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Overlander (train)
Encyclopedia
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The Overlander is a long-distance rail passenger train between Auckland
and Wellington
in the North Island
of New Zealand
, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). It is operated by Tranz Scenic
.
It replaced a previous service operated by RM class
Silver Fern
railcar
s on Monday December 2, 1991. Following the withdrawal of the overnight Northerner
, it is the only regular passenger train on the NIMT between Pukekohe
and Palmerston North
. After being threatened with cessation itself in 2006, it has recently gained significantly in popularity, partly because increased tourism promotion for the service.
It has been called one of the best-value scenic rail trips in the world by the British Guardian
. It is also acknowledged as one of the worlds classic scenic rail journeys.
and diesel-hauled Scenic Daylight
that ran primarily during summer months and Easter holiday period for many years from the 1920s onwards. The arrival of the Blue Streak
and later Silver Fern
railcars saw an end for a time to regular carriage trains, except when the Silver Fern railcars were replaced by carriage trains.
On 18 August 2006 the Green Party
announced a Save the Overlander campaign, which received a positive response, primarily from the small towns along the train's route.
On 28 September 2006, three days before the service was due to end, Toll announced that it would continue on a schedule reduced from daily year-round to Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the off-peak winter season, and daily in the peak summer and Easter period.
The Overlander's reprieve has seen an interim refurbishment programme implemented, both internally and externally. Externally, the three former Bay Express cars and seven existing Overlander cars retain the Cato blue paint scheme of the Tranz Rail
era, but with the new "Overlander" promotional logo introduced by Toll Rail
on the sides in large white letters. Also, structural repair work has been carried out. Internally, the cars have been tidied up and seats replaced or reupholstered in some cars, new carpet laid in others.
In 2008, the train was again close to capacity in usage of its just over 160 seats, and it has been mooted that daily services may be reestablished. After the New Zealand government re-purchased the rail services in 2008 and renamed them KiwiRail
, a rail upgrade budget was also announced that included funds for refurbishing the trains.
In mid-2009, it was announced that patronage had steadily increased and that the service was thriving with 25.5% more passengers over the previous year, and that additional carriages had been added to the train in some cases to satisfy demand. KiwiRail also announced that as a result, services would be extended to daily during the July school holidays, and the general peak season timetable extended to more than seven months each year. The service is now seven days a week from September through to May, with the winter off peak May to September being Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Due to increased interest and passenger demand, the town of Taihape
was reinstated in October 2009 as a stop on the Overlander, following the local "Stop the Train" co-operative petition, headed by the Taihape Community Development Trust, Taihape Community Board, and the Older & Bolder groups.
or EF
locomotives with NZR 56-foot carriage
s.
Originally the service was operated with six Northerner
cars (originally single lavatory first class cars, later designated South Island Main Trunk
first class cars, refurbished for the original Southerner expresses of 1970), the Bay Express servery/observation/rear-view car, and what was once both The Connoisseur car
and TranzAlpine
rear-view/observation car and the two Northerner modular handbrake end-mounted 11 kW generator FM
-class power-luggage vans, painted in the dark blue InterCity logo with a 220 mm white stripe sandwiching a 100 mm red band, minus the parcels traffic.
In December 1991 another modular van was refitted with a generator, and a Wairarapa Connection car with 32 seats to a newer design arranged alcove-style and a servery to facilitate the introduction of a third trainset for maintenance requirements, the third set thus becoming a spare.
) car turned Southerner full buffet car was refitted in 1993 and returned to the NIMT with 24 seats to a newer design arranged alcove style and a short buffet counter to replace the full-length counter and 20 bar stools.
A new "no frills" fare was introduced, using the remaining six Northerner cars, a Southerner car and two Auckland excursion cars between 1995 and 2002. With the cancellation of the Bay Express in 2001, the three panorama cars from that train were utilised as a fourth set for the NIMT.
and one from the Bay Express trains were refitted to newer designs, all incorporating new-style 90 kW generators for increased on-train requirements, as power-luggage vans. An Auckland suburban van, the other of two Bay Express vans and the second of two Northerner vans were similarly refitted to serve this train.
On Wednesday August 16, 2006, the first air-conditioned 42-seat rear-view Northerner/Overlander car and its air-conditioned 49-seat day car running mate, were taken to Hutt Workshops
and stored, their bogies went under the ex-British Rail cars for the Wairarapa Connection.
