You are probably familiar with the 1957 Peter Cape song, 'Taumarunui on the Main Train Line'. Overnight services between Auckland and Wellington began when the main trunk line opened in 1908. Its inaugural trip took Members of Parliament, led by Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward, to Auckland for a visit of the American Pacific Fleet. In its heyday, the overnight train provided around 300 passengers a night with uncomfortable but low-cost travel. More recently, it was a luxury service with soft reclining seats and a buffet car. But heavy competition from long distance buses and price cutting by the airlines made it uneconomic: in its final months it carried only about 50 passengers a trip. Its last trip was overnight Friday 12-Saturday 13 November 2004. In 1995 the service was sold by the goverment for a discount price to private owners. In 2006, Toll closed the daytime service. To express their disappointment a group of Taumarunui women wrote:
We've heard the Overlander's bein' taken off the track
It's leavin' Taumarunui and it wont be comin' back
to Taumarunui, Taumarunui, Taumarunui on the main trunk line
Toll Holdings owns our railway and they plan to pull the pin
They've joined the rails together, we think that it's a sin
Sue Foley is their spokesman and now she's gone and said
They want to close the service down and kill the thing stone dead
in Taumarunui, Taumarunui, Taumarunui on the main trunk line
The value of the service is too good to be shut down
What is going to happen to our little rural towns?
National Park is quite aghast, it really is a blow
The tourists love to stop and snack and look at all the snow
round Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line
Our Mayor is Sue, she's on the ball, she's been on tele too
To ask for help from Government to stop Toll going through
With their plans to stop the service of the Overlander
From North to South, the scenery's great, really nothing grander
round Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line
We think Toll Holdings are quite slack, really way offline
Us sheilas want the train to stay, so bring her back online
to Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line.
In 2006, Toll Holdings cancelleded the daytime service, which was only resumed when the Government bought back the railway as Kiwirail came into being. Now, the daytime service continues, and passengers can still stop at Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line!
The published co-ordinates will take you to the Taumarunui Railway Station the i-Site Information Centre. Outside the I-site is a board showing various distances to various locations around New Zealand. Use this to solve the multicache. The cache can be found at: S38 5A.BCD and E175 1E.FGH
A=3rd digit of the distance to Dunedin
B=3rd digit of the distance to Tauranga
C=3rd digit of the distance to Whangarei
D=2nd digit of the distance to New Plymouth
E=3rd digit of the distance to Christchurch
F=3rd digit of the distance to Palmerston North
G=2nd digit of distance to Greymouth minus 3rd digit to Whangarei
H=2nd digiti of distance to Timaru
CHECKSUM=31