The South Island Limited was a passenger express train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) between 1949 and 1970. It operated over the almost 590 kilometres (370 mi) route between Christchurch and Invercargill. It was replaced by the Southerner.

Previous expresses

Expresses between Christchurch and Dunedin began operating when the Main South Line opened. These services were the precursor to the South Island Limited and were the flagship of New Zealand's railways in the nineteenth century. Accordingly, they had the most modern motive power and rolling stock available. They were initially hauled by members of the first J class and limited to a speed of 60 km/h (37 mph), resulting in a journey time of eleven hours, but the timetable was accelerated with the introduction of the K class. The K locomotives could achieve speeds of up to 90 km/h (56 mph) and they helped to speed up the schedule, with the T class handling the train on the hilly section between Oamaru and Dunedin. Upon their introduction in 1885, the N class took on the express duties, followed by the U and U^B classes. The Q and A class cut the journey's time to eight hours in the early years of the 1900s.

In 1904, it became possible to operate an express from Christchurch to Invercargill in a single day. The Dunedin-Invercargill run was treated as an extension of the Christchurch-Dunedin express, and the train was sometimes called the Invercargill Express. In March 1914, it was possible to travel from Christchurch to Invercargill in thirteen hours. A^B class locomotives capable of speeds of 107 km/h (66 mph) took over from the A and Q locomotives from 1915, but in the 1930s and during wartime, maximum speed on the South Island Main Trunk (SIMT) was limited to 80 km/h (50 mph) due to track and running conditions. The restrictions were removed by the late 1940s when the express, at its zenith, reached sustained higher speeds on the Canterbury Plains and became the South Island Limited.

An extra evening SIMT passenger service for businessmen, to compete with the Starliner private buses Christchurch- Dunedin route, started in March 1953 with a first-class, steam-heated NZR 56-foot carriages attached to overnight express freights 138 and 151 Monday to Thursday,^[1] departing Christchurch at 8.25 pm and stopping for passengers only at Timaru, Oamaru (1.26 am) and Dunedin at 4.58 am,^[2] where the carriage remained stopped and heated at the platform until 7 am. Northbound the service left Dunedin at 9.40 pm to arrive at Christchurch at 6.30 pm. 88 seater railcars replaced this service in September 1956 with a 6 hr schedule 5.30 pm to 11.30 pm in both directions, daily until 28 April 1976. The railcars were well patronised at weekends and between Dunedin and Oamaru. The 88-seater railcars also introduced a second daylight service from Dunedin to Invercargill leaving Invercargill on the return leg at 1.25 pm. The railcar service offered a more convenient and comfortable, second-class timetable than the South Island Limited with its early departures and late arrivals in Southland.

A night express service, including two sleeping carriages, ran from 1928.^[3] The four sleepers for the service were rebuilt at Addington Railway Workshops from ordinary cars, each with an 8-berth compartment for ladies, and a 12-berth for men.^[4] The sleeping cars had gone by 1935,^[5] and by 1943 the only night trains were on Sundays.^[6] From 1949 to 30 September 1979 trains 189 and 190 ran an overnight weekend express Christchurch-Dunedin departing at a late 10.30/10.50 pm on Friday-Sunday to arrive 6.30/6.58 am on Saturday and Monday. Until 1971 the steam-hauled train consisted of a 56-foot second-class carriage, a sleeping carriage and two 50-foot first-class carriages. The diesel hauled 189/190 of 1971-79 consists of excluded sleeping carriages again and usually consisted of sets of only a partitioned 56ft first-class and two 56ft second class carriages, guards van and seven container and mail wagons. Only the connecting part of 190 leaving Invercargill at 6:35 pm was ever well patronised by the sports team and weekend varsity students. In its last years, 1976-79 189/190 was second class only but did provide a connection for Dunedin students and Otago Peninsular residents on the new Cook Strait ferry express, providing a low-cost, but poorly patronised interisland connection, with patronage given at 10-93 (average 50) in July 1979.^{[7][better source needed]}

Operation

In 1939, the second J class was introduced, followed by the J^A class in 1946. These locomotives allowed the service schedule to be accelerated, and on 1 August 1949, the South Island Limited was introduced. It operated three days a week, supplemented on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday by limited stop mail express train 175 which left Christchurch at 9.00 am and reached Dunedin at 17.25 and northbound train 160 leaving Dunedin at 08.45 am; Timaru at 14.00 to arrive at Hornby at 16.59 and Christchurch 17.13. There was only one daily Ferry Express between Christchurch and Invercargill, train 145, south on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday and train 174 north and on the Christchurch to Dunedin section, the timetable was very similar to the later 1956-1970 South Island Limited in both directions. Sunday day express operated only Invercargill to Dunedin return. The pre-1956 South Island Limited was a true prestige service with only a few short stops compared with the other mail and ferry express.^[8]