Between Hamilton and Otorohanga
Between Tamarunui and National Park - pre 1980s/Overlander
Between Ohakune and Marton
Between Levin and Wellington
The Overlander is a long-distance rail passenger train between Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
and Wellington
Wellington
Wellington is the capital city and third most populous urban area of New Zealand, although it is likely to have surpassed Christchurch due to the exodus following the Canterbury Earthquake. It is at the southwestern tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Rimutaka Range...
in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
of New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, along the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT). It is operated by Tranz Scenic
Tranz Scenic
Tranz Scenic is the long-distance passenger train brand of KiwiRail, formed from the New Zealand Railways Corporation InterCity Rail services. Tranz Scenic was renamed along with the other operating divisions of Tranz Rail in 1995...
.
It replaced a previous service operated by RM class
NZR RM class
The RM class is the classification used by the New Zealand Railways Department and its successors given to most railcars and railbuses that have operated on New Zealand's national rail network. As NZR and its successors has operated many diverse types of railcars, alternate names have been given...
Silver Fern
NZR RM class (Silver Fern)
This article is about the New Zealand railcar service and the railcars themselves. For other uses, see Silver Fern .The NZR RM class Silver Fern is a class of railcar in New Zealand. The three air-conditioned and sound-proofed 723-kW 96-seater diesel-electric twin-set railcars were built by...
railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
s on Monday December 2, 1991. Following the withdrawal of the overnight Northerner
Northerner (train)
The Northerner was an overnight passenger train between Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand. Originally numbered 227 southbound and 626 northbound, it replaced the unnamed and less revered ordinary express trains supplementing the luxurious Silver Star , which had replaced the Night Limited in...
, it is the only regular passenger train on the NIMT between Pukekohe
Pukekohe
Pukekohe is a town in the Auckland Region of the North Island of New Zealand. Located at the southern edge of the Auckland Region, it is approximately 50 kilometres south of Auckland City, between the southern shore of the Manukau Harbour and the mouth of the Waikato River. The hills of Pukekohe...
and Palmerston North
Palmerston North
Palmerston North is the main city of the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an inland city with a population of and is the country's seventh largest city and eighth largest urban area. Palmerston North is located in the eastern Manawatu Plains near the north bank...
. After being threatened with cessation itself in 2006, it has recently gained significantly in popularity, partly because increased tourism promotion for the service.
It has been called one of the best-value scenic rail trips in the world by the British Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. It is also acknowledged as one of the worlds classic scenic rail journeys.
Origins
The first regular daylight Wellington-Auckland passenger train services, augmenting the older overnight services, were the steam-hauled Daylight LimitedDaylight Limited
The Daylight Limited was an express passenger train between Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand along the North Island Main Trunk. It commenced in 1925 and was replaced by the Scenic Daylight in 1963.- Introduction :...
and diesel-hauled Scenic Daylight
Scenic Daylight
The Scenic Daylight was a short-lived daytime express train in New Zealand that operated between Auckland and Wellington along the North Island Main Trunk Railway...
that ran primarily during summer months and Easter holiday period for many years from the 1920s onwards. The arrival of the Blue Streak
NZR RM class (88 seater)
The NZR RM class 88-seaters were a class of railcar used in New Zealand, known unofficially as 'articulateds', 'twinsets', 'Drewrys' and 'Fiats'. They were purchased to replace steam-hauled provincial passenger trains and mixed trains...
and later Silver Fern
NZR RM class (Silver Fern)
This article is about the New Zealand railcar service and the railcars themselves. For other uses, see Silver Fern .The NZR RM class Silver Fern is a class of railcar in New Zealand. The three air-conditioned and sound-proofed 723-kW 96-seater diesel-electric twin-set railcars were built by...
railcars saw an end for a time to regular carriage trains, except when the Silver Fern railcars were replaced by carriage trains.
Proposed cessation (2006)
On 25 July 2006 it was announced that the service would be withdrawn at the end of September as it had made a loss for some time. The last trains were scheduled to run on Saturday 30 September 2006.On 18 August 2006 the Green Party
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand is a political party that has seats in the New Zealand parliament. It focuses firstly on environmentalism, arguing that all other aspects of humanity will cease to be of concern if there is no environment to sustain it...
announced a Save the Overlander campaign, which received a positive response, primarily from the small towns along the train's route.
On 28 September 2006, three days before the service was due to end, Toll announced that it would continue on a schedule reduced from daily year-round to Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the off-peak winter season, and daily in the peak summer and Easter period.
