The Connoisseur - first class rail tours as part of scheduled services

 

New Zealand by Train with Globetrotter Tours

The Connoisseur timetable

Alongside the restructuring, upgrading (and downgrading) of Railways Corporation long-distance passenger trains in 1988, was also allowing a private tour company to refurbish a single carriage to a higher standard of comfort and lease it for attaching to scheduled rail services in the South Island.

It had larger windows than seen on 56ft carriages to date (but this would soon been corrected on Coastal Pacific and Trans Alpine in coming years), sheepskin seat covers and reclining seats with much more legroom (with lower density seating, as it was essentially refurbished versions of the first set of Southerner cars, which were themselves former first class seats). Stereo system with headsets airline style.  Light meals and refreshments served at the seat.

The leaflet publicises a series of organised tours that incorporate the rail service and highlights the onboard meal service for each tour. Although they were organised tours, the car was towed as part of the scheduled services (met by coaches).

The Wikipedia article on the Connoisseur car is a good history of the service, which essentially got superseded by upgrades to the TranzAlpine and TranzCoastal trains, although NZ Rail did essentially takeover the Connoisseur service for several years before abandoning it around 1993.

It may be fair to say the current standard of service is somewhat between that of the 1990s Intercity and Connoisseur branded rail services, but a wider question would be how amenable Kiwirail might be today in letting a private operator provide a more upmarket service attached to its existing long-distance passenger services.

Doorrail - when Railways tried to be everything to everyone

 

doorrail leaflet

A new service from Railways

Saves time and storage

Doorrail terminal list

With the corporatisation of New Zealand Railways in 1982 came the deregulation of land transport that saw abolition of the 150km limit on road competition with rail. The more commercially oriented Railways Corporation knew it had to respond to competition or it would lose far too much business, and "doorrail" was a product designed specifically to cater for smaller businesses and consignments of less than a wagon load. It linked the small local road carriers that had for many years hauled freight from railways freight depots to and from customers on contract, to provide a general door-to-door freight consignment service across the country.  

As the leaflet shows, it aims to be customer friendly, enabling quoting for just about anything door-to-door by phone, and NZR would arrange the private carriers to do the road haulage component (and it was even offering to do fully road haulage if appropriate, which would make sense for freight from say Taupo to Tauranga). 

The list of depots is a precursor to the consolidation of rail freight depots in the late 1980s.  The list is instructive, and would be considered excessive today. Otiria for the Far North and Whangarei for the rest of Northland.  Auckland at Beach Place and Britomart Place is a far cry from the construction of the Britomart rail terminal and complete removal of the downtown Auckland rail freight terminal (except for the Port of Auckland).  Southdown would become Auckland's freight hub.  For Waikato, Hamilton is the natural hub, but Taumarunui remained as well, effectively as the central Plateau hub for freight. That role disappeared some years ago.  In the Bay of Plenty, Tauranga, Rotorua and Taneatua were the hubs, and of those Tauranga is the only one that remains. The Rotorua branch line would prove to have insufficient volumes of freight to be economic, especially as its steepness limited loads (and added to fuel use) and its alignment towards Hamilton did not fit into a town that increasingly relied on the Port of Tauranga.  New Plymouth is the natural hub for Taranaki, Whanganui for that town, but it seemed odd to include Feilding alongside Palmerston North.  Likewise Levin for the Manawatu (both Levin and Feilding are no longer general freight depots for Kiwirail). To the east, Gisborne is of course no longer connected to the rest of the network, but Napier and Hastings are both general freight depots (Napier albeit based in Ahuriri and focused on port traffic).  Masterton and Wellington remain the two freight depots in the Wellington region.

Down south, Spring Creek remains the sole depot for the top of the South Island, with Greymouth for the West Coast.  On the Main South Line doorrail depots were at Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Gore and Invercargill.  Today neither Ashburton, Oamaru nor Gore handle general freight.

Doorrail as a product eventually faded away because it was increasingly not commercially viable for the Railways Corporation to seek to be everything to everyone in freight, and consignments of less than a rail wagon lot, or increasingly a container, were simply too costly to handle. Kiwirail today only handles bulk commodities or container-loads of freight.

