Waitara Railway Preservation Society

The preserved line begins at the northern end of the Lepperton Railway Yards (just past the main line turnout) and continues parallel to the Marton - New Plymouth Railway for a few hundred meters before turning right towards the Waiongana Stream. After crossing the stream the line runs to the former Waitara Road station in Brixton. The line continues from here towards Waitara, passing underneath State Highway 3 at Big Jim's Overpass. Finally, the line drops into the Waitara Valley and into the township of Waitara, finishing just before the Waitara River.

In Waitara, most of the infrastructure is gone with only the main line and one loop remaining in the yard. The former Tahora station has been relocated to Waitara Road,[1] where the society's rolling stock is stored. The site of the Lepperton railway station & yard is still owned and operated by KiwiRail, where the station building was removed in 1994.[2]

The branch line has 8 level crossings along its length, all of which are protected by compulsory stop signs. Issues with these were raised in the community in 2004 as legally traffic has to stop even though trains seldom ran more than once a month.[3] The Land Transport Safety Authority (now NZTA) would not allow Give Way signs and reinstating bells and lights had been reported as costing over $250,000 per crossing (almost the purchase price of the entire line in 1999) making installation unlikely for foreseeable future. Rail operations have become more frequent since then but motorists failing to stop for the societies trains is still an issue.[4]

The Waitara Railway Preservation Society owns a number of diesel shunting locomotives, either operational or awaiting restoration. These include:[5]

• Drewry 0-4-0D Makers number 2507, diesel locomotive built in 1954 for Northland Fertiliser Co, Whangarei
• D^sa 240 0-6-0D diesel locomotive, built by Bagnall in 1956
• D^sc 453 Bo-Bo diesel locomotive, built by NZR Addington Workshops in 1966
• T^r 108 0-4-0D diesel locomotive, built by A & G Price Ltd in 1957
• Bagnall 0-6-0D Makers number 3144, diesel locomotive built in 1958 for Portland Cement (numbered PC11). Donated to the Taranaki Flyer Society Incorporated[6] in 2010 but returned in 2013[7] when that group folded.

Locomotives formerly leased or owned by the society include:

• F^A 250 0-6-2T steam locomotive, built 1892,[8] leased from the Waikato branch of the NZR&LS[9]

The WRPS's collection of rolling stock consists of both passenger carriages and freight wagons, and is either owned outright by the society or is leased from the New Zealand Rail Heritage Trust.

Trains are run twice daily on the first and third Sundays of the month, departing from Waitara. The trip takes 45 minutes return, including a stop at The Former Tahora Station on the return journey for refreshments. The railway also offers charter services by arrangement.[10]

Since around 2007, trains had only journeyed as far as the Waiongana River bridge due to the deterioration of the sleepers on the structure. In April 2014 the bridge was re-sleepered and maintenance completed on the main bridge structure (including removing the former Waitara town water pipes from the side).[11] This has allowed trains to return to the entire branch line (and a proposed loop at the former Sentry Hill station site).

In 2019 the society entered into a lease to the Lepperton railway sidings (but not the main line and loop) which will allow locomotives to switch ends of the train. As part of this agreement, the society is building a new linking track to bypass the Kiwirails network which is under Centralised Traffic Control.[12]

• Official website of the Waitara Railway Preservation Society