Background
In 1928, when the East Coast Main Trunk Railway was opened as far as Taneatua, its furthest extent, a passenger train commenced operating from Auckland to Taneatua on a slow 12 hour schedule. Within a year, this was upgraded to 10.5 hours and named the Taneatua Express. For much of its life, it ran only twice or thrice weekly.
In 1959, the Taneatua Express was replaced by a daily railcar service utilising 88 seater railcars, but due to negligible traffic to Taneatua, the new service operated only to Te Puke. This service did not last long, as the circuitous rail route struggled to compete with private cars. It was cancelled from 11 September 1967, and until 1991 the only passenger services that operated on the route were special excursions.
In 1980, Tauranga radio station Radio BoP started running an excursion train from Tauranga to Matamata and Rotorua via the newly opened Kaimai Tunnel under the name Kaimai Express, using NZR locomotives and carriages from Steam Inc and Railway Enthusiasts Society. The excursions were repeated in 1981 and 1982.
Read more about this topic: Kaimai Express
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