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29-883: The immediate precursor to the Taneatua Express , and a victim of its introduction, was the Thames Express , which operated from Auckland to Thames . The East Coast Main Trunk Railway , in its first incarnation, diverged from the Thames Branch in Paeroa (the Thames Branch later included the line from Morrinsville to Paeroa with the opening of the Kaimai Tunnel deviation), and when it opened in 1928, Thames swiftly declined in status as

58-626: A guard's van hauled by J 1217. A wreath was placed on the front of the locomotive to signify the occasion. The very next day, New Zealand's final steam-hauled provincial express, the Rotorua Express , ceased operating. Both expresses were replaced by railcar services operated by RM class 88 seater railcars, but the Taneatua Express ' s replacement terminated in Te Puke, permanently ending regular passenger service to destinations beyond that town. The railcar itself did not last long; it

87-731: A railway terminus as services began operating through to the Bay of Plenty. A direct passenger service between Auckland and the Bay of Plenty terminus in Taneatua commenced upon the East Coast Main Trunk's opening, rendering the Thames Express superfluous as the Taneatua service ran all of the Thames Express ' s route except the final leg between Paeroa and Thames. Accordingly, the Thames Express ceased to operate and

116-514: A regular express commenced but ran only once a week, departing Rotorua at 9am Monday for Auckland, and returning from Auckland at 9am Tuesday. These trains were typically hauled by members of the J and L classes. For the winter months of 1895, the Rotorua Express did not operate; passengers had to travel on thrice weekly mixed trains , which were slow freight trains with a passenger carriage attached. The Rotorua Express returned for

145-477: A replacement railcar service began, utilising 88 seater railcars . The railcars ran every day except Sunday and completed the journey in 5 hours 10 minutes, but the 88 seaters were plagued by mechanical problems and last ran on 11 November 1968. As a replacement train was considered to be an unprofitable option, the NZR Road Services buses took over all passenger traffic. It was not until 1991 that

174-469: The A class and during the 1940s J class engines took over. By the 1950s, the lack of frequent, daily operation began to prove a significant discouragement to prospective travellers. The Taneatua Express survived to be the second-last steam-hauled provincial express in New Zealand. The final service operated from Taneatua to Auckland on 7 February 1959 and consisted of three passenger carriages and

203-495: The Great Depression and were converted into ordinary carriages. The service was involved in an accident with a car on 25 October 1933, which killed police constable James Shields, a passenger in a police car at a rail crossing near Huntly. In November 1937, the service lost its Limited status and reverted to being the Rotorua Express , but its popularity surged. The conditions imposed by World War II meant that

232-595: The N and Q classes. The express soon became one of the most prestigious in New Zealand when dining cars were introduced in December 1903. Few services in New Zealand have ever run with dining cars; this was the first to be catered by Railways Department staff rather than outside contractors and they lasted for fourteen years. Economic difficulties imposed by World War I meant that the dining cars were withdrawn in 1917 and never returned; instead, an extended stop

261-479: The Rotorua Express . In the early 1920s, the Thames Express ' s future looked positive as it was supplemented with another passenger service that ran from Thames to Frankton to provide a connection with the Night Limited that ran between Auckland and Wellington . This extra service was sometimes a carriage train hauled by locomotives such as the U class and sometimes a railcar service employing

290-411: The Taneatua train was upgraded to the Taneatua Express . When the East Coast Main Trunk opened to Taneatua in 1928, track conditions were not optimal and the train took 12 hours to complete its journey from Auckland to Taneatua. Over the next year, the trackage was upgraded and the Taneatua Express commenced operating. It took 10.5 hours to run between Taneatua and Auckland via a circuitous route. It

319-651: The city, just one dedicated passenger train operated - the Rotorua Express , which only became daily in October 1902. All other passenger services were "mixed" trains that involved one or more passenger carriages being attached to a freight service. In December 1908, just after the opening of the North Island Main Trunk railway connected the Auckland section to the rest of the North Island ,

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348-511: The decision was taken to introduce a daily afternoon service south of Auckland to Frankton . This service continued on to Thames, with connecting trains to Cambridge and Waihi , and became known as the Thames Express . The Thames Express competed directly with the Northern Steamship Company for traffic between Thames and Auckland. Due to the circuitous nature of the railway line, the much more direct water route of

377-662: The experimental Sentinel-Cammell steam railcar . However, the opening of the East Coast Main Trunk Railway through to the Bay of Plenty in 1928 significantly reduced Thames's importance as a terminus. With the introduction of a direct express to the Bay of Plenty, the Taneatua Express , the Thames Express was superfluous and unnecessary, and accordingly ceased to operate. The Night Limited feeder service did not long outlive it, and by 1947, even

406-550: The first expresses in the world to use Pacific ( 4-6-2 ) type locomotives. The Rotorua Express was introduced when the Rotorua Branch line was opened through to its Rotorua terminus. The first train to use the new line was an express from Auckland on 8 December 1894 led by two original J class steam locomotives ; the trip had taken 8 hours and 40 minutes to reach Rotorua and travelled at an average speed of less than 30 km/h (19 mph). Later in December 1894,

