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Stanleyville Mainline Coach

*The following story is a continuation of what's seen on the Stanleyville Layout and Pier Coach pages.*

With the addition of three DX's, the Stanleyville Railway was able to reshuffle the schedule again. The F7A and FP7 were now confined to the Pier Railway, while the DX's handled the Pendletown services. The new schedule was launched in August 2016.

Unfortunately a problem soon arose. The drivers on the two Canadian engines had poor visibility when they were travelling backwards. This soon gave the SR the idea to try running a push-pull service. Sadly they were not able to acquire any of the ex-Auckland SD cab-cars (which are now stored at Taumarunui) and needed to look elsewhere. Surprisingly they found their cab cars in a diesel multiple unit all the way over in England.

A Class 150/2 Sprinter - specifically unit 150225 - had been retired from Northern Rail in late 2016, after being deemed surplus to requirements. After a visit to see the unit in Liverpool, Gary Porcelain (The SR's manager) decided to buy the unit and bring it to New Zealand. The two coaches arrived at the Port of Tauranga on the 19th of February 2017.

After arriving at Stanleyville Forest, work began on converting the former Class 150 coaches into cab-cars. This involved fitting the F7A and FP7 with remote control equipment, removing the 150's engines and repainting the Sprinter coaches into SR Purple. The converted cab-cars (now numbered as 57225 and 52225 respectively) started running on the Pier services in November 2017. The trains are now arranged with the locomotives on the pier end, and the cab-cars at the Stanleyville Forest end.

Another unusual development for the railway came in early 2019. It was decided to redevelop the remains of the Pendletown Forest into a small residential area - called Pendletown Heights. This project was launched on the 14th of January, and was not even half-way done before Mr. Porcelain announced he would convert the Pendletown cycle track into a railway once again. This announcement was well-received by the people of Pendletown, and construction began in March. Almost immediately afterwards, Mr. Porcelain went back to England to find a train to run the Pendletown Heights shuttle. Luck was on his side again, as he was able to acquire another ex-Northern Class 150. This time it was 150275, a unit that was made redundant by the new Class 195 and 331 units.

Class 150 No. 150275 arrived on the railway on the 7th of August 2019. Unlike the previous 150 unit, 275 was not converted into a pair of cab-cars. Instead it was converted to 3ft 6inch gauge and sent to Pendletown. Once there the unit was shunted onto the Pendletown Heights line by means of a temporary length of track. Once the unit was on the line the connection was permanently severed, and the Pendletown station was re-named to Pendletown Junction.

The new shuttle service started running on the 1st of September, 2019. Today the Stanleyville Railway is one again a hive of activity, not having been in this situation since the 1940s. A pair of ex-Pacific National NR class locomotives have since arrived on the railway, and they are used to help the DX's on the Stanleyville Forest to Pendletown Junction trains. Passenger coming from The Heights can change to the mainline trains at the junction. With the job of serving two towns and a rugby club, the Stanleyville Railway looks set to remain in operation for many years to come.