New Plymouth Express

[1] On 23 March 1885, NZR opened the railway line between Palmerston North and New Plymouth, with a short branch from Aramoho to Wanganui.

Its northbound run left the WMR's Thorndon station in Wellington at 7am on Tuesdays and Fridays,[1] with NZR's southbound service departing New Plymouth at the same time; the two trains met at Longburn, where passengers had to change.

[5] The WMR introduced dining cars not long after it began operating, but NZR trains made refreshment stops at Halcombe and Patea.

[6] This cut the travelling time down to 12 hours and 50 minutes,[4] and in 1902, NZR eliminated refreshment stops by introducing dining cars of its own.

[6] On 7 December 1908 the WMR was acquired by NZR, although the already established practice of through running meant this acquisition had little effect on the Express, except for some changes to the Railway Travelling Post Office and the north- and southbound trains crossing at Marton rather than Longburn.

Another change was forced on the train in 1917 by restrictions due to World War I: refreshment stops were re-introduced when the dining cars were withdrawn, never to return.

During the War, the Express's carriages were dispersed and it ran with a wide variety of rolling stock; this situation was not rectified until it was re-equipped in 1948.

[9] The Turakina Deviation on the Marton - New Plymouth Line opened in 1947, allowing the journey time to be reduced to 9.25 hours.

During the era of the AB class working the Express locomotives were changed at Aramoho, and The Ferry was closely tied to this procedure.

[12] In 1968 three 88-seaters were extensively refurbished and renamed "Blue Streaks" because of their distinctive paint scheme, and in 1972 they were allocated to the Wellington-New Plymouth service.