TranzAlpine Express

Intercity TranzAlpine express leaflet including history

Intercity TranzAlpine express leaflet

One of the great missed opportunities for NZ Railways over many years was that until 1988 it did not make its most scenic trip - the journey through Arthur's Pass and the Southern Alps from Christchurch to Greymouth, into one attractive for tourists. It was primarily seen as a service for West Coast people (at least in the vicinity of Greymouth and Hokitika) to reach Canterbury. The "Christchurch-Greymouth Express" from 1978 (when it replaced the highly unreliable Fiat railcars) until 1988 operated a service that had many on-call stops and two refreshment stops (Springfield and Otira).

The genesis of the TranzAlpine Express was the decision by the Lange Labour Government to cease the Social Services subsidies that had commenced when the Railways Department became a Corporation.  From 1982, the Railways Corporation operated commercial services, but received subsidies from central government, through the Ministry of Transport for "social services" which Government wanted it to undertake, but which were not commercially viable according to NZRC.  The Christchurch-Greymouth Express (and indeed the whole West Coast rail network) received annual subsidies on this basis, as did all other long-distance passenger rail services (and suburban ones in Auckland and Wellington). At the time the train was seen as one of the poorest performing on the network, largely being subsidised because the highway (SH73) through Arthur's Pass was seen as treacherous and unreliable for a bus service, especially to service some communities not close to SH73.  It was very much seen as a service that kept the West Coast connected to Canterbury (noting the air service from Hokitika was not seen as an appropriate alternative for many on lower incomes). 

The Government decided that the annual subsidies, which were paid on a fully-allocated cost basis (including subsidies for overheads and fixed network costs), should cease and gave NZRC one year of subsidies on a bulk funding basis for it to spend as capital with the intention to make long-distance passenger services self-sustaining.  This saw a number of measures taken including:

• End of sleeping cars and full buffet car on the Northerner (a downgrade), ultimately replaced with an on-board shop
• Replacement of the Taihape refreshment stop with on-board meals for the Silverfern (an upgrade)
• Refurbishment of rolling stock including buffet service and on-board bar for the Christchurch-Greymouth, Picton-Christchurch and Wellington-Napier services.
• Refurbishment of Southerner rolling stock to increase capacity (reducing the number of carriages to save on costs).
• The Christchurch-Greymouth Express becoming a single out and back service each day, rather than two separate trains operating at similar times in each direction (halving rolling stock requirements and reducing operating costs). 

The naming of the TranzAlpine Express was accompanied by refurbishing 56ft carriages with one car with larger windows, the installation of an on-board buffet shop/bar, new seats with tray tables and sheepskin seat covers. An on-board audio system for announcements and commentary was new, and of course the refreshment rooms at Springfield and Otira were closed as an economy measure (as most days they only had customers in any volumes for around 30 minutes a day).  The Wikipedia article on the TranzAlpine has a good history of the rolling stock changes through the 1980s and 1990s. 

This leaflet highlights the improved level of service and history of the West Coast line, but also note on-board bar and Devonshire teas, indicating a level of interest in quality of on-board service not seen for some time (especially since 1981 which saw the downgrading of buffet cars from having restaurant service with cooked meals down to cafeteria service with sandwiches, pies, sausage rolls and NZ 1980s style continental breakfast (cereal, fruit and instant coffee). 

The future success of the TranzAlpine is not noticeable in this early leaflet which dates from around 1989. The Christchurch-Greymouth Express typically ran with two carriages each way a day, which until the late 1980s meant one smoking, one non-smoking.  However, the TranzAlpine was a great success, doubling patronage in the first year and the train soon ranged from six to ten carriages.  Of course in 2012 the aging 56ft carriages (dating from 1937-1945) were replaced with brand new AK carriages.