Between 1949 and 1956 the South Island Limited had only 3 intermediate stops to Dunedin and 8 to Invercargill with stops at Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Milton, Balclutha, Clinton and Gore on the way to Invercargill.^[9] In 1956 the South Island Limited lost much of its status and ceased to be a true ' Limited' in the public eye with many additional stops and a slower timetable. ^[10]

In its very early days, it was occasionally operated by A^B class engines, but the more powerful J and J^A locomotives quickly became the usual motive power, and they were famous for hauling long strings of the familiar red cars at higher average speeds of 60 km/h (37 mph) stop to start on the Christchurch-Oamaru section. Leaving Christchurch on 143 at 8.35 am to reach Dunedin at 3.45 pm and Invercargill at 7.55 pm achieving a travel time between Christchurch and Dunedin of 7 hours and 10 minutes and completing the entire journey to Invercargill in 11 hours 20 minutes.^[11]

From 1956, the consolidation of the daylight schedule into one express each way increased to 21 stops, but only 20 minutes were added to the overall running table, with departure from Christchurch at 8.40 am and arrival at Invercargill at 8.20 pm. By this time, officials generally conceded that much faster running than the 100 km/h (62 mph) authorised was often required to meet the tight timetable,^[12] on a single-track railway over the Canterbury and Southland plains. The northbound South Island Limited, train 144 to connect with the Inter-Island Ferry, left Invercargill at 7.40 am to arrive at Christchurch at 7.20 pm for a 17-minute break, before 144 moved on to Lyttelton with adequate time to connect with the inter-island ferry leaving Lyttelton at 20.30, required the performance of the J^A class hauled expresses if 20 minutes or later out of Timaru with the 100 miles to Christchurch and 6-7 scheduled stops with recovery speeds, sometimes exceeding 120 km/h (75 mph).^[13]

In the immediate post-war years and until 1956, the general aim of two daylight expresses daily in both directions on the SIMT continued with the South Island Limited being supplemented on the peak demand days of Mon, Wed, Fri by a second stopping express, trains 160/175, which also provided an early morning departure from Dunedin, at 08.45 in the 1935 and 1952 timetables on the Dunedin express to Christchurch and southbound following the Limited out of Christchurch at midday in the 1920s and 1930s,^[11] and postwar at 9.00 am south,^[14] to arrive at Dunedin at 17.25, two hours later than the South Island Limited.

Trains 160 and 175 continued to run as a relief holiday express until 1966 and these services were reincarnated as pure mail and express freight trains from 1970 to 1985 on essentially the same 1949 timetable, leaving Christchurch (Middleton) and Dunedin at 09.00 for arrival at 17.00, but stopping only at Timaru and Oamaru for half an hour for shunting. Cut off for the first-night express freight would be 6.30 pm and the train would not leave Moorehouse station until 7:00 pm.^{[15][better source needed]}

The original consist of the South Island Limited was three first and four second-class carriages providing 330 seats overall^[16] with a capacity of over 500 in the school holidays. By the late 1960s, the holiday-peak traffic had eroded and the usual consist for most of the year were two first and two second-class smoker and non-smoker carriages providing 176 seats.^[16] The main traffic for the South Island Limited was as a long-distance service to connect with the inter-island Union Steamship Company Steamer Express ferry at Lyttelton and to carry mail, with up to six ZP class wagons for maximum revenue.^[17]

Replacement

By 1970, steam locomotives had been almost entirely withdrawn from New Zealand. The North Island had been completely dieselised by the end of 1967, and the 1968 introduction of the DJ class diesel locomotives had led to the dieselisation of almost all of the South Island's services.

The South Island Limited continued to operate with steam motive power, repeating the pattern in the North Island (where the K^A and J^As hauled the express and relief expresses until 1965, nine to ten years after steam had been replaced on NIMT freight and the Wairarapa line by 1955–56).

In the last years of the South Island Limited, intermediate stops were increased to 21 but overall journey time was reduced to 11 hours and 40 minutes. The decision was finally taken to withdraw railcars and end the use of steam locomotives in 1967, with the order for the final nine DJ diesel-electric locomotives to replace the J^As on SIMT expresses and express freights, on 26 November 1967.^[18]

The South Island Limited was replaced by the diesel-hauled Southerner on 1 December 1970. This was not the end of the steam expresses; J^A locomotives continued to work Friday and Sunday evening expresses on the same route for almost a year.