New Zealand Railways Timetables of Principal Service for Tourists and Holidaymakers: 1 May - 5 November 1983

 

For some years, the Railways Corporation published timetables of its rail, road and ferry long-distance services, and this is one example with a cover used for a couple of years. Here I have scanned the rail and ferry, but NOT the Road Services timetable, which takes up the majority of the timetable. If anyone thinks I should include it, I will, but this blog is focused on rail, not coach services.

The cover page with colour photography has an interesting set of images. At the very top is one of NZR Road Services' new Volvo coaches on the Wellington Urban Motorway approaching the northbound onramp from The Terrace (before a median barrier was installed). To the right is a funnel from the Aratika ferry, nestled just below them is the rear view of a Volvo coach. To the left is a standard image of the day of the Southerner hauled by a DJ class locomotive, and below it the Aratika at Wellington's ferry terminal (the Aratika was, at the time, the "flagship" just before the Arahura commenced service. On the lower right is a double set of Silverfern railcars at Hamilton station.

The scanned pages do include some doodles, as I was a child when I had this, so apologies.

At the time, this timetable included rail services Auckland-Wellington, Wellington-Gisborne, Wellington-Masterton-Palmerston North, Christchurch-Invercargill, Christchurch-Picton and Christchurch-Greymouth. All of these services received direct subsidy from the Ministry of Transport under the category "Social Services Payment".

On the first inset page is an advertisement for NZR Road Services overnight coaches (bear in mind that the Railways Corporation was structured based on operational units, not business units). The main page contains some basic information to understand the timetable noting that children under four accompanied by an adult (!) travel free, and between four and fifteen children travel half price. 

For the timetable of a railway, the first pages focus on Road Services (which by and large, were self-sustaining financially).  The list of routes is printed below, with a focus on locations for tourists. Note that Hamilton, Palmerston North and even Napier routes are not listed. Of course both Napier and Nelson were primarily served by Newmans Coachlines at the time.

The first timetables for trains cover the Northerner and bizarrely the Wellington-Masterton-Palmerston North (and the Wellington-Masterton) services.  The Northerner, at the time with a maximum of six "Day" (seated) cars in a 2-1 configuration with large recliner seats, and a maximum of two sleeper cars (with 8 twin-berth cabins, and bathroom at the end of the car), and a buffet car (with largely 1980s cafeteria style food with some alcoholic beverages), took 13 hours to travel between Auckland and Wellington.

The two weekday Masterton commuter services using old 56ft rolling stock (second class bench seats) were supplemented by a single Friday night return service, a Saturday service scheduled so people from the Wairarapa could spend a day in Wellington, and a Sunday service return in the evenings only.

The Wellington-Palmerston North service was NOT for people travelling between those cities, unless you wanted a long scenic journey, as the travel time was around four hours for a trip that would take only 2hrs 25min on the Northerner, for example (and there were two other trains operating between Palmerston North and Wellington, with the Silverfern and the Wellington-Gisborne express).  It existed to connect the Wairarapa with Palmerston North.  It made sense to be opposite the Northerner, because for SOUTHBOUND travellers, it was a way of travelling from Auckland to Masterton and points north and south, as the Northerner would arrive at 0600 and the train to Wellington via the Wairarapa would depart at 0640 (whether the Palmerston North railway cafeteria was open then is not clear). Northbound it was possible to connect as well, but with a 2hr 20 min gap between arriving at Palmerston North and the Northerner appearing, it was NOT an appealing connection.

Of course the Wellington-Masterton-Palmerston North train at the time was operated by Ac Class "Grassgrubs" converted ex. railcars with no catering.  What is notable compared to the earlier 1982 timetable is the end of the weekend services north of Masterton, including two on Sunday and the additional Friday service, indicating a scaling down of the Wellington-Masterton-Woodville-Palmerston North service.

On this page is the Wellington-Gisborne express, which was operated also by the Ac Class , and with no catering, this train stopped twice for refreshments - at Palmerston North and Napier. A six hour journey from Wellington to Napier was not a fast one, given the drive could be four and a half hours.  Napier to Gisborne was even slower given the topography of the line at four hours 45 minutes northbound, slightly faster southbound. At the time this train was seen as a way of connecting some fairly remote communities with unsealed roads. It was long trip from Wellington to Gisborne by rail then, especially on a fairly uncomfortable train.

The Silver Fern Railcar is surprising left to last for North Island services, odd for the most modern of all of the services (unlike the 38-46 year old 56ft rolling stock, the Silverfern railcars were barely 11 years old, and air conditioned), and for a scenic daytime service between Wellington and Auckland. At the time the Silver Fern offered light refreshments, but with the lunch stop in Taihape (lunch time northbound, mid afternoon southbound) for 25 minutes. 

Wednesdays were NOT the Silver Fern but the "Blue Fern" carriage hauled service operating the ex. Endeavour rolling stock, but with three refreshment stops northbound (Palmerston North, Taihape and the Kuiti) and only two southbound (Palmerston North omitted).  Arguably more comfortable seating (wider and deeper reclining), this service existed because of the need to repair one railcar after the fatal 1981 Waiouru accident.

Also on this page is the four times a day return Cook Strait Rail Ferry service.

The Southerner remained the only rail service in the South Island with on-board catering, operating daily except Sundays (which was odd, given Saturdays were typically a quieter day for travel). The Picton-Christchurch Express continued to operate at this point with refurbished (but basic) 56ft cars, with Kaikoura as the refreshment stop.  The Christchurch-Greymouth Express remained a far cry from the Tranz-Alpine, with a daytime westbound service Monday to Saturday and evening services Friday and Sundays, whereas eastbound oddly had twice daily services listed in mornings (the early train not having a refreshment stop at Otira), and a Friday and Sunday evening service as well.  

Illustrated is a map of rail services, and some highlighted road services, plus a page advertising the Travelpass (which was a pass for rail, bus and ferry travel, but still required reservations to be made for each service).