Ormondville Rail Preservation Group Inc.

The Bay Express's 2nd-to-last trip (near PN)

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The southbound Bay Express is shown here (above) leaving the Hawkes Bay section of line for the second to last time, as it approaches Palmerston North station, at about 5:15 pm on Saturday, 6 October 2001. The lower photo was taken moments later as it headed onto the section of track that is parallel to the Main Trunk line.

As a result of the pending closure on the service on 7 October, combined with the school holidays, a great many people took the opportunity to travel on the train - some for the first time. It obviously was a great shame that it took the pending closure to attract people aboard - especially in the light of many positive comments made by many passengers, who had been unaware of the various virtues of this train service. These included the freedom to walk about during travel (especially when children were involved), the servery and the back window.