Realising this increased public attention, and with the success of air-conditioned panorama carriage trains on the North Island Main Trunk, between August 1994 and April 1995, eight carriages (one a former Southerner then InterCity spare buffet car, one a former "Endeavour" later "Southerner" servery car, two from the "Northerner", two from the "Southerner" and two from Auckland suburban services) were extensively overhauled and refitted with panorama windows like the earlier "TranzAlpine", "TranzCoastal" (later Coastal Pacific), pressure-ventilated "Bay" Express and air-conditioned "Northerner"/"Overlander" Express trains and seating 50 (day carriages) and 26 (servery carriages), alcove-style, in new seats like those installed in refitted "Wairarapa Connection" and North Island Main Trunk carriages. An FM class modular van was refitted with a 90kW generator in the central module as opposed to the handbrake end modules on NIMT vans, to facilitate converting one end module into a public open viewing area.