The big ship named Kaitaki in NZ service is seen on her maiden arrival in Wellington Harbour on 13 August 2005. These Tony Hurst photos were considered for, but not used in the comprehensive history Strait Crossing: the ferries of Cook Strait through time by Vic Young.
4 comments:
Kaitaki is a rail ferry only in the sense that it's owned by a railway: unlike the Aratere, Arahura and previous rail ferries it carries no railway rolling stock.
that's pretty much the case with 'Aratere' too, which only has space for 28 railway wagons, against 230 cars.
According to KiwiRail, Aratere can take 1,700 t of rail traffic, 800 t of trucks or 160 t of cars - but Kaitaki, being a standard car ferry, can't take any rail at all!
those tonnages for the 'Aratere' capacity seem about right, including the weight of the vehicles, if they were all fully laden.
ordering a ferry with no railway wagon capity was indeed crazy, but that was done during the Toll Australia era and they had little interest in the railway side of the business.
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