after a few kilometres of formation was made, work came to a halt. The coastal route was then chosen and work had only just restarted when the Great Depression began and brought about more severe delays. Fortunes improved in 1936 sufficiently to allow a resumption of progress, and a more coastal route out of Parnassus than the Leader Valley route was chosen. World War II brought even more delays, but this time, construction progressed through wartime and the Main North Line was finally completed when the northern and southern ends met at Kaikoura on 15 December 1945. Operation The South Island Main Trunk has been famous for its passenger services. In the days of steam locomotives, the South Island Limited expresses were particularly famous; drivers of J and JA class locomotives claimed to have broken the official New Zealand railway speed record on a section of track near Rakaia called the "racetrack". The Main South Line saw the last regularly steam-hauled expresses in New Zealand, with JA locomotives hauling the Friday and Sunday night expresses until 26 October 1971. All other steam-hauled expresses were replaced on 1 December 1970 by the Southerner, which was hauled by DJ class diesel-electric locomotives. This service was one of the most famous in New Zealand, but it ceased on 10 February 2002. For many years, Fiat or 88-seater railcars ran services on the Main North Line, but they were withdrawn during the 1970s. On 25 September 1988 the tourist-focused Coastal Pacific express began operating along the scenic route between Christchurch and Picton; it continues to operate to this day. In the summer of 1994–95, this service was augmented by the Lynx Express, which was unsuccessful and not repeated in later years. Commuter services used to operate around major centres along the South Island Main Trunk, and many rural services also operated when country branch lines were operational, but the branch lines progressively closed during the 20th century and commuter services in the South Island ceased in the 1980s. Nowadays, the only long-distance passenger services on the South Island Main Trunk are the Coastal Pacific and the TranzAlpine, which uses the short portion of the Main South Line between Christchurch and Rolleston before running along the Midland Line to Greymouth. Freight services on both lines operated for many years as feeder services from rural districts to nearby major centres and harbours, rather than utilising long-distance