Promoting the North Island Main Trunk Railway to tourists

 

North Island Main Trunk Railway Route of "The Scenic Daylight" (1969)

History of the North Island Main Trunk Railway (1969)

Northern half of Main Trunk Railway map (1969)

Southern half of Main Trunk Railway map (1969)

North Island Main Trunk Railway - Route of the Silver Star and Silver Fern (1975)

History of the Main Trunk Railway (1975)

Northern half of the Main Trunk Railway (1975)

Southern half of the Main Trunk Railway (1975)

North Island Main Trunk Railway (1983)

Historic Main Trunk Railway (1983)

Northern half of the Main Trunk Railway (1983)

Southern half of the Main Trunk Railway (1983)

Although daytime trains on the North Island Main Trunk railway date back to 1925, a daily service, year-round did not start until the Scenic Daylight replaced the Daylight Limited in 1960 and became diesel-hauled from 1963 (significantly accelerating the travel time of the service).  The Railways Department saw the train as an opportunity to promote tourist travel for the purposes of viewing the scenery rather than just a mode of transport, so leaflets started to be produced explaining the route, the history of it and its scenic highlights.  Above are three different such leaflets published in different decades (1960s, 1970s and 1980s), reflecting the history of the line changing over those decades.

1969

The first one was published in 1969 when the Scenic Daylight was still operating, but supplemented by the recently commenced Blue Streak railcar service three-days a week (the latter with on-board hostess service with light refreshments - the Scenic Daylight had no on-board service, but stopped at stations for refreshments).  That leaflet also explains the evolution of locomotive power on the line until that date, highlighting the DA Class diesel locomotives that were the mainstay of North Island rail services until the early 1970s saw them supplanted by the much more powerful DX Class (and from 1978 refurbished into the DC Class).  Of course the front page of the leaflet shows an artistic depiction of a DA Class locomotive at speed.  The section on history of the main trunk also highlights the Raurimu Spiral (separately depicted with an aerial photo), tunnels and viaducts, but also the history of passenger rail services. Early main trunk passenger services took 19.25 hours between Wellington and Auckland, accelerating to 17.5 hours in 1914 and then 14.25 hours in 1924 when the Night Limited overnight services were introduced. Travel time of the Scenic Daylight was noted as being 12.75 hours!  

There is a generous depiction of the rolling stock used in the 1960s "electrically lit, steam heated and equipped with foam-rubber seats and two toilet compartments".  Noting sleeping cars and first class cars (the Scenic Daylight would have had two class accommodation).  Also described was the shift from steam to diesel for the Night Limited in 1963, reducing travel time to 13.5 hours, and in 1965 remaining expresses "which serve numerous on-line communities" (yes not the modern use of the term!) shifted to diesel.  It was noted that the North Island Main Trunk carried 40% of all railway traffic in the country!

The map and images depicting the route contain a fair bit of history for the traveller.  Auckland's population of 565,000! The Mangaweka Viaduct, bypassed by deviation in 1983, and Hapuawhenua Viaduct replaced by deviation in 1986. Also shown are numerous branch lines now closed or cutback, such as Waiuku, Thames, Cambridge, Rotorua, the old East Coast Main Trunk (pre-Kaimai deviation) and Raetihi.  The whole leaflet is a curious snapshot of New Zealand in 1969.

1975

By 1975 passenger service on the Main Trunk had been significantly improved. The front of this leaflet has gone from highlighting a DA Class locomotive to a 70's style depiction of a steward serving drinks on one of the two modern name trains of the age.  The train image is undoubtedly the Silverstar, luxury night sleeper express with a silver of the yellow/orange coloured DX Class locomotive.  However, passengers on the Silverstar would almost certainly never see the mountains in the depiction, that would be for the Silverfern service which replaced both the Blue Streak and Scenic Daylight in 1972.  

Other elements of the leaflet have been updated, from the metrication of the Raurimu Spiral aerial photo to  replacing the written description of locomotive history with a series of photos, ending with a DX Class hauling a Silverstar.

