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HISTORY The name "Kingston Flyer" was originally applied to the express passenger trains that ran between Kingston and Gore , the latter town providing connections via the Main South Line to Dunedin and Invercargill (passenger services also ran directly to Invercargill down the full length of the Kingston Branch). The services commenced not long after the government acquired the Waimea Plains Railway and incorporated it into the National Network . The name was also applied to the frequent passenger excursions that ran across the Waimea Plains to Kingston, and after regular passenger services ceased on the Kingston Branch in 1937 and Waimea Plains Railway in 1945 , these excursions continued to operate as required (typically during holiday periods) until Easter 1957 . It was not unusual for these trains to commence in Dunedin. For many years, these expresses and excursions, in conjunction with Steamers on Lake Wakatipu, provided the primary access to Queenstown . In 1971 , New Zealand Railways announced that they were going to recommence operating a service named the Kingston Flyer as a heritage service. The last use of steam on a regularly scheduled train in New Zealand was on 26 October 1971, and the new Kingston Flyer began operating two months later on 21 December . It utilised the whole length of the Kingston Branch between Invercargill and Kingston and proved wildly popular. From 1971 until 1979 it operated every summer through to the Easter holiday period, and carried over 30,000 people annually. However, flooding damage to the line between Lumsden and Garston meant that the last Invercargill to Kingston flyer ran on 17 April 1979 and the section of track in question was formally closed in November of that year. For the next three years, the Kingston Flyer operated to other destinations, albeit less successfully. THE MODERN FLYER In 1982 , the Kingston Flyer returned to Kingston. The initial intention was to utilise the remaining 20 kilometres of track between Garston and Kingston, but the decision was made to end the line in Fairlight and the additional six kilometres to Garston were closed. Although the original Flyers had typically been operated by locomotives of the Rogers K and V classes, two AB Class locomotives were used for the restored service that commenced in 1971, and they were both transferred to Kingston in 1982. They are 4-6-2 "Pacifics" built in New Zealand:
From 2000 until 2003 , K 92, a preserved member of the Rogers K class that headed the original Flyers, was based in Kingston and operated services both by itself and together with the AB engines. The rolling stock used on the line consists of seven wooden passenger carriages that date as far back as 1898 . The Kingston Flyer operates seven months of the year, from 1 October to 30 April. Two trains run daily, excluding Christmas Day . It is arguably New Zealand's most famous preserved train. EXTERNAL LINKS REFERENCES
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