Rolling Stock of Wellington: The DM/D Class EMU

Рет қаралды 3,323

Жыл бұрын

This is the first full video I've made with this style, so I'd love to hear your opinions/criticisms! Otherwise, I hope you enjoy learning about these weird little trains.
Sources:
docs.google.com/document/d/14...
Door thing:
So the claim on wikipedia is that ‘The 36/42 stock had ventilation louvres in the doors; 46 stock had taller windows’ and the source is a book by Geofrey Churchman called ‘The Story of the Wellington to Johnsonville Railway’ which I was unable to get a copy of to verify. To the best of my knowledge, this just isn’t true. Here’s some photos of 36 stock in July 1938 (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...) as you can clearly see, they don’t have the Louvres on the doors, and they have to be 36 stock since that was in 1938. But, this photo of a 36 stock car in 1985 shows it with louvres on the doors (www.flickr.com/photos/dx5517/..., but this photo of a 46 stock shows them without louvres (www.flickr.com/photos/dx5517/..., but this 46 stock in the same year has them (www.flickr.com/photos/dx5517/.... What’s even more confusing is that the refurbished units in later years lost them (www.flickr.com/photos/dx5517/...) while the unrefurbished units that were returned to service had them (commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi.... To the best of my knowledge, it appears that the 36, 42 and potentially some 46 stock were delivered without louvres, but later stock was built with them, and some older stock were retrofitted with them in the 50s or 60s, and then when the 46 stock was refurbished in the 80s the extended life sets had them removed, but the preserved and stored sets didn’t. My assumption is that it may have been true when Churchman wrote his published book in 1988, but just isn’t now, or a wikipedia editor misrepresented what he said. I did cross reference this with NZ rolling stock lists to verify what kind of stock each train was, unfortunately it’s only accessible via the wayback machine now (web.archive.org/web/202002262... web.archive.org/web/202002262...)

Пікірлер: 34

@jodij2366 Жыл бұрын

Part of what kept the English Electric units going is the Ganz Mavag units were too big for the Johnsonville Line tunnels.

@danieleyre8913 10 ай бұрын

The main reason why the Johnsonville line remained after the Tawa flat deviation opened was because of the former massive Gear meatworks in the Ngauranga gorge. The livestock had to be transported by train up to a point along the line and then led downhill along a track. The meatworks was a massive employer until the early 1980s. But of course; the 1930s during the depression was not a time when very many people owned their own automobile. So there would continue to be suburban trains along the line. And of course converting to EMU operation was the logical progression. The DM/D were class. Roomy and solid and long-wearing. Yes they were getting long in the tooth by the 1980s but they had a character and charm about them that the next EM/ET class from the early 80s failed to continue.

@enzojugs99 Жыл бұрын

Great summary of DM class history. I have a lot of affection for these trains having spent my childhood through university years riding them between Paraparaumu and Wellington. In 1983 I used to catch the first train out of Paraparaumu in the morning (probably around 6am). I still have a distinct memory of walking to the station on a cold, dark, rainy mid-winter's morning and boarding the train, dimly lit with a warm orange glow from its incandescent lamps. The air was warm and humid from the cranking heaters and the water evaporating from the wet passengers, which condensed and ran in streams down the inside of the cold window glass. This would have been just after the electrification was extended to Paraparaumu. Boy those heaters, they got hot. If you rested your foot on them you could actually melt the soles of your shoes!

@CityConnectionsMedia Жыл бұрын

That's great to hear! I love hearing the personal stories of people who rode the trains I talk about!

@ianfox6106 Жыл бұрын

Thanks, that was a great summary of commuter train rolling stock in my old home town.

@xaviersnztrainspotting5199 11 ай бұрын

DM556 is still in preservation at the Rimutaka Incline Railway. Although the motor and one trailer car are not in use and are sitting outside, one of the trailers are restored and run short shuttles to the end of the Maymorn yard and back, with the assistance of a Tr class shunter.

@CityConnectionsMedia 11 ай бұрын

Glad to hear. That would also explain why on google maps there's only 2 cars outside.

