&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Silver_Star_Entering_Auckland_Along_Hobson_Bay_1973.jpg) Silver Star arriving in Auckland alongside Hobson Bay and Tamaki Drive in March 1973, hauled by two DA class locomotives. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Service type | Overnight Passenger Train |
| Status | Terminated |
| Predecessor | Night Limited |
| First service | 6 September 1971 |
| Last service | 8 June 1979 |
| Successor | Northerner |
| Former operator(s) | New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) |
| Route | |
| Termini | Wellington Auckland |
| Line(s) used | North Island Main Trunk |
| Technical | |
| Rolling stock | AR/AT class Silver Star carriages[1] |
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) |
The Silver Star was a luxury passenger train that ran overnight between Auckland and Wellington on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) railway of New Zealand, operated by New Zealand Railways (NZR). The train ran from Monday 6 September 1971 until Sunday 8 June 1979. It replaced the Night Limited express passenger trains which provided a faster service than the ordinary express trains, by stopping at only six intermediate stations (Palmerston North, Marton, Taumarunui, Taihape, Te Kuiti, Frankton)[2] en route and not hauling a postal (sorting) van as on previous trains.
Designed as a "hotel on wheels", the service was unsuccessful and attempts to re-use the rolling stock were thwarted by the presence of asbestos in the carriages. NZR eventually sold the carriages to the Eastern and Oriental Express, where they remain in use.[3]
- ^ "AT Sleeping Car of 1971". New Zealand Railway Rolling Stock Lists.
- ^ "The New Zealand Gazette" (PDF). 3 December 1973.
- ^ "Riding the long steel road". New Zealand Geographic. July–September 1996. Retrieved 17 February 2019.