Railway Electrification In New Zealand
Railway electrification in New Zealand consists of three separate electric systems, all on the North Island. Electrification was initially adopted by the New Zealand Railways for long tunnels; the Otira Tunnel, the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel and the two Tawa Tunnels of the Tawa Flat Deviation. Electrification of Wellington suburban services started with the Johnsonville Line and Kapiti Line out of Wellington from the 1930s. Auckland suburban services were electrified in 2014–2015. Electrification of long-distance services on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) dates from 1986. New long tunnels, for example the Rimutaka Tunnel and the Kaimai Tunnel, were operated by diesels, and the Otira and Lyttelton Tunnels have converted to diesel operation. From 1908 to 1953, there was an electrified mine railway from the Stockton mine on the West Coast of the South Island. Earlier NZR electrified routes from 1923 to the 1940s operated at , but the NIMT (1986) and Auckland suburban services ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works. Apart from four brief experiments with independent boards, NZR remained under direct ministerial control for most of its history. History Originally, New Ze ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gordon Coates
Joseph Gordon Coates (3 February 1878 – 27 May 1943) served as the 21st prime minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928. He was the third successive Reform prime minister since 1912. Born in rural Northland, Coates grew up on a cattle run and was bilingual in English and Te Reo Māori, the last New Zealand Prime Minister to be so. Coates took charge on the farm as a young age due to his father's mental illness, before becoming a Member of Parliament in 1911. He maintained a focus on farming issues and stood as an independent candidate. After distinguished service during World War I, he was appointed as Minister of Justice and Postmaster-General in the Reform government of William Massey (1919); he served as Minister of Public Works (1920–26) and Native Affairs (1921–28) and became prime minister in 1925 on Massey's death. Defeated in the elections of 1928, Coates returned to government in 1931 as the key figure in the coalition government of George Forbes. Servin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tranzrail Bumblebee
Tranz Rail, formally Tranz Rail Holdings Limited (New Zealand Rail Limited until 1995), was the main rail operator in New Zealand from 1991 until it was purchased by Toll Holdings in 2003. History The New Zealand railway network was initially built by provincial governments, starting with the Ferrymead Railway in 1863. From 1880, a central Government department, the New Zealand Railways Department, was responsible for operating most of the growing railway network. A few private lines were built, but only one, the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (W&MR) achieved any measure of success. The W&MR was nationalised in 1908. In 1931, due to increasing competition from road carriers, the Transport Licensing Act 1931 was passed, restricting road cartage and giving the railways department a monopoly on long-distance freight. In 1982, the same year the land transport sector was deregulated, the Railways Department was reconstituted as the New Zealand Railways Corporation, a st ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Third National Government Of New Zealand
The Third National Government of New Zealand (also known as the Muldoon Government) was the government of New Zealand from 1975 to 1984. It was an economically conservative government that aimed to preserve the Keynesian economic system established by the First Labour government and was also socially conservative. Throughout its three terms it was led by Robert Muldoon, a populist but antagonistic politician who was sometimes described as the National Party's best asset and worst liability. Significant policies By 1975, New Zealand had a generous welfare system, which included unemployment and sickness benefits, a benefit for single parents (the DPB) and a means tested old-age pension from the normal retirement age of 60 plus a Universal pension from 65 years. The third National government scrapped Labour's contributory scheme and introduced National Superannuation, a non-means tested pension available to all New Zealand citizens over the age of 60, linked to the average w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Raurimu Spiral
The Raurimu Spiral is a single-track railway spiral, starting with a horseshoe curve, overcoming a height difference, in the central North Island of New Zealand, on the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) between Wellington and Auckland. It is a notable feat of civil engineering, having been called an "engineering masterpiece." The Institute of Professional Engineers of New Zealand has designated the spiral as a significant engineering heritage site. Background During the construction of the central section of the NIMT, a major obstacle arose: how to cross the steep slopes between the North Island Volcanic Plateau to the east and the valleys and gorges of the Whanganui River to the west? South of Taumarunui, the terrain is steep but not unmanageable, with the exception of the stretch between Raurimu and National Park, where the land rises too steeply for a direct rail route. A direct line between these two points would rise in a distance of some , a gradient of 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NZR DF Class (1954)