@jamesbarr2619 8 ай бұрын

@@CityConnectionsMediaas far as I know the ganz mavag unit is still in Woburn

@crypticallly 7 ай бұрын

@@jamesbarr26191 tranz rail blue set in Wellington yards (in a shed) and a metlink one is somewhere idk of the top of my head

@keacoq 5 ай бұрын

Excellent video. A lot of research behind it. During my 50s-60s childhood my father was an engineer in NZR working on electric traction. Mostly Wellington, but also Christchurch-Lyttelton and Otira I remember him talking of interesting fault-finding challenges. We lived in central Wellington so I did not actually ride in the trains very much. You video fills in many gaps in my knowledge, and did not conflict with anything I had already heard. Fun fact: Wellington kept a ticketing system designed before computers until very recently and perhaps still. Pre-printed cardboard tickets to be clipped by a conductor.

@peterlewis1443 3 ай бұрын

Paper ticketing has been superseded quite recently and replaced by 'Snapper' cards. I think explorer tickets may still be available and limited on-board cash sales, so no more ticket sales from any stations. 'tag-on, tag-off' machines on all platforms now, including a small 'forest' of them at Wellington Station.

@pmprojects6197 7 күн бұрын

After a rugby match in Wellington in the late 90's we were heading home on the Johnsonville line when the carriage filled with smoke just south of Crofton Downs station. The train manager wasn't keen to let us off without clearance from train control, but the mass of fairly rowdy rugby supporters persuaded her that we would all manage to exit via the 'dogbox' as the main doors wouldn't open due to not being lined up with the platform. Regardless of the occasional issue, I miss these old units. The Matangi units just don't have the same character.

@jezza3450 10 ай бұрын

Good stuff! Cyclops is still at Maymorn however the group itself is in limbo, hopefully I'll be able to go back there one day.

@AAHKLEE 2 ай бұрын

Where is Maymorn? As a Kiwi living overseas, I would love to see Cyclops on my next visit home.

@LewisHoldenNZ Жыл бұрын

Re the door ventilators, looks like this was a mistake by an editor of Wikipedia - the reference is to a caption in Geoffrey Churchman's book, which simply states "The later stock had shorter windows and ventiliation louvres in the doors."

@CityConnectionsMedia Жыл бұрын

That's marvellous to hear since that was one of my assumptions!

@albert3801 Жыл бұрын

Great video mate! That turned out really well! I certainly learned a lot about railways in Wellington of which I knew nothing!

@zman1508 Жыл бұрын

Woo more videos!

@blairhinton7535 6 ай бұрын

Yes, 1500vdc was used

@metricstormtrooper Жыл бұрын

Excellent video, I found this really interesting as although I'm Tasmania I love Wellington

@brickviking667 12 күн бұрын

As a previous resident of Porirua, 7:38 shows an incorrect spelling. However, I remember these units well, as we call them. I've seen most of the original liveries of the units still in operation during the eighties, but hadn't seen the classy blue with silver of the '36 stock.

@blairhinton7535 6 ай бұрын

A full set is in preservation at Ferrymead Heritage Park in Christchurch. It is in running order and is used frequently, under the ownership of the Diesel Traction Group. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/geCJpJeQutnIdXk.html kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q5qUo7SbzrrYoIE.html

@CityConnectionsMedia 6 ай бұрын

Yeah! Next time I'm in Christcurch I'm gonna try and go.

@netking66 3 ай бұрын

Before the new trains entered service, there was such pressure on the existing trains that the Ferrymead units were temporarily sent back to Wellington.

@nathan85343 10 ай бұрын

One unit is up here in Paraparaumu look up the blue train and have a look

@CityConnectionsMedia 10 ай бұрын

I saw that while researching! whenever I'm in NZ next I wanna check it out.

@vsetfan2024 Жыл бұрын

G'day! I just have one thing to question again, if you're changing the PFP, then what would the PFP look like? A few train lines connecting from Sydney, to Brisbane, or to Melbourne?

@CityConnectionsMedia Жыл бұрын

I'm still unsure, but I've got a few WIP designs that I'm gonna choose between.