The description of history no longer comments glowingly on the 56ft carriages but rather:

"today the Silver Fern daytime express diesel-electric rallcars take less than 11 hours, and the heavy Silver Star sleeping-car expresses cover the journey overnight in 12½ hours Both the "Silver Fern'' and "Silver Star' services are fully air-conditioned. Other overnight express trains serve numerous on-line communities"

Note at the time, the Night Limited was still operating, as the Northerner had yet to be introduced, so the steam-heated Night Limited (with no on-board catering) was the main stopping service, whereas the Silver Star and Silver Fern were considered the premier services.  Some of the photos have been replaced and there is more colour, with images of a Silver Fern and a Silver Star service included (albeit the latter shown near Paraparaumu in summer).  This leaflet highlights more of the scenery and a little less of the history of the previous edition.

1983

By 1983 NZR had gone from being a Department to a Corporation, and this leaflet has gone from depicting trains and scenery artistically to a three page photo. The Main Trunk history no longer talks at all about train travel times or comfort, but does mention the Mangaweka Deviation which was only just opened at the time of this leaflet, although no mention is made at all of the subsequent electrification.  One image of the South Rangitikei Viaduct with a Silver Fern railcar on it is notable. No longer is there a depiction of locomotive history either.  

The map is now with a photographic background, and stylised to just show the main trunk line. The new Porootarao Tunnel (opened 1980) is noted, but the Raurimu Spiral is mentioned, but with no aerial map.  This leaflet corresponds with the Silver Fern service and the overnight Northerner, although it is unclear if it was regularly supplied to passengers on the former.

Today?

The North Island Main Trunk Railway remains one of the great scenic trips by rail in New Zealand, with the Northern Explorer sustaining service. However, how well publicised is it? It certainly stops much less frequently that its predecessor services.

Raurimu Spiral

 

Raurimu Spiral map

Raurimu Spiral history

Undoubtedly the Raurimu Spiral is one of the engineering feats of the construction of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, and NZR produced this leaflet to publicise it, primarily for passengers on the daylight Silverfern service, but also for the general public to understand the wonders of the railway. It remains a key feature along the line, as it enables trains to make a significant climb or descent from the volcanic plateau towards the King Country. 

Silver Fern - once New Zealand's prestige passenger rail service

 

Silver fern leaflet May 1982

Silver fern leaflet May 1982

Silver fern leaflet September 1982

Silver fern leaflet September 1982

Silver fern leaflet February 1984

Silver fern leaflet February 1984

Silver fern leaflet c. 1990

Silver fern leaflet c. 1990

Four sets of Silverfern (or Silver Fern?) promotional leaflets highlight some evolution in thinking about the Silverfern railcar service, which unlike many of those published here, still exists in the form of the Northern Explorer service between Wellington and Auckland (albeit with 40% fewer stops!). With withdrawal of the Silverstar sleeper train in 1979, the Silverfern was the only air-conditioned passenger rail service in New Zealand until the late 1990s when some 56ft carriages were so equipped), and certainly the only long-distance service with arguably modern rolling stock (having been built in 1972, rather than 1937-1945 or consisting of stripped down former railcars from the mid 1950s).  Until the AK class passenger cars which were progressively introduced from 2011 (for the Coastal Pacific, Tranz-Alpine and Overlander/Northern Explorer), the Silver Fern railcars were the only new long-distance passenger rolling stock from 1972. As such the Silver Fern was seen by the Railways Department and later the Railways Corporation as its most prestigious service, as the only one with double-glazing and air-conditioning. With three passenger compartments, it initially had two smoking and one non-smoking, which by the 1980s had reversed to one smoking and two non-smoking before smoking was prohibited on all passenger transport in the late 1980s. 

The Silver Fern service was the fourth evolution of daytime passenger service between Wellington and Auckland.  Pioneered by the Daylight Limited in 1925, which operated during peak holiday seasons until 1963 when

had been built on the back of the success of the Blue Streak railcar service introduced in 1968, which itself had replaced the Scenic Daylight locomotive hauled trains as the daytime Wellington-Auckland service (which had been pioneered by the Daylight Limited steam hauled trains which operated until 1960, when it was replaced by the Scenic Daylight (which ran all year). In 1963 the Scenic Daylight became diesel hauled (reducing travel time considerably), but still made multiple refreshment stops (as none of these servicing had any on-board catering). It was replaced in 1968 by the Blue Streak railcars, with limited on-board refreshment service (these being railcars refurbished for a trial, but failed Auckland-Hamilton commuter service), and was a big success.  The Silver Fern railcars were ordered new to replace the Blue Streak railcars (which were 88-seat articulated Fiat railcars that were notoriously unreliable). 

