The inaugural trip took Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward and other Members of Parliament to Auckland to greet the American Pacific Fleet.
[1] In March 1973 the Minister of Railways Tom McGuigan announced a new train would be introduced to replace the unnamed nightly service.
[2] In 1976 the Northerner stopped at Wellington, Porirua, Paekakariki, Paraparaumu, Ōtaki, Levin, Palmerston North, Feilding, Marton, Hunterville, Taihape, Waiouru, Ohakune, National Park, Taumarunui, Mangapehi, Te Kuiti, Otorohanga, Te Awamutu, Hamilton, Huntly, Pukekohe, Papakura, Ōtāhuhu and Auckland.
The final fit-out of the train was not approved until November 1974 with instructions to complete the rebuild of the minimum rolling stock for the introduction of the express replacement within 12 months.
Three dining carriages were created from 1960s built 60-foot (18.288 m) long aluminium-sheathed Railway Travelling Post Office vans.
The Northerner was the first of the substantially overhauled carriage trains to be fitted with a new type of bogie of Korean manufacture, which offered a superior quality ride to its Timken-built predecessors, classed X25330.
The underframes were raised to make easier the fitting of the newer bogies, and drawgear lowered the same distance.
Following a government decision that operating subsidies for long-distance passenger trains would cease, Sunday 26 April 1987 saw dining cars, sleeping cars, nearly 100 jobs and $4 million in operating costs removed from this service and until Sunday 20 March 1988, the train offered biscuits and fruit juice served from the guards van.
On Monday 2 December 1991 the Silver Fern railcarriages were replaced on the daylight NIMT run by the Northerner stock, InterCity having learned from the benefits a carriage train provided over the three 96-seat railcars.
During the transition period, the former Vice-Regal carriage turned Southerner buffet carriage was refitted in 1993 with shorter buffet counter and 24 seats of the type designed by Addington Workshops, arranged alcove-style to replace the long counter and 20 associated stools and was returned to the NIMT.
From Tuesday 26 January Friday 3 and 17 December and Sunday 19 December 1993 until December 1994, one carriage from the Southerner (1988–1995), two carriages from the Wairarapa Connection, two from the Auckland excursion fleet, three from Auckland suburban services and the TranzAlpine rearview carriage were extensively rebuilt to form three three-carriage air-conditioned panorama train sets similar to the successful "big window" TranzAlpine, Coastal Pacific and pressure-ventilated Bay Expresses to serve both the day-time Overlander and night-time Northerner runs.