New Year 2014

Old and new meet as 2014-erected overhead wires run alongside Mainline Steam's old tank wagons

5 January 2014

The grade of the line is apparent from this viewpoint

5 January 2014

Gantries run all the way down the hill to the bridges, viewed here from the top of the Parnell tunnel

5 January 2014

Closer to the bridges, we see a maze of wires around the corner

5 January 2014

From the Mainline Steam car park, the wires almost blend into the surrounding buildings

5 January 2014

Wires and gantries up between the various Parnell bridges

5 January 2014

Wires run along the bridge next to the KiwiRail offices. One must wonder whether the gantry was placed on the other side of the bridge deliberately!

5 January 2014

Wires on the second of the three Parnell bridges

5 January 2014

Near the Strand, the gantries mostly return to visually tidier masts

5 January 2014

Workers tweak wiring through Quay Park

5 January 2014

Looking back towards Orarkei

5 January 2014

Overhead wiring around the tight curves through Quay Park. Electrification of the Newmarket Branch became a priority for KiwiRail as Transdev wanted to test the EMUs on these tight curves as soon as possible

5 January 2014

Wires entering the Britomart tunnel

5 January 2014

The wire-to-rail transition at the entrance to the Britomart tunnel

5 January 2014

On the Eastern Line, wires currently end just before the Point Resolution bridge at Judges Bay

5 January 2014

Looking over the NIMT from the Point Resolution bridge

5 January 2014

Looking down the NIMT towards Orakei, with masts in place

5 January 2014

Looking over Orakei Basin, with new masts running along the railway

5 January 2014

Masts and workmen at Orakei station

5 January 2014

Masts running along the railway to Meadowbank

5 January 2014

Once trains began running again, we were able to get a closer look at the overhead rails. Here, an SA set parks underneath the rather low rail

15 January 2014

The new overhead rails fit well into Britomart's design

15 January 2014

A dirty DC 4381 parks underneath Britomart's new fittings. In a little over three months, this will be a shiny new EMU

15 January 2014

A close-up of the overhead rails. The pantograph does not contact the rail, instead it acts as a holder for the conventional wires

15 January 2014