NZR RM class (Silver Fern)

A Silver Fern near Warrington in April 1989

Silver Fern RM30 under refurbishment at the Wellington Passenger Depot, April 2009

The railcars are most famous for their service on the eponymous North Island Main Trunk daylight passenger train between Auckland and Wellington between 14 December 1972 and 8 December 1991.[4][5][6] Intermediate stops were at Palmerston North, Marton, Taihape, Waiouru, Ohakune, National Park, Taumarunui, Te Kuiti, Hamilton and Papakura.[7]

Built by Kawasaki and Toshiba (trading as Nissho Iwai), the Silver Ferns were introduced in 1972 to encourage passengers back to rail transport due to competition from air and road transport. The class was named the Silver Ferns (a national symbol of New Zealand) because of their exterior was made of corrugated stainless steel, like the overnight Silver Star carriage train, and replaced the three 82-seater Blue Streak railcars.[8]

In December 1991 the Silver Fern was replaced by the locomotive hauled Overlander. The railcars were transferred to two newly introduced services: the Kaimai Express between Auckland and Tauranga and the Geyserland Express between Auckland and Rotorua. In 2000, a third service was added, the Waikato Connection between Auckland and Hamilton. All three services ceased on 7 October 2001.

From 2002 two of the class were employed on Auckland Regional Transport Authority (ARTA) commuter services between Auckland and Pukekohe.[9] The services were operated by Veolia Auckland as part of its contract with ARTA, with the units leased from Tranz Scenic, later KiwiRail.

This lease expired in 2009 and the units were replaced by additional carriage services. This freed the units for charter and other services, such as KiwiRail's "Explore by Rail" specials. In 2010 a major refurbishment of the units commenced in Wellington to extend services, with the programme completed by mid-2011. Proposals existed for the units to be employed on a revived Waikato Connection service, but this fell through late in 2011.[9]

The Silver Fern offered airline-style service on board. Drinks, snacks and the morning paper were supplied to passengers. From 1972 to 1988 there was a lunch stop at Taihape for services in both directions. That was replaced by airline-style meals heated on board, and Taihape railway station dining room was closed, the station later being demolished and replaced by a shelter.

During October 2008, RM30 was taken to the Wellington Passenger Depot for extensive refurbishment. This work included the stripping of the interior in the passenger saloons, allowing corrosion repairs to be carried out. New thermal, noise deadening insulation was added.

The interiors now have new carpet and refurbished seats. Each seat bay now also has a power socket for passenger use. Tables have been added with mahogany veneer, echoing the new timber-featured ceiling with ash and mahogany from sustainable forestry. Lighting was upgraded to modern energy-efficient standards, including individual reading lights in the new coat racks. Also fitted were large, triple glazed windows, to give a more panoramic view. No significant mechanical work is believed to have been undertaken. The two other railcars were refurbished in 2009.

In February 2015, RM30 was refurbished for a second time. New seats, a new engine and the power bogie from RM 18 were fitted.

In 2019 all three railcars were transferred to Dunedin for evaluation at the Hillside Workshops, although RM 24 may be transferred to the North Island. RM 30 has corrosion in the steel frames around window openings.[10]

The wrecked railcar after it was towed to Tangiwai from the wreck site.

On 18 August 1981, half of the first and second sets derailed and rolled north of Waiouru when the northbound service was descending curves. Passengers reported that the railcar had been travelling quickly over this section of the journey and the speed around curves just before the derailment had been concerning. The subsequent enquiry found that many of the speed restriction boards for the curves in the area were missing or misleading; a full audit of speed restrictions across the entire rail network was one of the enquiry outcomes. Four people were killed and another 16 injured.[11] The railcars were replaced by the "Blue Fern" on Wednesdays for three years until May 1984, to allow the two remaining railcar sets to be serviced while the damaged set was being repaired.

In 1989 and again in 1990 the Blue Fern train ran instead of railcars after Silver Fern railcar RM1 was involved in an accident.[12]

In 2019, the two remaining serviceable Silver Ferns were withdrawn from service. In September 2020, the Pahiatua Railcar Society purchased all three railcars for preservation from KiwiRail.[13]

• Locomotives of New Zealand

• New Zealand Railways Rolling Stock Lists - Silver Fern (1972)