The New Zealand DF class locomotive of 1954 was the first class of mainline diesel-electric locomotives built for New Zealand's national railway network, built by English Electric. It should not be confused with General Motors Electro-Motive Division DF class of 1979. Introduction They had a wheel arrangement of under the UIC classification system, generated 1120 kW (1500 hp) of power, and could achieve a maximum speed of 97 km/h. They started the process of displacing steam motive power from main lines in New Zealand, but were soon displaced themselves by the DA class of 1955. Initially, 31 DF locomotives were ordered, but this order was amended to ten DFs and 42 DG class locomotives, which in appearance was essentially half a DF but with a similar bulldog nose cab design. The DF locomotives were heavier than the later and slightly less powerful DAs and were used to haul freight trains on the North Auckland and East Coast Main Trunk lines in Northla ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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English Electric
N.º UIC: 9094 110 1449-3 (Takargo Rail) The English Electric Company Limited (EE) was a British industrial manufacturer formed after the Armistice of 11 November 1918, armistice of World War I by amalgamating five businesses which, during the war, had been making munitions, armaments and aeroplanes. It initially specialised in industrial electric motors and transformers, railway locomotives and traction equipment, diesel motors and steam turbines. Its activities were later expanded to include consumer electronics, nuclear reactors, guided missiles, military aircraft and mainframe computers. Two English Electric aircraft designs became landmarks in British aeronautical engineering; the Canberra and the Lightning. In 1960, English Electric Aircraft (40%) merged with Vickers (40%) and Bristol (20%) to form British Aircraft Corporation. In 1968 English Electric's operations were merged with GEC's, the combined business employing more than 250,000 people. Foundation Ai ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frank Aickin
Francis William (Frank) Aickin (7 July 1894 – 23 July 1982) was the General Manager of New Zealand Railways from 1948 to 1951. He was born in Onehunga in 1894, where his father Thomas Aickin was the stationmaster. He was in the NZEF in World War I, having joined the Army as a 14 year trumpeter. He served at Gallipoli and Samoa (Army Reg No 4-66). He joined the NZR in 1911. He studied part-time at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) for a law degree; and qualified as a lawyer. In World War II he was a Colonel in the NZEF 16th Railway Operating Company in the Middle East; later promoted to Major. As General Manager he advocated electrification, see Railway electrification in New Zealand, though some of his engineering staff disagreed with this emphasis. He was a qualified lawyer and had previously been Staff Superintendent and Chief Legal Advisor to the Department. His successor Horace Lusty favoured dieselification, except for the Wellington suburban network. Bre ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Development Of New Zealand Railways (10469150234)
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with nouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of the archaic p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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North–South Junction
The North–South Junction is a section of single-track rail line about 7 km long, north of Wellington, New Zealand between the closed (2011) Muri railway station (north of Pukerua Bay railway station) and the (lower) Paekakariki railway station to the north. It is part of the Kapiti Line section of the North Island Main Trunk line between Wellington and Auckland, and part of the Wellington–Manawatu Line, built by the Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company (WMR). Because of the commuter traffic from Wellington to Waikanae plus freight traffic, the line north is double tracked to just before the bridge over SH59, before the Waikanae River bridge south of Waikanae railway station, and the line south from Pukerua Bay is double tracked to the terminus at Wellington railway station. The line is on an unstable hillside, the Paekakariki Escarpment, and with a two-lane section of State Highway 59 (formerly State Highway 1; to 7 December 2021) below, which runs along the edge ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand EW Class Locomotive
The New Zealand EW class locomotive was a type of electric locomotive used in Wellington, New Zealand. The classification "EW" was due to their being electric locomotives allocated to Wellington. For two decades until the advent of the DX class they were the most powerful locomotives in New Zealand. Introduction The EW class were ordered by New Zealand Railways from English Electric through their New Zealand agents Cory-Wright & Salmon in 1951 as a replacement for the earlier ED class electric locomotives on passenger duties. It was felt that the ED class was not suitable for this, and so English Electric was commissioned to build a twin-section articulated electric locomotive for use on the Wellington 1.5 kV DC electrified system. The new EW class was the first locomotive class in New Zealand to utilise the Bo-Bo-Bo wheel arrangement, which would subsequently be used on the Mitsubishi DJ class and Brush EF class locomotives. However, the EW class was different in that t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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New Zealand DA Class Locomotive
The New Zealand DA class locomotive were a class of diesel-electric mainline locomotives operated on the New Zealand railway system between 1955 and 1989. Consisting of 146 locomotives, it was the most numerous class to ever operate in New Zealand, with five more than the AB class steam locomotive. The class were A1A-A1A versions of the Electro-Motive Diesel G12 model, with the design altered slightly to run on New Zealand's rail system, and fit the small loading gauge. They were introduced between 1955 and 1967 in three phases and were the first class of diesel locomotives to seriously displace steam traction. Between 1978 and 1983, 85 locomotives were rebuilt as the DC class, of which some are still in use. All but one of the remainder were withdrawn by 1989, with six preserved. The last locomotive was refitted for shunting duties and was rebuilt as DAR 517. Introduction The DA class have their origins in the post World War II period. Like most nations New Zealand's domi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |