Dining Cars On Trains: Re-Trial After 30 Years

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 47, 28 January 1949, Page 5

Dining Cars On Trains: Re-Trial After 30 Years

Train travellers who struggle at refreshment rooms in the brief time available for railway tea and sandwiches will welcome the news that the Railways Department contemplates introducing buffet cars on some expresses. Experimental cars may be put on some lines and if they are successful more will be built. It is 60 years since the first dining car in New Zealand was placed in service, and 30 years since the use of refreshment coaches was discontinued. A 20ft dining car was first used on the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company’s line between Wellington and Longburn in 1888, followed later by larger cars, and then by dining cars on expresses between Dunedin and Christchurch in 1900. Cars were placed on other lines later. / The largest dining car to be operated in New Zealand was obtain.ed from the United States by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway in 1904. It was a 52ft coach with a dining saloon 26ft long and a roomy kitchen. Dining cars were built in succeeding years, and by 1909-20 were in use, including three taken over from the Wellington and Manawatu Railway the previous year. 1 In 1918, however, the running of dining cars was discontinued and refreshment rooms were taken over by the Department. The annual report of the then general manager, Mr E. H. Hiley, said the alteration had increased the capacity of each train on which dining cars were previously run by one passenger car.