NZR RM Class (Leyland Diesel) - in Service

In Service

Although they were only meant to be a temporary solution, the authorities who devised their schedule expected a lot from them. Before entering service, a trial run from Christchurch to Timaru in July 1936 demonstrated that the railcars could cover a distance of 160 km in 2 hours 8 minutes with the 80 km/h top speed successfully maintained. Their regular services were subsidised by the Christchurch Press and the first service of the day was timetabled to allow swift delivery of the morning edition of the paper. The first timetable came into effect on 3 August 1936 with a 2:20 am departure from Christchurch, arriving in Greymouth at 6:40 am and Hokitika at 7:55am, soon changed to 7:45 am. Two local return services were operated from Hokitika: a morning trip to Reefton (cut back to Greymouth by August 1938) and an afternoon trip to Greymouth. The return service left Hokitika at 4:25 pm, called at Greymouth at 5:42 pm, and reached Christchurch at 10:23 pm.

The service between Greymouth and Christchurch was almost two and a half hours quicker than the steam-hauled West Coast Express passenger trains of the time. The railcars initially covered 526 miles (841 km) a day, reducing to 434 miles (694 km) when the Reefton service was cut back to Greymouth.

The railcars' operating lives were mostly uneventful, but while operating the afternoon service to Greymouth on 18 January 1937, one was involved in a fatal accident north of Hokitika when it jumped off the rails at a level crossing near Arahura. 19 passengers and 3 railway employees were aboard; William Jeffries, a Hokitika auctioneer, was killed and twelve were injured. The derailment was caused by loose stones on the track that were scattered by a herd of cattle that had recently crossed the line; the front wheels left the rails while the rear ones did not, and the railcar in this condition travelled for 2.5 chains (50 m) as the driver unsuccessfully sought to stabilise and stop it. After this point, the rear wheels also left the rails as the front wheels dropped over the side of an embankment, and three chains (60 m) from the level crossing, the railcar had spun so that it faced in the direction opposite to that which it was travelling. The top of the railcar separated from the bottom, with the bottom half coming to rest fifteen feet from the line down the side of the embankment while one end of the top half lay on the line. The railcar was subsequently repaired and returned to service.