The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 13, Issue 5 (August 1, 1938)
The First Train
The First Train.
The first train was crowded, and the second train was filled before the first pulled out. The run was a surprise to passengers in the way in which the steep grades, up which the steam engines used to puff for half an hour, were taken easily by the motor coaches and their trailers. Each pair pulls its own load in the coupled trains, and the number of vehicles that can be combined in this way will easily cope with the morning and evening traffic on this line. The coaches carry either 72 or 60 passengers, and the two pairs of units with a reasonable number standing, could accommodate 400 people. The multiple unit trains are as steady on the rails as the steam trains they have displaced. They are comfortably heated, and have excellent seating, and provision for a large number of “straphangers” by means of neat rubber grips.
The train left at 3.34½ p.m., and arrived at Johnsonville, after stopping briefly at all stations, at 3.50 p.m., a run of 16½ minutes, well ahead of the scheduled time of 19 minutes. The running was delightfully smooth.
There were crowds on every station, and at Johnsonville the whole of the platform near the station was packed, so much so that movement, once the speakers had commenced, was impossible. The crowd was essentially a family one, the number of children being very noticeable.