Southerner Train – 20th Anniversary of Final Journey

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the last scheduled passenger train operated between Invercargill, Dunedin and Christchurch.

The Southerner made its last trip on Sunday 10th February 1992.

The Southerner passenger train made it’s first trip on December 1st 1970 but its genesis went back many years with the steam hauled South Island Limited between Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.

The final journey was on 10th February 2002.

These services made Invers the world’s southernmost railway station to service passenger trains.

Photographer Paul Jeffery told whatsoninvers that the loco that hauled the final northbound, Dc4513 has now surpassed 60 years in service, starting life as a Da class, August 1961, rebuilt to a Dc in the early 1980s. Dc 4830 which hauled the final one south has since been scrapped.

You might recall that it was two Da class locos that pulled the big excursion train into Southland in April last year.

Despite the introduction of the Southerner, steam-hauled expresses continued to operate on Friday and Sunday evenings for almost 11 months; the last running on 26 October 1971. This was the last regularly scheduled steam-hauled revenue service in New Zealand.

Changing times, changing travel patterns eventually saw passenger numbers fall away and the service supported by subsidies until the service was discontinued 20 years ago.

A couple of questions, will we see a return of regular passenger trains out of Invers and would you use them?