Condensed from an article written by
Tom McGavin in the New Zealand Railway Observer issue 121 of spring
1969.
Railcars were first successfully introduced in New Zealand between
1936 and 1942, although there had been a number of semi-successful
trial ventures in earlier years. The 22 vehicles in stock at the
close of 1942 were all of single-coach design, and at that time
none could be coupled for multiple-unit operation. They had proved
popular with passengers to such an extent that they were often
fully booked and could not cope with the traffic offering. Accordingly,
in his 1945 report, the General Manager of Railways, Mr James
Sawers, wrote: "It is not proposed to extend the single-unit
rail car services, but to concentrate on the provision of three-car
Diesel electric sets, both articulated and non-articulated. Inquiries
have been made with various British manufacturers, and tenders
are expected in the very near future for eleven of the former
type sets which will seat 120 passengers and for fifteen of the
latter type sets which will seat 156 passengers. This latter type
will be capable of running in combinations of three-car, six-car,
nine-car, etc., sets."
It would appear that, if any tenders were in fact received at
this time, they could not have been found acceptable because there
was no more firm news of railcar proposals for more than three
years. Then, about May 1949, the Minister of Railways, Mr Robert
Semple, announced that tenders were to be called in Great Britain
for the construction of ten twin-unit railcars to replace the
six "Maahunui" type cars built for the Wairarapa service
in 1936. To be of the articulated type consisting of twin bodies
mounted on three four-wheel bogies, the new railcars would seat
88 passengers compared with 49 in the case of the single-unit
vehicles. They would be powered by two 200 h.p. high-speed lightweight
diesel engines of the horizontal type installed under the floor
in such a manner as to leave the entire floor space above available
for passenger and luggage accommodation and driving compartments.
Although I have not yet been able to trace any record of an official
announcement, it appears that these ten cars were additional to
25 of similar type placed on the estimates in 1948 and included
in the published list of stock "on order" as at 31 March
1949. The order for all 35 railcars was placed early in 1950,
the first published reference of which we have knowledge being
in the Railway Gazette of 17 March 1950. Here it was stated that
35 twin-unit articulated railcars had been ordered from the Drewry
Car Co. Ltd. by the New Zealand Government Railways at a cost
of £ I ,400,000, ten to be specially adapted for use over
the Rimutaka Incline and 25 to be for general service. Delivery
was then expected to begin towards the end of 1952 or early in
1953, but these estimates proved far too optimistic.
In 1952, Mr H. C. Lusty, General Manager, in his submissions to
the Royal Commission of Inquiry into New Zealand Railways, forecast
replacement of all provincial passenger trains by one-class railcar
services, leaving the main trunk expresses as the only long-distance
passenger trains composed of ordinary stock. He added that, now
that the Rimutaka tunnel and deviation were under construction,
it was no longer necessary to have a special design for the Rimutaka
Incline, and all the new cars would now be standard. Changes in
design and improvements to the seating had caused delay, and delivery
would now be retarded. He was recommending to the Government that
further railcars be ordered in addition to the 35 already on order.
The Report of the 1952 Royal Commission, dated 20 June, indicated
that the Department proposed to base 15 of the new railcars at
Auckland to work services to Opua, Taneatua, Rotorua, and Taumarunui;
five at Wellington for the Wairarapa line; and 15 at Christchurch
for the Midland, Westport, and Picton lines. The Department had
calculated that another 45 railcars would be needed to replace
all provincial express trains, all local passenger trains (except
suburban), and most mixed trains. The Commission agreed that all
of these services were very desirable, but believed that fast
railcar services, either daylight or evening, between Auckland
- Wellington and Christchurch - Dunedin - lnvercargill would be
most popular and profitable. In the event, the Christchurch -
Dunedin - lnvercargill proposal was adopted (February 1956), but
it was 1968 before these cars were introduced between Auckland
and Wellington.
It is interesting to observe that it was proposed in 1952 to transfer
the six Wairarapa railcars to the New Plymouth Taumarunui line,
and the nine Vulcan cars from Christchurch to Dunedin and Invercargill
to work services between Dunedin and Cromwell and from Invercargill
to Bluff, Tuatapere, and Lumsden. In the event, the Wairarapa
cars were withdrawn a few months after the opening of the Rimutaka
Tunnel in November 1955, while a few of the Vulcan cars went to
Dunedin to institute a Dunedin-Cromwell service, the others however
being retained for the Westport - Greymouth - Hokitika runs, and
for relieving on the Midland line.
Two years after the Commission's report port, when the first of
the new railcars were nearly ready for delivery ex works (in 1954),
it was announced that the first 15 would be widely distributed
on mainline services throughout the country. It was intended to
"give all districts the benefit of modern diesel railcar
services at the earliest Possible date".
