The New Plymouth Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Wellington and New Plymouth. It ran from 1886 until 1955 and was sometimes known as the New Plymouth Mail due to the Railway Travelling Post Office carriages included in its consist. The Express was notable amongst NZR's provincial expresses as being both the first and, until the commencement of the Gisborne Express in 1942, the longest in distance travelled. [1]
On 23 March 1885, NZR opened the railway line between Palmerston North and New Plymouth, with a short branch from Aramoho to Wanganui. [2] A year and a half later, on 3 November 1886, the privately owned Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company opened from Wellington to Longburn, a small village just south of Palmerston North, where it interchanged with NZR. [3] This allowed a direct train to be run between Wellington and New Plymouth; this also formed part of a newer, quicker route to Auckland through connections with steamers between New Plymouth and Auckland's Onehunga Wharf. [1]
The earliest incarnation of the Express took 14 hours 50 minutes to complete its journey, [4] with a change of trains at Longburn. It began operating from the start of December 1886 and ran twice weekly. Its northbound run left the WMR's Thorndon station in Wellington at 7am on Tuesdays and Fridays, [1] with NZR's southbound service departing New Plymouth at the same time; the two trains met at Longburn, where passengers had to change. [5] The WMR introduced dining cars not long after it began operating, but NZR trains made refreshment stops at Halcombe and Patea. [1]
In 1901, NZR and the WMR co-operated to accelerate the train by eliminating the change of trains at Longburn. By this stage, the train ran every day except Sunday, and on four days a week NZR's train ran all the way through to Wellington, while on the other two days the WMR's train ran to New Plymouth. [6] This cut the travelling time down to 12 hours and 50 minutes, [4] and in 1902, NZR eliminated refreshment stops by introducing dining cars of its own. The Express was the second train in New Zealand to be equipped with dining cars, after the South Express , and thus the first in the North Island. [6]
On 7 December 1908 the WMR was acquired by NZR, although the already established practice of through running meant this acquisition had little effect on the Express, except for some changes to the Railway Travelling Post Office and the north- and southbound trains crossing at Marton rather than Longburn. [7] A more dramatic change for the Express was the 1908 opening of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, providing a more direct and quicker route between Wellington and Auckland than the combination of the Express and the steamship to Onehunga. Another change was forced on the train in 1917 by restrictions due to World War I: refreshment stops were re-introduced when the dining cars were withdrawn, never to return. [6]
In 1925, AB class steam locomotives were allocated to the Express, allowing its journey time to be reduced from 12 hours to 9 hours 38 minutes. [8] Although the Express had always been augmented by slower mixed trains, the Taranaki Flyer was introduced in 1926 as an alternative service between Wanganui and New Plymouth, and in April 1938 the RM class Standard railcars began operating an evening service between Wellington and New Plymouth. The railcars eventually took over from the Express, but not for almost two decades. During the 1930s, the Great Depression impacted the Express's loadings, reducing it from nine or ten carriages to only six, but as the economy improved it expanded to eight or nine carriages by the start of World War II, equipped with the most modern carriages. During the War, the Express's carriages were dispersed and it ran with a wide variety of rolling stock; this situation was not rectified until it was re-equipped in 1948. [9] The Turakina Deviation on the Marton - New Plymouth Line opened in 1947, allowing the journey time to be reduced to 9.25 hours. [10]
The WMR typically operated the New Plymouth Express with its premier locomotives: Nos. 16 and 17 hauled the train over the hilly section between Wellington and Paekākāriki, sometimes banked by No. 3 "Jumbo". From Paekākāriki to Longburn, Nos. 19 and 20 took the train across the plains of the Kāpiti Coast and Horowhenua. After the WMR was acquired by NZR, Nos. 19 and 20, now classified as UD class, worked the train through to Marton for a few years before being replaced by A class locomotives. [6]
Tank locomotives were the primary motive power on the Marton - New Plymouth Line for many years. These included E, M, WA, WB, WD, WF, and WW classes at various times between 1886 and 1925, plus BB class tender locomotives. [4] [11] 1925 saw AB class tender engines used throughout, and in the late 1930s the K and KA classes were phased in, followed by the JA class after WWII. The final regular steam-hauled Express was hauled by JA 1289. [10]
The Ferry was a short twice-daily passenger service between Wanganui and Aramoho on the main line, where the Express stopped. During the era of the AB class working the Express locomotives were changed at Aramoho, and The Ferry was closely tied to this procedure. The first Ferry of the day from Wanganui met the southbound Express to Wellington at Aramoho. The Ferry's AB and any carriages from Wanganui for Wellington were attached to the Express, and the Express's AB and any New Plymouth carriages for Wanganui were detached. The Express continued south, while its original engine hauled The Ferry back to Wanganui. This engine and The Ferry returned to Aramoho to meet the northbound Express to New Plymouth, where the engine and any Wanganui carriages for New Plymouth were attached to the Express after the Express's AB and any Wellington carriages for Wanganui were detached. The Express then continued to New Plymouth, headed by the engine that had hauled the southbound Express to Aramoho and the Ferry to Wanganui and back, while the engine from Wellington took the final Ferry of the day to Wanganui. [9]
When the K and KA locomotives were introduced, The Ferry was retained. However, in later years the locomotive change took place in Palmerston North, with the same locomotive running the train between New Plymouth and Palmerston North. This eliminated the locomotive workings around which The Ferry was based, and it was replaced with a bus service. [10]
The demise of the Express came in 1955. That year the 88-seater railcars were introduced, allowing redeployed Standard railcars to replace the Express. This took effect on 31 October 1955, with the journey accelerated to 7.25 hours. As the 88-seater fleet expanded, they joined the Standards on the Wellington-New Plymouth run and operated it until 17 December 1972. [12] In 1968 three 88-seaters were extensively refurbished and renamed "Blue Streaks" because of their distinctive paint scheme, and in 1972 they were allocated to the Wellington-New Plymouth service. The Blue Streaks operated the Express's former run while unrefurbished 88-seaters continued on the evening service, which was reduced to running on Fridays and Sundays. The evening service was soon withdrawn, and the Blue Streaks were cancelled on 30 July 1977. [8]
The Foxton Branch was a railway line in New Zealand. It began life as a tramway, reopened as a railway on 27 April 1876, and operated until 18 July 1959. At Himatangi there was a junction with the Sanson Tramway, a line operated by the Manawatu County Council that was never upgraded to the status of a railway.
