Waitara Branch

Waitara Branch route map
 Waitara Port sidings
Borthwicks freezing works
Whitaker Street
7.2 km
 Waitara Station
 Grey Street
 Browne Street
 Cracoft Street
 State Highway 3 (Big Jims Overpass)
 Waitara Road
 Waitara Road (now Brixton) Station
Waitara Co-operative Dairy Company
Richmond Road
 Kairau Road East
 Waiongana River
 Sentry Hill Station
 former route to New Plymouth
 Te Arei Road West
 Marton–New Plymouth Line
Lepperton Station
 Marton–New Plymouth Line

The Waitara Branch is a branch line railway 7.245 km long in the Taranaki region of New Zealand's North Island. It was built as part of the region's first railway, linking New Plymouth with the closest suitable port, then the river port of Waitara. In 1884 the Breakwater port was opened in New Plymouth, but the line was saved when a (meat) freezing works was opened at Waitara in 1885.

For many years the line served the Borthwicks freezing works in town, until it closed in 1995. The branch was closed on 2 February 1999.[1] The line has since been purchased by the Waitara Railway Preservation Society, who now operate tourist trains on the line.

Construction

In 1872 surveys began for the best route and two were considered: a coastal route which was more direct, and an inland route which was longer, but more convenient for future extensions to the south. The inland route was chosen. The contract to build the railway was let in 1873 and the line was completed and opened in October 1875.

In 1874, while the land was being cleared at Sentry Hill for the new railway, the daughter of William Perrett (a labourer working on the line) was abducted after he had ignored requests not to dig through a Māori burial ground from the New Zealand Wars a decade earlier. Caroline Perrett (known to all as "Queenie") was not seen by her parents again and not rediscovered by her original family until 1926, 52 years after the incident occurred.[2][3] The line of railway where this occurred was closed in 1908 during alterations at Sentry Hill.

Operation

The line was officially opened on 14 October 1875, with the first train departing New Plymouth with around 100 passengers.[4] Trains were operated initially by two A class locomotives named "Fox" and "Ferret" which ran mixed trains services over the line.[5] The first trip over the line took just 46 minutes to complete.[6] Shortly after the railway was complete, extensions began due south from Sentry Hill alongside Mountain Road towards Inglewood, which was opened in 1877.

When first constructed, the junction at Sentry Hill was built facing Waitara. This meant that trains heading from Inglewood and points further south would have to stop at Sentry Hill and the locomotive would have to change ends of the train before it could continue on to New Plymouth. This was not rectified until 1908 when a diversion was constructed, allowing trains to operate from the south directly towards New Plymouth. At the same time, the Waitara Line was extended to Lepperton Station where a new junction was built, and the direct link between Waitara and New Plymouth was removed.

Passenger services were usually run as mixed services, and a service was run early in the morning to take children to high school in New Plymouth, returning in the late afternoon. In 1877 there were two return services, operated from New Plymouth,[7] with a third service added three times a week by 1883.[8] Passenger accommodation was removed after World War Two, to be replaced with Railways Road Service buses. These continued operating until 1991 when private enterprise took over the services.

Waitara's role as the main port for New Plymouth did not last long. Shortly after the line was completed a breakwater was built at what is now Port Taranaki and Waitara became a local port only. The establishment of a freezing works in 1887, however, provided steady traffic over the line, and prevented the line from closure. Other notable traffic included plants from the Duncan & Davies nurseries and produce from the Waitara Co-operative (later Moa-Nui) Dairy Factory sidings, both at Waitara Road station.

By the 1950s the line was operated by AB Class locomotives, the last of which (AB 708) departed Waitara Station on 8 November 1966.[9] These were replaced with the DB class in the 1970s and DC and DSC class in the 1980s and 90s. In the final years it was not uncommon for trains to be replaced with trucks as tonnages declined.

Proposed extensions

Routes North

During the 1880s the final route for what would become the North Island Main Trunk railway between Auckland and Wellington was still being considered. The current route was decided in 1884, but, when it was realised just how difficult that route was, further surveys considered two other options in 1888. One of these was via Taumarunui to Waitara.

A practical route for the line was found by heading north from Waitara along the coast until reaching the Mimi River valley, before heading inland along the river valley. From the top of the valley, a tunnel to Tangarakau was needed, before following the Ohura River Valley. "The total distance is 40. miles, and the steepest gradient one in 50, and only two small tunnels will be required. The country is somewhat broken."[10]

This proposal was still under consideration in 1893 (along with an alternative route linking just south of Stratford, which would eventually become the Stratford – Okahukara Line).[11] Alternative survey considered taking the link up the Urenui River.[12] A report in 1899 ended any chance of the route being built through Waitara, citing that the land for most of the route is not well suited for development and, as the route would not be able able to compete with sea travel, the aim of the route should be to connect as much back country as possible with the local port instead.[13]

Extension to Urenui

In 1911 the Clifton Country Council passed a resolution calling for the railway to be extended to the township of Urenui,[14],a distance of approximately 9 miles (14 km). It was stated that "That the ordinary traffic on the main road between Urenui and Waitara has increased to such proportions as to make a railway a matter of necessity," as well as citing the difficulty to sourcing suitable roading metal and the undue burden of the cost of maintaining the road. In 1912 North Taranaki Dairy Company lent their support to the idea, suggesting the extension run further to Mimi Junction.[15]

Such an extension would have required a substantial bridge over the Waitara river, with an opening span to allow for steamer traffic to pass through.[16]

Light railway to Te Kuiti

In 1920 another extension proposal was put forward by the Clifton County Council, this time for a light railway between Waitara and Te Kuiti via Mokau and its coal mines.[17] Concern was raised by some councils that this might hamper the push for the completion of the Main North Road and the Mokau River bridge. Nothing came of this proposal.

