Blue Fern (train)

The Blue Ferns, an unofficial name, were temporary replacement locomotive-hauled carriage trains between Wellington and Auckland on the North Island Main Trunk Railway (NIMT) in the North Island of New Zealand, in 1981-1984 and 1989-1990.

Twist of Fate

On Tuesday 18 August 1981 a Silver Fern railcar derailed near Waiouru in the central North Island, killing four people. It was the worst railway accident in New Zealand since the Tangiwai disaster in 1953.

Replacement

Ten days earlier, the Wellington-Napier-Wellington locomotive-hauled Endeavour Express train had its buffet car removed. To replace the damaged railcar the six Endeavour carriages and two matching vans were hastily assembled into a replacement trainset, unofficially named the Blue Fern. The train ran on a 12-hour schedule on Wednesdays, to give the Silver Ferns a day off for servicing. The duration of the journey was increased with delays surrounding the impending NIMT electrification and associated earthworks. Seating capacity was 204, in reclining first class seats designed in the 1950s - three cars each sat 36, the other three 32.
DC class locomotives were assigned to its haulage, and on occasion DX class locomotives provided the motive power. The train lasted until May 1984, when all three Silver Fern railcars were fully operational again and the cars were transferred to a new daily Gisborne-Wellington service.

Resurrection

In 1989 a Silver Fern railcar derailed again, in a level-crossing accident near Tangiwai. No-one was hurt or killed, but it would have implications on the running of daylight passenger trains on the NIMT. Another Silver Fern was slated to run an excursion in the South Island at the time of the Tangiwai accident. Instead of cancelling the excursion, Rail Passenger decided implemented a temporary carriage train replacement. Also unofficially named the Blue Fern, the carriage train returned on Friday 7 April 1989 and remained in use until mid-year.In November 1990 the train resumed when another Silver Fern was involved in an accident.

This consist was two Northerner carriages, which had their 53 reclining road coach-style seat count each reduced to 41 in order to increase leg room space and line each row up with windows, and the Railfreight Systems business car. The business car was originally an aluminium-sheathed 60 foot (18.288 m) Railway Travelling Post Office van, built in 1960. In 1975, it was totally rebuilt as a dining car for the Northerner, seating 40 in tip-up seats arranged in bays of four, alcove-style. In 1988, six seats were removed to provide an open area and at this end a huge plate-glass rear-viewing window and associated framing replaced the intercar gangway, while the rest of the car was overhauled and refurbished. The other two cars were each former single-lavatory first-class cars, later designated South Island Main Trunk first-class cars, refurbished for the Southerner of 1970. In 1987 they were refurbished for the "new" Northerner. A Mitsubishi-built FM modular guard's van, one of three assigned to the Gisborne Express and later the resumed Endeavour, was fitted with an 11-kW petrol generator for powering on-train facilities. The van was painted to match the cars' standard InterCity dark blue with a 100-mm red band inside a 220-mm wide white stripe.

Advantages

Unlike the predecessor of eight years before, this incarnation proved very popular with the public, both in services offered and in speed.The advantages of a carriage train over the 96-seat railcars quickly became apparent, as did adding the rear-view car to open up viewing opportunities, more room to move, and a full buffet as opposed to a mini-buffet. Major earthworks, track upgrades and realignment, and curvature easing associated with the electrification of the NIMT enabled the Blue Fern to maintain the railcar schedule - some of the fastest transit times for a carriage train on the NIMT were achieved by this service and, if anyone had been recording, some of the fastest times overall, no doubt aided by the use of more powerful DX class and DF class locomotives as opposed to DC class locomotives that mainy hauled the 1981 version.Although the advantages of the carriage train concept were quickly realised, it would not be further developed until 1991.Accordingly, plans were made for a permanent carriage service, and the Overlander commenced operating on 8 December 1991. This was the first permanent daytime carriage train on the NIMT since the cancellation of the Scenic Daylight in the late 1960s.