Rotorua Express

The Rotorua Express was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department between Auckland and Rotorua. It operated from 1894 until 1959 and was known as the Rotorua Limited between 1930 and 1937. This train was one of the very first expresses in the world to use Pacific (4-6-2) type locomotives.

The Rotorua Express was introduced when the Rotorua Branch line was opened through to its Rotorua terminus. The first train to use the new line was an express from Auckland on 8 December 1894 led by two original J class steam locomotives; the trip had taken 8 hours and 40 minutes to reach Rotorua and travelled at an average speed of less than 30 km/h (19 mph). Later in December 1894, a regular express commenced but ran only once a week, departing Rotorua at 9am Monday for Auckland, and returning from Auckland at 9am Tuesday. These trains were typically hauled by members of the J and L classes.

For the winter months of 1895, the Rotorua Express did not operate; passengers had to travel on thrice weekly mixed trains, which were slow freight trains with a passenger carriage attached. The Rotorua Express returned for the peak Christmas, summer, and Easter period and now operated thrice weekly in each direction. This arrangement continued until 1899, when the Rotorua Express began operating every week of the entire year.

The Rotorua Express has the distinction of being the very first express passenger train in the world to be hauled by Pacific locomotives, when Q349 hauled it out of Auckland on Christmas Eve, 1901. This was the start of a worldwide trend, with such trains as the 20th Century Limited, Orient Express, Flying Scotsman and many more all sporting such locomotives of the type in later years. The world's fastest steam locomotive, is also of the same type.

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