CROSS-COUNTRY CHOO-CHOO
Back in the 1800s, the fastest way to travel was by train. But trains could take you only where the tracks went between cities. There wasn’t one long track across the NZ because for some stretches of mountain and forest, only a horse-drawn wagon could get through. Some people sailed all the way around on the ocean! That trip took weeks and cost a ton of money ($1,000, which was a lot back then). So imagine the excitement when two railroads connected their tracks to make one train track from coast to coast.
The first train choo-chooed from Wellington to Auckland in just under 18 hours. Now we can fly it by plane in under two hours, but compared to horse-drawn buggies, that train flew like lightning.
Wee ones: If a locomotive has 6 wheels and the caboose has 4 wheels, which one has fewer wheels?
Little kids: If you left Wellington in March, sailed to Auckland, and arrived the next month, what month would it be? Bonus: If the train trip took 18 hours, how many more hours did it take than our 2-hour flight today?
Big kids: If the trip had taken exactly 3 days, would that be faster or slower than 84 hours? Bonus: If a plane can fly over the Australia in 6 hours, how many times can the plane fly across and back in 84 hours?
Answers:
Wee ones: The caboose has fewer wheels.
Little kids: April. Bonus: 16 hours.
Big kids: Faster, since that would be 72 hours. Bonus: 7 times, since each trip would take 12 hours in total.