My mistake on Twain's train ride. Chapter 35 opens with his description of the ride from Palmerston North to Whanganui (Wauganui), not the journey to Wellington. Nevertheless, there seems to be no record of a train referred to as the Ballarat Fly. The train he took is known as the Napier Express. It began as a line between Napier and Hastings, the Palmerston North-Gisborne Line. This eventually joined with a line originating in Wellington, the Wairarapa Line. They joined at Woodville, on the eastern side of Manawatu Gorge. I'd been away from this particular project for too long. I had forgotten what happened in Chapter 34. On Mon, 2018-03-12 at 12:06 -0700, Scott Holmes wrote: > Chapter 35 of "Following the Equator"; our hero is in New Zealand and > takes the train from Wauganui (now called Whanganui) to Wellington. > He > names this train the "Ballarat Fly". As far as I've been able to > determine, there was no "Ballarat Fly" in New Zealand, regardless of > how comfortable the ride was. He did visit Ballarat, Australia in > October of 1895 but did not mention a "Ballarat Fly" railway. -- There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. http://bscottholmes.com