Napier Express
The Napier Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department initially between Napier and Palmerston North and later between Napier and Wellington. It ran from 1891 until 1954.
Introduction
On 13 October 1874, the first section of the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line opened between Napier and Hastings. Over the following 17 years the line steadily extended into the Hawkes Bay interior, and on 9 March 1891 it opened through the Manawatū Gorge to Palmerston North. Construction of the Wairarapa Line from Wellington was steadily advancing towards its junction with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line at Woodville, at the eastern, Hawkes Bay, end of the Manawatū Gorge, but the only rail access to Wellington at the time was via the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's line up the west coast between Wellington and Longburn, just south of Palmerston North. The Railways Department introduced the Napier Express as a dedicated passenger service between Napier and Palmerston North, with connections to the WMR for passengers to Horowhenua, the Kāpiti Coast, and Wellington. This was a significant upgrade for passengers on the Napier line, as services had previously just been slow mixed trains, carrying both passengers and freight.Operation
The Napier Express commenced just after the railway opened to Palmerston North in 1891 and ran once each way daily, typically hauled by a J class steam locomotive. Despite its 'express' name and superiority over mixed services, it was quite slow by modern standards. The southbound service left Napier at 10.45am and the WMR connection arrived in Wellington at 9.50pm. Today the same journey takes less than half the time.The service was soon to take longer, although the need to change trains was eliminated. On 11 December 1897 the Wairarapa Line reached Woodville, creating a Railways Department line between Wellington and Napier. The Napier Express then was diverted from Palmerston North, running to Wellington via the Wairarapa. This route included the Rimutaka Incline, which caused the journey time to increase by an hour, a move unpopular with passengers. Two Rogers K class locomotives were transferred from the South Island to operate the trains, and in 1899 they were joined by two more South Island locomotives, of the N class, allowing the timetable to be accelerated to 10.5 hours. N class engines were sometimes assisted by M class tank locomotives, and this combination was referred to as the 'en and chicken.
In 1908, the WMR was purchased by the government and incorporated into the national network. In 1909 the Napier Express was diverted from the Wairarapa Line, through the Manawatū Gorge to Palmerston North, and then to Wellington over the former WMR track. resulting in a substantial improvement in running time.
On 20 February 1911 when the express was approaching Paekākāriki from the south, a large boulder dislodged from above on the Paekakariki Escarpment rolled down onto a second class carriage, killing Miss Alice Power from Greymouth who was travelling with two friends.
By 1914 the travel time was 9 hours 4 minutes with track improvements in 1914 which allowed the speed limit in some places to be raised to 73 km/h and the more powerful A class locomotives was introduced about 1917-18. By 1925, it was down to 7 hours 31 minutes, partly due to the new AB class locomotives, and a further improvement in 1939 was 7 hours 17 minutes when the Tawa Flat Deviation eliminated the torturous, winding route via Johnsonville into Wellington and the K class began operating the expresses. By 1949 the travel time between Wellington and Napier was seven hours.