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
The NZR RM class 88-seaters were a class of railcar used in New Zealand. New Zealand Government Railways (NZR) classified them as RM (Rail Motor), the notation used for all railcars, numbering the 35 sets from RM100 to RM134. They were the most numerous railcars in NZR service. Their purchase and introduction saw the demise of steam-hauled provincial passenger trains and mixed trains, and was part of a deliberate effort to modernise NZR passenger services at a time of increasing competition from private motor vehicles. Being diesel powered and lighter the railcars were less expensive to operate and able to maintain quicker timetables, although became plagued with mechanical and electrical problems, with a number of the class eventually being turned into depowered locomotive-hauled carriages and reclassified as the AC class "Grassgrubs".
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This is a list of jargon commonly used by railfans and railway employees in New Zealand.
The Wairarapa Line is a secondary railway line in the south-east of the North Island of New Zealand. The line runs for 172 kilometres (107 mi), connects the capital city Wellington with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line at Woodville, via Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt and Masterton.
The Scenic Daylight was a daytime express train in New Zealand, introduced on 17 December 1960 between Auckland and Wellington along the North Island Main Trunk Railway, replacing the Daylight Limited. The service was steam-hauled initially but from 1963 it was diesel-hauled. The service was itself replaced in 1968 by the Blue Streak railcar service.
The NZR RM class Sentinel-Cammell was a steam-powered railcar operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR). It was the only one of its type to operate in New Zealand, and one of only two steam railcars trialled in the country; the other was the Clayton steam railcar.
The Rotorua Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Auckland and Rotorua. It operated from 1894 until 1959 and was known as the Rotorua Limited between 1930 and 1937. This train was one of the first expresses in the world to use Pacific (4-6-2) type locomotives.
The Napier Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department initially between Napier and Palmerston North and later between Napier and Wellington. It ran from 1891 until 1954.
The Picton Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Christchurch and Picton. It ran from December 1945 until February 1956, and was thus the shortest-lived provincial express in New Zealand. Following the end of railcar services in 1976, a new carriage train between Christchurch and Picton began, under the same name as the earlier service, until it was replaced in 1988 by the Coastal Pacific Express.
The Taranaki Flyer was the name given to a passenger train that was operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Whanganui and New Plymouth from 1926 to 1965.
The New Plymouth Night Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) that ran between Auckland and New Plymouth. It ran in various forms from 1933 until 1983, though the Express designation was lost in 1956 and later incarnations did not operate at night and terminated in Taumarunui rather than Auckland. The New Plymouth Night Express should not be confused with the New Plymouth Express that operated between New Plymouth and Wellington.
The Wairarapa Mail was a passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between Wellington and Woodville, continuing on to Palmerston North as a mixed train. It ran from 1909 until 1948 and its route included the famous and arduous Rimutaka Incline.
The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatū Gorge to Woodville, where it meets the Wairarapa Line, and then proceeds to Hastings and Napier in Hawke's Bay before following the coast north to Gisborne. Construction began in 1872, but the entire line was not completed until 1942. The line crosses the runway of Gisborne Airport, one of the world's only railways to do so since Pakistan's Khyber Pass Railway closed.
The Marton–New Plymouth line (MNPL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand that links the Taranaki and Manawatū-Whanganui regions. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) at Marton and runs near the South Taranaki Bight of the west coast before turning inland, meeting the Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) at Stratford and running to New Plymouth. Construction of the line was completed in 1885, and along with the SOL it provided an alternate route to the NIMT from the SOL's completion in 1933 until the latter was mothballed in 2010. In its early days it was plied by the North Island's first regional express, the New Plymouth Express, but it has been freight only since the cancellation of the last passenger services in 1977.
The Wanganui Branch is a 5.00 km branch line railway in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It links Wanganui with the Marton - New Plymouth Line (MNPL) at Aramoho and has been open since 21 January 1878, although solely for freight traffic since 7 September 1959. Another branch line diverged from the Wanganui Branch near its terminus, the Castlecliff Branch.
The Castlecliff Branch is a branch line railway 5.88 km long in the Manawatu-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is an extension of the Wanganui Branch from Taupo Quay in central Whanganui and follows the Whanganui River to Castlecliff on the South Taranaki Bight of the Tasman Sea. From its opening on 31 October 1885 until 1 February 1956 when the NZR took over, it was owned by the Wanganui Heads Railway Company, later renamed the Castlecliff Railway Company. From 5 September 2006 services on the branch were suspended but the infrastructure remained in place. In 2011 KiwiRail resumed services on part of the line.
The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmerston North in the Manawatu, between 1881 and 1908, when it was acquired by the New Zealand Government Railways. Its successful operation in private ownership was unusual for early railways in New Zealand.
Kopuaranga railway station was a flag station that served the small rural settlement of Kōpuaranga, 12½ km north of Masterton, in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand’s North Island. It was located on the Wairarapa Line between the stations of Opaki and Mauriceville. From its opening in 1886 it handled both passenger and freight traffic for 97 years until closure in 1983.