Northland Express

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The Northland Express (also Opua Express ) was an express train that was operated between 1925 and 1956 by the New Zealand Railways Department on the route from Auckland via Whangarei to Opua in the Bay of Islands .

business

On November 29, 1925, the North Auckland Line , which connects Auckland with Whangarei and other parts of the Northland region, was completed. Soon after, passenger trains started running, but due to the winding route and the differences in altitude, they could only travel slowly.

The Northland Express ran three times a week in each direction. Mixed trains on the Okaihau and Dargaville branches provided connections to the express train. In the 1950s, the train took 5 hours and 20 minutes between Auckland and Whangarei and was pulled by steam locomotives such as the J-class .

A mixed night train ran on the same route between Auckland and Opua until 1956, nicknamed " Morepork " after a native species of owl.

replacement

In the 1950s, the Railways Department decided to replace the remaining express trains in the province with multiple units. 35 RM-class railcars, each with 88 seats, were procured in 1955 and these replaced the Northland Express in November 1956. The route was also changed, the trains from Otiria no longer drove to the northeast via the Opua Branch, but northwest to Okaihau. Opua was connected by mixed trains from Whangarei, which had no connection to the trains on the main line. The mixed train from Dargaville was connected to the multiple units until 1967, when passenger traffic was completely stopped here.

The multiple units cut the travel time between Auckland and Whangarei to 4 hours and 10 minutes. However, mechanical susceptibility to interference and competition from road traffic after the opening of the Auckland Harbor Bridge in 1959 did not give this connection a long life. It was set in July 1967, the passenger traffic took place on the North Auckland Line and the Okaihau and Opuan branch lines also with mixed trains. The Okaihau connection ended in 1974 and the other two years later.