The first leaflet in 1982 was quickly supplanted by a new one, which saw photographs replaced with stylised drawings on the front page of presumably a target market of older leisure travellers rather than the younger couple actually photographed on board in the first leaflet. However, the poetic imagery on the leaflet reflects similar authorship to that of the Northerner leaflets, highlighting being insulated against noise or dust, with "wall-to-wall carpet" and that you have "all of the comforts of home" on "one of the world's finest railcars". NZR was not holding back in extolling the virtues of the service! 

The second and third leaflets are more poetic calling Kapiti Island "The Island of Romance" (before it was just a bird sanctuary) and a focus on the central plateau scenery before "Untamed scenery reluctantly yields to the seemingly interminable back yards of homes and industries bordering the track. You drift into Auckland - one of the largest sprawling cities in the world. Never more than one seat from a window, you have travelled through the real New Zealand - guided by the Silver Fern."

The actual service on board is noted for getting better in the 1990s compared to the early 1980s.  In the 1980s morning and afternoon teas, beverages and free newspapers were the peak of on-board service, with the leaflet oddly not mentioning the 25 minute long lunch stop at the Taihape railway refreshment room  (an experience I had when I was 13, but I can't honestly fully recall the meal - I think it was sausages and chips, but can't confirm).  The restructuring in the late 1980s of long-distance passenger rail services, that saw the end of subsidies after a lump sum of capital funding, meant the Silverfern railcars could offer on-board lunches served at the seat (airline style) saving time (and the expense of the Taihape railway refreshment room). 

It seems quite a service that the guard could organise a taxi or rental car at your final destination if you had an "early word", especially in an era before mobile phones (they didn't appear till 1987), it would have been reliant on the NZR's own telecommunication network, based on a private telephone network that connected stations. 

The 1982 leaflets include the "Wednesday express" which was NOT the Silverfern, but the ex.Endeavour train which stopped three times for refreshments (and could not support the light refreshments service of the Silverfern).  Stops at Palmerston North (which was used for the Wellington-Gisborne express refreshment stop) and Te Kuiti, were on top of Taihape.  The ex. Endeavour train operated once a week in each direction because one of the the three Silverfern railcars needed extensive repairs after the 1981 accident.

The 1984 leaflet is otherwise indistinguishable from the second 1982 leaflet, with the non-Wednesday schedule being notably faster than the Northerner, on the same route (11hours 10 minutes northbound, 11 hours 2 minutes southbound), in part due to the operational capability of the Silver Fern railcars, but also the much lesser freight traffic during daytime (whereas the Northerner had to stop often for passing freight trains).  The Silver Fern had fewer stops than the Northerner.

The 1990 leaflet, unlike the Northerner, did not treat the train as a "bargain" but rather a scenic trip and rather than using art, it used photos of scenery and the railcar, and showed a timetable much faster again with only 10 hours and 10 minutes southbound and northbound (no refreshment stop at Taihape thanks to on-board meals). Pukekohe and Te Awamutu stops had been removed by this time. The 1990 leaflet has none of the effusive language of the 1980s leaflets, but notes double-glazing for sound and heat insulation (not dust), and that "quality airline style meals may be purchased on board for lunch". 25% savings on fares during off-peak seasons and days are noted (fares were not alluded to before), and hostesses and guards are now "cabin crew". 

I didn't ride the Silver Fern during the latter era along the whole length of the route (although I did take it from Palmerston North to Wellington once), but unlike the Northerner (which lost sleeping cars and a full buffet car), the Silver Fern post 1988 was a better quality of service, which lent well to it subsequently being replaced by the Overlander in 1991 and being utilised to relaunch services between Auckland and Tauranga, and Rotorua. 