New life (2006-)
Tranz Rail
Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Ltd , was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003.- Formation :...
era, but with the new "Overlander" promotional logo introduced by Toll Rail
Toll NZ
Toll Group Limited is a New Zealand trucking company. A subsidiary of the Australian company Toll Holdings, it has its headquarters in Auckland. It carries out operations by road and in the air, and formerly by rail and sea....
on the sides in large white letters. Also, structural repair work has been carried out. Internally, the cars have been tidied up and seats replaced or reupholstered in some cars, new carpet laid in others.
In 2008, the train was again close to capacity in usage of its just over 160 seats, and it has been mooted that daily services may be reestablished. After the New Zealand government re-purchased the rail services in 2008 and renamed them KiwiRail
KiwiRail
KiwiRail Holdings Limited is the rail operations subsidiary of the New Zealand Railways Corporation, which trades as KiwiRail. Headquartered in Wellington, New Zealand, KiwiRail is the largest rail transport operator in New Zealand. Since July 2010 John Spencer has been the Chairman...
, a rail upgrade budget was also announced that included funds for refurbishing the trains.
In mid-2009, it was announced that patronage had steadily increased and that the service was thriving with 25.5% more passengers over the previous year, and that additional carriages had been added to the train in some cases to satisfy demand. KiwiRail also announced that as a result, services would be extended to daily during the July school holidays, and the general peak season timetable extended to more than seven months each year. The service is now seven days a week from September through to May, with the winter off peak May to September being Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Due to increased interest and passenger demand, the town of Taihape
Taihape
Taihape is the Northern gateway town of the Rangitikei District, located near the middle of the North Island of New Zealand. It services a large rural community and lies on State Highway 1, which runs through the centre of the North Island.- Economy :...
was reinstated in October 2009 as a stop on the Overlander, following the local "Stop the Train" co-operative petition, headed by the Taihape Community Development Trust, Taihape Community Board, and the Older & Bolder groups.
Rolling stock
The Overlander is usually hauled by DCNZR DC class
The NZR DC class locomotive is the most common class of locomotive currently in operation on the New Zealand rail network. Primarily employed to haul freight trains operated by KiwiRail, the class is also used for long-distance passenger trains operated by Tranz Scenic and suburban passenger trains...
or EF
NZR EF class
The NZR EF class is a class of 22 25 kV AC electric locomotives that operate on the North Island Main Trunk between Palmerston North and Te Rapa in New Zealand...
locomotives with NZR 56-foot carriage
NZR 56-foot carriage
The NZR 56-foot carriage is a class of 17.07m-long railway passenger car formerly used on almost all long-distance rail transport in New Zealand, and still in service. Some have been preserved.-1927: Prototypes:...
s.
Originally the service was operated with six Northerner
Northerner (train)
The Northerner was an overnight passenger train between Wellington and Auckland in New Zealand. Originally numbered 227 southbound and 626 northbound, it replaced the unnamed and less revered ordinary express trains supplementing the luxurious Silver Star , which had replaced the Night Limited in...
cars (originally single lavatory first class cars, later designated South Island Main Trunk
South Island Main Trunk Railway
The Main North Line between Picton and Christchurch and the Main South Line between Lyttelton and Invercargill, running down the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, are sometimes together referred to as the South Island Main Trunk Railway...
first class cars, refurbished for the original Southerner expresses of 1970), the Bay Express servery/observation/rear-view car, and what was once both The Connoisseur car
The Connoisseur car
The Connoisseur cars were special railway carriages that were used in the consist of a number of passenger trains in New Zealand.- Inception :...
and TranzAlpine
TranzAlpine
The TranzAlpine Express is a passenger train operated by Tranz Scenic in the South Island of New Zealand. This trip is often regarded to be one of the world's great train journeys for the scenery through which it passes . The journey is one-way, taking about four and a half hours...
rear-view/observation car and the two Northerner modular handbrake end-mounted 11 kW generator FM
NZR FM guards van
The NZR FM guards van is a rail vehicle in New Zealand originally used on freight trains but now used primarily on passenger trains, reclassified AG.-First batch, 1977:...
-class power-luggage vans, painted in the dark blue InterCity logo with a 220 mm white stripe sandwiching a 100 mm red band, minus the parcels traffic.
In December 1991 another modular van was refitted with a generator, and a Wairarapa Connection car with 32 seats to a newer design arranged alcove-style and a servery to facilitate the introduction of a third trainset for maintenance requirements, the third set thus becoming a spare.
