train trip's spectacular scenery, as well as the significant mark-ups cruise ship operators could make on tickets, were among the reasons Dunedin received the same number of cruise ship visits as Auckland, he believed.
''It brings a hell of a lot of people to the city each season, and it just gets bigger and bigger,'' he said.
He said his own knowledge of trains had increased over the years since he first climbed aboard a locomotive and asked: ''Where's the steering wheel?''.
Mr Farry paid tribute to the men behind the early service, George Emerson and Arthur Rockliffe, and the directors, staff and volunteers who had helped make the operation work in the years since.
That included long-serving chief executive Murray Bond, who ''gives his heart and soul'' to the service, Mr Farry said.
''All in all, it's been a very interesting experience to see something grow from nothing to what it is today.''