FOOTNOTE: The 1981 accident was reportedly in part contributed to by a member of the public being in the cab with the driver.  By some means (!) by late father got me riding in the cab with the driver somewhere between Taihape and Hunterville (out of view of towns and state highways) for around half an hour, which was against the rules at the time. It was quite a ride and experience, but very much against the rules!

Northerner promotional leaflets

 

Northerner leaflet May 1983

Northerner leaflet May 1983

Northerner leaflet February 1984

Northerner leaflet February 1984

Northerner leaflet c.1990

Northerner leaflet c. 1990

Northerner leaflet c.1990

Northerner leaflet c.1990

There isn't much to spot the difference between the 1983 and 1984 editions of the NZR publicity leaflet for the Northerner overnight passenger service.  They both note the same information:

• Book tickets at Railways or NZR Road Services travel offices, Government Tourist Bureaus or Rail Travel Agencies up to six months ahead of travel
• Baggage can be left at the Guard's Van or the baggage counter for checking in up to 15 minutes before departure and claims at the Guard's Van
• "Day Cars" (always an odd name for seated cars on an overnight train) have curtains and reclining armchair style seats. Sleeping cars are two-berth with "convenient facilities for washing, shaving, applying cosmetics" (this meant a vanity unit, mirror and electric socket for shavers), with a steward.  Pressure-ventilation and "when necessary" steam-heating is provided (steam heating was notoriously unreliable). 
• The "licensed buffet car" serves ales and miniature bottles of spirits up until 10.15pm for consumption in the buffet car only (this is before wine was important in NZ). It describes the food as an "excellent and varied selection of light food and beverages" with  "breakfast" which may be purchased in the morning.  This actually meant pies, sausage rolls, sandwiches and fruit cake, with cereals, coffee, tea and toast in the morning.
• Finally, the poetic description of the journey which was a feature of similar leaflets at the time with "some unusual sunset and sunrise lighting effects may be viewed", "many travellers are irresistibly locked into the changing landscape, particularly on nights when the moonlight is strong". "As curtains are pulled and personal lights switched on your car comes alive with congenial conversation" (bad luck if you want to sleep).  "Predictably, as the hour nears bedtime, voices become subdued and for most folk darkness and the hypnotic rhythm of the train brings and easy and restful sleep" (most??). "As morning light feeds through your curtains you know that someone else has done the driving and you are breaking into another day at your destination". 
• The timetable indicated a 13hour (and five minutes northbound) journey time, with many stops at smaller locations like Mangapehi and Paekakariki.

By 1990, however, a lot had changed, as subsidies for long-distance passenger trains had ended, and along with that so had the buffet car and the sleeping cars. It was now "catch a bargain" as it was targeted towards budget travel. It included a summary of the history and engineering feats of the North Island Main Trunk Railway, even though the travel times meant no passengers would ever get to see most of what was described (and the recent electrification was not mentioned at all). 

The timetable was tighter, with 11.5 hours northbound and 11hrs 15minutes southbound meaning later departures (just eat dinner before you board the train!), and with fewer stops.

There was a buffet, but it was a takeaway shop with refreshments available "throughout the night". No great description of seating, because the 2-1 old first class configuration was replaced with a reclining 2-2 configuration like second class intercity services in other countries.  It was noted that main carriage lights are switched off at 10pm and that noise and movement should be minimised after that (no poetic belief in people becoming subdued), with notice that radios and tape recorders (no CDs assumed yet, let alone mobile phones) should be used with earphones (and a reminder nobody could consume alcohol either).

Finally, a notable feature was the seating in the buffet car (which had a servery at one end, but was mostly seats), included a video. This played in the evenings with speakers, and whilst was a trend at the time, was also hardly conducive to restful travel (but I did experience it, twice, when travelling on the Northerner in 1990). 

Although the new Northerner was without sleeping cars or more luxurious seats, it did have three advantages over the old service, it was faster, it had more reliable heating and it was, at the time, commercially viable.