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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 5, Issue 7 (December 1, 1930)

[section]

Hale and hearty, though eighty-three years of age, Mr. Wm. Baker, of Claudelands, Hamilton, vividly recalls Auckland's first two-carriage train which blazed the railway trail in the run to Onehunga on the day before Christmas, 1873. Being the official issuer of tickets on that pioneer trip, which was regarded as a development extraordinary at the time, Mr. Baker has a happy recollection of the event. He was bred and born at Dover, and came to New Zealand on the ship “St. Leonards,” which arrived about ten weeks before the local train venture, prior to which he was employed in connection with the Domain dairy. Having been a signalman and guard on the London-Chatham-Dover service for six years, he had credentials for railway service.