435-556: The mixed trains to Thames had ceased to operate and passenger services to the town were never reinstated in any form. Rotorua Express 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

464-413: The peak Christmas, summer, and Easter period and now operated thrice weekly in each direction. This arrangement continued until 1899, when the Rotorua Express began operating every week of the entire year. The Rotorua Express has the distinction of being the first express passenger train in the world to be hauled by Pacific locomotives , when Q349 hauled it out of Auckland on Christmas Eve, 1901. This

493-573: The quickest transport between Thames and Hamilton . In 1917, economic difficulties created by the conditions of World War I meant that the Thames and Rotorua Express es were combined into a single train. They ran together between Auckland and Morrinsville and were then split to operate independently to their destinations. This practice continued until June 1919, when provincial expresses were temporarily cancelled. The Thames Express returned in December 1919 and reverted to operating separately from

522-652: The service being further reduced to just twice weekly in 1951, patronage plummeted in favour of the more regular bus service operated by the New Zealand Railways Road Services . Nonetheless, the Express continued to operate almost until the end of the 1950s, when only 6,342 tickets were sold in Rotorua, in contrast to 35,554 in 1929. The Express' s final run was on 6 February 1959 when a Friday service operated to Auckland. Three days later,

551-435: The service was discontinued in 2001. Thames Express The Thames Express was an express passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Auckland and Thames . It ran between 1908 and 1928. In the early 20th century, the railways that fanned out from Auckland were isolated from the national network. South of Auckland, apart from commuter services to suburbs and townships near

580-514: The shunting required in Morrinsville. A severe coal shortage in June 1919 led to the service being cancelled altogether for six months, with the only passenger option a 12-hour-long journey by mixed train. When the Express returned in December 1919, it reverted to operating independently of the Thames Express . The A class locomotives were introduced to the Rotorua Express in 1925, and

609-439: The steamships afforded them an inherent advantage. The increased implementation of new A class steam locomotives allowed the express to take 6 hours 45 minutes to complete its 237 km long journey, but this did not gain many passengers from the steamships. Instead, passengers primarily used the Thames Express to travel to intermediate destinations rather than from terminus to terminus. For example, in its day, it provided

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638-428: The superiority of these locomotives over prior ones as well as the raising of the speed limit to 80 km/h (50 mph) meant that the service took just 6 hours 40 minutes to run to Auckland and 10 minutes longer in the opposite direction. From 5 May 1930, reduced stops ( Putāruru , Matamata , Morrinsville , Hamilton , Frankton Junction , Pukekohe , and Newmarket ) allowed the schedule to be cut to six hours and

667-465: The train became known as the Rotorua Limited. As part of its upgrade in status from Express to Limited , it became the first passenger train in New Zealand to use the new 50-foot carriages with steel panelling and enclosed vestibules . Two observation cars with lounge chairs were trialled on the service at this time, but they did not prove successful due to the economic climate created by

696-618: The volume of passengers surged to record numbers. The trains as a result became heavier, so the A locomotives were accordingly replaced by the newer, more powerful locomotives of the K and then J classes, followed by the J class in the 1950s. Despite the heavy demand for services, the Railways Department cut the Rotorua Express to run just thrice weekly each way in January 1944 because of coal shortages. This harmed demand, and when additional economic difficulties led to

725-466: Was cancelled in 1967, and this was as much due to mechanical problems with the railcars as with patronage numbers on the long and circuitous rail route from Auckland. Rail passenger services to the Bay of Plenty were not reinstated until the 1991 introduction of the Kaimai Express from Auckland to Tauranga which used Silver Fern railcars running via the more direct new Kaimai tunnel route until

754-574: Was made at Frankton to allow passengers to purchase a meal. By 1917, the service ran to a schedule of seven hours and motive power was provided by the A class , but a few months after the removal of the dining cars, manpower shortages caused by the War led to the Rotorua Express being combined with the Thames Express for the run between Auckland and Morrinsville , where they were split to run to their separate termini. This combined service required 7 hours and 40 minutes to reach Rotorua, in part due to

783-434: Was never completed. In 1950 the train was speeded up by about an hour, when it ceased serving flag stations east of Paeroa. The Taneatua Express operated daily, but the economic impacts of the Great Depression and Second World War as well as post-war coal shortages meant that its services were often cut back to operate just twice or thrice weekly in each direction. Motive power was first provided by steam locomotives of

812-481: Was nonetheless one of the quicker forms of transport for its era, although the rise of the private car began to impact upon traffic. The proposed direct Paeroa–Pokeno Line from Paeroa to Pokeno on the North Island Main Trunk would have facilitated a faster service; though construction commenced in 1938 and some earthworks constructed, the project was stopped by the outbreak of the Second World War and

841-456: Was the start of a worldwide trend, with such trains as the 20th Century Limited , Orient Express , Flying Scotsman and many more all sporting such locomotives of the type in later years. The world's fastest steam locomotive , is also of the same type. In October 1902, the Rotorua Express became a daily service, taking 7.5 hours on the run to Auckland and nearly eight in the opposite direction. Locomotives used on this service were members of

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