Extra Carriages
The former Vice-Regal (Governor-GeneralGovernor-General of New Zealand
The Governor-General of New Zealand is the representative of the monarch of New Zealand . The Governor-General acts as the Queen's vice-regal representative in New Zealand and is often viewed as the de facto head of state....
) car turned Southerner full buffet car was refitted in 1993 and returned to the NIMT with 24 seats to a newer design arranged alcove style and a short buffet counter to replace the full-length counter and 20 bar stools.
A new "no frills" fare was introduced, using the remaining six Northerner cars, a Southerner car and two Auckland excursion cars between 1995 and 2002. With the cancellation of the Bay Express in 2001, the three panorama cars from that train were utilised as a fourth set for the NIMT.
Re-equipping
From December 1991 to December 1994, nine ex second class passenger coaches built between 1937 and 1945 (one the former TranzAlpine rear-view observation car, one a Southerner car, two from Auckland excursion, three from Auckland suburban and two from Wairarapa commuter services) were extensively refurbished similar to the successful "big window" panorama cars used on the TranzAlpine, Coastal Pacific and pressure-ventilated Bay Express cars and made into three 3-car/1-van sets for "new" Overlander/Northerner services, each including a coach with a servery bar where hot food, snacks and beverages can be bought during the trip, a rear view observation car and a 49-seat day car. All nine cars were fully air-conditioned.Vans
Three modular vans, one from the Telecom train, one from the Sesqui 1990Sesqui 1990
Sesqui 1990 was a festival that was staged in February 1990 in the city of Wellington, New Zealand. A spectacular commercial and administrative failure, the Sesqui event has subsequently become an icon of corporate mismanagement within New Zealand popular culture.- History :Billed by promoters as...
and one from the Bay Express trains were refitted to newer designs, all incorporating new-style 90 kW generators for increased on-train requirements, as power-luggage vans. An Auckland suburban van, the other of two Bay Express vans and the second of two Northerner vans were similarly refitted to serve this train.
Double duty
As the Overlander and Northerner shared rolling stock, substantially better carriage utilisation was achieved, compared to having two train sets sitting unused for over 12 hours a day.On Wednesday August 16, 2006, the first air-conditioned 42-seat rear-view Northerner/Overlander car and its air-conditioned 49-seat day car running mate, were taken to Hutt Workshops
Hutt Workshops
The Hutt Railway Workshops is a major railway engineering facility in the Lower Hutt suburb of Gracefield in the Wellington region of New Zealand’s North Island...
and stored, their bogies went under the ex-British Rail cars for the Wairarapa Connection.
Former passenger stops
Between Pukekohe and Hamilton- Te Kauwhata (discontinued April 2005)
- HuntlyHuntly, New ZealandHuntly is a town in the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is on State Highway 1, 93 kilometres south of Auckland and 35 kilometres north of Hamilton. It is situated on the North Island Main Trunk Railway and straddles the Waikato River.Huntly was called Rahui Pokeka when...
(discontinued April 2005)
Between Hamilton and Otorohanga
- Te Awamutu (discontinued April 2005)
Between Tamarunui and National Park - pre 1980s/Overlander
- Manunui
- Piriaka
- Kakahi - steam engine turning point.
- Owhango
- Oio
- Raurimu - location of the Raurimu SpiralRaurimu SpiralThe Raurimu Spiral is a single-track railway spiral, starting with a horseshoe curve, overcoming a 132 m height difference, in the central North Island of New Zealand, on the North Island Main Trunk Railway. It is a notable feat of civil engineering, having been called an 'engineering masterpiece'...
Between Ohakune and Marton
- Waiouru - the highest station on the line (discontinued April 2005)
- Taihape - previously had a dining room, and engines were changed (discontinued April 2005, reinstated October 2009)
Between Levin and Wellington
- OtakiOtaki Railway StationOtaki Railway Station is a station on the North Island Main Trunk railway line serving Otaki in the Kapiti Coast District of New Zealand. It is served by the Capital Connection long distance commuter train between Wellington and Palmerston North.- History :...
(discontinued April 2005) - WaikanaeWaikanae Railway StationWaikanae Railway Station in Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast, New Zealand is the terminal station on the Kapiti Line for Tranz Metro's electric multiple unit commuter trains from Wellington...
(discontinued April 2005) - PoriruaPorirua Railway StationPorirua Railway Station is an important intermediate station in New Zealand on the Kapiti Line from Wellington and is part of Wellington's Metlink suburban rail network operated by Tranz Metro....
- southbound trains stop, northbound trains no longer stop (date unknown)