Notable events
Waitara Railway Station in 1904.

At 2:00am on the morning of 15 June 1893, the station building at Waitara was burned to the ground by a fire originating in the lamp room of the building. It was reported that "all the records were burnt, but the safe with cash is intact."[18] Consideration was given in the following months to relocating the Ngaire station building to Waitara as a replacement.[19]

At the other end of the line, the island railway station at Lepperton Junction was replaced in 1965[20] with a smaller station adjacent to Mountain Road (State Highway 3A), that survived onsite until 1994 when the building was sold for removal.[21]

Closure and preservation

In 1999, Tranz Rail announced that the Waitara Branch, along with the Hautapu-Cambridge section of the Cambridge Branch railway, were to close. After the AFFCO freezing works had closed, there was little prospect of much new freight traffic being on offer. On 25 May 1999 the Waitara Railway Preservation Society was formed with the aim to save the line. This goal was finally achieved in 2001[22] when the line was purchased with the help of grants from the Taranaki Electricity Trust and the TSB Community Trust.

Since that time passenger services have resumed and work is being done to rehabilitate the line. The former Tahora railway station[23] has been relocated to the site of the former Waitara Road station and work is underway to restore the FA class locomotive 250 back into operation.

Other railway buildings

Aside from the railway proper, other railway buildings still exist in the vicinity. The former Sentry Hill goods shed is still extant a short distance from where it originally stood. It is visible behind the Lepperton Tennis Club courts on Manutahi Road, which has been there since the 1950s.[24] In Waitara, two-thirds of the former Midhurst railway station sits on Memorial Place next to the War Memorial Hall. By the river mouth, the former north signal box from Stratford was relocated to Waitara in 1960 as a clubhouse for the Waitara Boating Club.[25]

Official name

When first opened the railway line was generally referred to using variations of "New Plymouth Waitara Railway." From 1877 when the line to Inglewood opened, it became the "Waitara Branch Railway" and this name was reconfirmed on 5 May 1977 in The New Zealand Gazette.[26] On 13 August 1996 the line was officially renamed as the "Waitara Industrial Line",[27] the legal name it carries to this day.

References
  1. Hermann, Bruce J (2007). North Island Branch Lines. Wellington: New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society. pp. 45, 46. ISBN 978-0-908573-83-7.
  2. Carolyn Johnson. "The Story of Queenie". Tall Trees Family History.
  3. "STRANGE STORY". Nelson Evening Mail (Volume LXIII). Past Papers – New Zealand National Library. 3 July 1929. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  4. "NEW PLYMOUTH". Wanganui Chronicle (Issue 2878). Past Papers – the National Library of New Zealand. 15 October 1875. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  5. "Construction of the Waitara – New Plymouth Railway 1873–75". Personal View of the Waitara Railway Preservation Society Inc.
  6. Hoskin, Sorrel (18 February 2005). "Transport – Rail relief – New Plymouth's first railway". Puke Akiri. Archived from the original on 8 April 2009.
  7. Taranaki Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 2594, 15 August 1877, Page 3. "New Zealand Railways". Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 4265, 13 February 1883, Page 4. "Railway Time Tables". Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Letting off some steam". The Daily News. 19 January 2013. p. 16.
  10. "THE TRUNK RAILWAY". The Auckland Star (ISSUE 105). Past Papers – the National Library of New Zealand. 4 May 1888. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  11. "Stratford News". Taranaki Herald (VOLUME XL, ISSUE 9271). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 22 December 1891. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  12. "North Island Trunk Railway". Auckland Star (Volume XXV, Issue 199). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 21 August 1894. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  13. "Taranaki – Auckland Railway Construction". Hawera & Normanby Star (Volume XXXVII, Issue 5029). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 16 September 1899. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  14. Taranaki Herald (3 June 1911). "Waitara-Urenui Railway". Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand (Issue 143516). Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  15. "RAILWAY EXTENSION". Evening Post (Volume LXXXIV, Issue 90). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 12 October 1912. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  16. "Waitara to Urenui". Taranaki Daily News (Volume LIII, Issue 315). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 31 May 1911. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
  17. "BACK COUNTRY DEVELOPMENT". Taranaki Herald (Volume LXVIII, Issue 16637). Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand. 10 January 1920. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  18. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XX, Issue 2454, 15 June 1893, Page 2. "Waitara Railway Station Destroyed by Fire". Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  19. Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 2495, 3 August 1893, Page 2. "Waitara Station". Past Papers – National Library of New Zealand.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  20. New Zealand Historic Places Trust. "Inglewood Railway Station and Yard". Historical Narrative.
  21. North Taranaki Midweek. 6 July 1994. p. 3. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  22. Hoskin, Sorrel (18 February 2005). "Transport – Rail relief – New Plymouth's first railway". Puke Akiri. Archived from the original on 9 April 2009.
  23. "Brixton Station". Waitara Railway Preservation Society Inc.
  24. "Refining history at Lepperton". The Daily News. 28 July 2012. p. 2.
  25. Waitara Public Relations. "Waitara Heritage Trail". waitara.co.nz website.
  26. "Railway Line Names". Land Information New Zealand. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
  27. "Notice of Final Decision as to Assignment of Place Names". The New Zealand Gazette. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
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