The first of the new railcars was duly unloaded from the Cumberland
at Wellington on 31 January 1955. It made its first demonstration
run on Tuesday 15 March. when it ran from Wellington to Napier,
196.3 miles. Its first run in revenue passenger service was on
6 April, when "Rm" 100 worked the 7.57 a.m. Wellington
- Napier and 1.50 p.m. Napier-Wellington services in place of
the usual "Standard" double-bogie car. Sufficient of
the new cars, which were being numbered from 100 to 134 inclusive,
were available by 1 August to enable a new timetable to be introduced
on the Wellington - Napier - Gisborne route from that date. The
"Standard" cars were subsequently concentrated on the
Wellington-New Plymouth run, where a new timetable was inaugurated
from 31 October 1955, eliminating the former twice-weekly expresses
and the local Wanganui - New Plymouth passenger train service.
Introduction of the new articulated cars on the Wairarapa line
followed the opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel on 3 November 1955,
but it was necessary to use the old Wairarapa railcars on some
workings for a time until enough of the big cars were available.
The South Island received its infusion of the "new look"
in February 1956, new services being introduced between Christchurch
and Picton and between Christchurch-Dunedin-lnvercargill from
the 1 3th of that month. A week later, twice-daily railcar services
between Christchurch, Greymouth, and Ross were begun in place
of the former combined express train and railcar services. Some
Vulcan railcars later went south to Dunedin, where they instituted
a daily Cromwell-Dunedin-Cromwell service in place of the former
thrice-weekly mixed trains from I October 1956.
Auckland saw its first railcar services ever when some of the
new cars began running between Auckland, Whangarei, and Okaihau
from 12 November 1956, and between Auckland, Taumarunui, and New
Plymouth from 26 November. The pattern was not finally woven,
however, until 8 February 1959, when daily railcar services were
introduced between Auckland and Rotorua, and between Auckland,
Tauranga, and Te Puke. It is ironic that the first railcar services
at Auckland were also the first of the long-distance runs to be
withdrawn after the phasing-out of the articulated railcars was
announced early in 1967. The Auckland-New Plymouth service is
the only survivor of the Auckland district network introduced
between 1956 and 1959, though the later Auckland Wellington daytime
service has been some small compensation.
Built at the Smethwick works of the Birmingham Railway Carriage
and Wagon Co. Ltd., on behalf of the Drewry Car Co. Ltd. as principal
contractors, each of the new articulated railcars, measuring 107
feet over couplers and scaling 56.3 tons ready for service, was
equipped with two FIAT 700.040 horizontal 6-cylinder naturally
aspirated diesel engines with a rated output of 210 horsepower
each at 1,550 r.p.m. With a full complement of 88 passengers and
luggage to give an all-up weight of about 63 tons, these railcars
accordingly had a ratio of 6.7 horsepower per ton, compared with
a similar figure for the "Standard" cars, and 6.1 h.p./ton
for the "Vulcan" cars.
With transmission through a Vulcan - Sinclair traction type fluid
coupling and a Wilson-Drewry five-speed epicyclic gearbox to final-drive
units mounted on each axle of the two 4-wheel driving bogies,
each railcar has a designed top track speed, according to contemporary
technical descriptions, of 65 m.p.h. This is similar to the designed
performance of the earlier railcars, and has been amply borne
out in practice.
In three of the annual Railways Statements, 1958, 1959, and 1960,
some most interesting details were appended of the performances
of the various classes of loco. motives and . railcars in the
North and South Islands. The 1960 report was the only one to cover
the work of these railcars for a year after all the new services
had been inaugurated. It showed that, for the year from April
1959 to March 1960, the 35 articulated railcars ran 2,326,665
miles, or an average of 66,476 miles per car. Each car was in
use, on average, on 260 days out of the 365 (or about five days
out of every seven), and the average mileage run per day in use
was 256. The total fuel consumption was 672,001 gallons of diesel
fuel, which meant that these railcars ran almost 3 1/2 miles per
gallon consumed. On this basis, their fuel tank capacity of 300
gallons (two 150-gallon tanks per car) would give them a range
of about 1,000 miles. Average operating costs worked out at 5.75
pence per mile for drivers' wages, 4.47 pence per mile for fuel,
1.77 pence per mile for lubricating oil and similar stores, and
no less than 30.58 pence per mile for maintenance and repairs.
It is this latter item that has not endeared these railcars to
the authorities, and explains the search for equipment that will
be less costly to maintain.
Soon after the articulated railcars entered service, some difficulties
were experienced, especially during the 1955-56 summer months.
In March 1956 the General Manager attributed late running of the
Hawke's Bay services in part to unexpected trouble with the engine-cooling
systems resulting in overheating of the engines. He said modifications
were being made as quickly as possible to the cooling systems
of each engine.
In July 1957 the Minister of Railways told Parliament that faults
in the engines of the new articulated railcars would be corrected
largely at the expense of the suppliers. He said these railcars
had been "a source of anxiety" to him and to the staff
of the railways. Of the 76 engines, including the six spares,
the crankcases and connecting rods were to be replaced by the
supplier at the full cost. For the remaining 62 engines, the Government
would pay 20 percent of the cost of those parts. This would restore
all the engines to nearly new condition. Other troubles associated
with air-filtering and engine-cooling had been put right by the
railways.
