Ngapara and Tokarahi Branches
Encyclopedia
The Ngapara and Tokarahi Branches were two connected railway branch line
s in northern Otago
, New Zealand
, part of the national rail network
. The Ngapara Branch opened in 1877 and almost all of it closed in 1959; the remaining few kilometres, called the Waiareka Industrial Line, were removed in 1997. The Tokarahi Branch branched off the Ngapara Branch. It operated from 1887 until 1930 and was originally known as the Livingstone Branch, though it never progressed beyond Tokarahi
to Livingstone
. In early 2008 there is a proposal to reinstate the first 4.5 km of the Ngapara Branch.
started petitioning for a railway connection to the coast to provide easier access to farmland and to export agricultural produce and limestone. The provincial government granted approval for a line to Ngapara
in 1872, with construction commencing during the first half of 1874. The Public Works Department
began running trains on the line during 1876, but construction was hampered by delays and other problems, including an incident in May 1876 when two died after a contractor's locomotive exploded. On 1 April 1877 the 24.34-kilometre line from Waiareka Junction on the Main South Line
opened to Ngapara. The junction points faced south, away from Oamaru, because north-facing points would have required an excessively sharp curve.
In June 1879, construction of a side branch from Windsor Junction on the Ngapara Branch to Tokarahi
began, and through the economic depression of the 1880s building the line was used to provide unemployment relief. The 19.22-kilometre line opened on 8 July 1887. There were proposals that the two branches be extended to join the Kurow Branch
, but they were abandoned without any progress made.
Tokarahi Branch, distances from Windsor Junction on the Ngapara Branch:
s from the two termini met at Windsor Junction, where they were marshalled into a passenger train to Oamaru and a slower goods train. The reverse of this took place in the afternoon. Although the two branches were set up to open up country and provide transport for farmland, the freight on the line was not purely agricultural: a coal mine and, at the turn of the 20th century, a flour mill were located in Ngapara, and limestone
for both building blocks and agricultural uses was loaded from quarries along the line. Enfield had a ballast pit until the late 1940s or early 1950s, used to supply materials for the protection of Oamaru's foreshore.
In the early days, motive power included the FA class, which were stationed in Ngapara and were known to haul the passenger train from Windsor Junction to Oamaru prior to 1918. Other classes utilised included the P
, T
, UB, UC, WD
, and WF
. T class are known to have operated to Tokarahi into the 1920s.
The Ngapara and Tokarahi Branches were some of the first in the country to lose their passenger services, in December 1926, when buses replaced trains in an attempt to stem increasing financial losses. In 1927, Ngapara's locomotive depot closed and trains operated from Oamaru. The Tokarahi Branch closed on 14 July 1930. This was due at least in part to the decline in wheat farming; at the start of the 20th century, thousands of acres of the crop were grown in the region, but by the 1920s it was no longer a significant commodity.
After the closure of the Tokarahi Branch, freight trains ran thrice weekly to Ngapara, typically on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. They departed Oamaru at 7:30am and arrived at Ngapara at 9:40am. The return working departed Ngapara at 10:30am, reaching Oamaru at 1:30pm. By 1951 trains ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except for services to the limeworks 4.74 kilometres from the junction with the main line, which provided a few hundred tonnes of freight daily. In 1958, regular services were cancelled and trains ran only when required, restricted to 10 km/h due to the poor condition of the track. Financial losses and the prohibitive cost of repairs meant that closure of the line past the limeworks came on 31 July 1959; despite local protests to keep the line open, the final train departed Ngapara behind AB
783. This class and the A
were the mainstay of motive power on the branch for its final 25 years. The remainder of the branch, known from August 1959 as Taylor's Siding after the business it served, Taylor's Limeworks, continued to provide traffic until 1997, when the siding closed. The track was lifted in 1999.
have been moved into a paddock and are in good repair, Corriedale yard is well preserved with the 11-mile peg still in place, and both Tokarahi branch tunnels survive, on private land. In Tokarahi very little remains of the terminus, but in Ngarapa some rails remain embedded in tar seal where the backshunt
crossed the highway, the loading bank and platform edge survive, and the old station sign is affixed to the local rugby club's rooms. The old flour mill that once provided traffic for the railway is also still present in the town.
Since 2008 there has been an annual "Over The Tunnels" recreational run/ride of the Tokarahi Branch organised by Waitaki Girls High School. The event consists of a half marathon and a cycle ride along the route of the line. The events have attracted hundreds of participants.
or Port Chalmers
would be used for export purposes. The company intending to establish the cement works, Holcim
, has stated a strong preference to use rail transport between the cement works and harbour and thus would seek to restore the line to Weston. The rail corridor is still owned by ONTRACK
and the proposal would involve the operation of at least two trains each way daily. However, the rail corridor is designated as "closed" in the Waitaki District Council's district plan. ONTRACK asserts this is a clerical error and has filed with the Environment Court in September 2007 to have the status corrected so that the railway can be reinstated . The Waiareka Valley Preservation Society (WVPS), whose existence is premised upon opposition to Holcim's proposal, has challenged ONTRACK and filed with the Environment Court to have the railway's reinstatement declared to be in contravention of the Resource Management Act
. If the railway cannot be reinstated it may jeopardise the Holcim proposal as access to rail transport is crucial to transport the cement. On 2 November 2007 the case went before the Environment Court, and Judge Jeff Smith and commissioner Sheila Watson reserved their decision and the matter may not be resolved before Christmas 2007. The Commissioners granted a consent for the cement works on 11 February 2008, but this was challenged by the WVPS, who sub sequentially won an appeal in the Environment Court, requiring the re-opening of the branch line to be notified.
As of December 2009 the cement works project remains under consideration. . A decision on the cement works proposal is expected to occur in August or September 2010. If the project goes ahead, a sand quarry will be established at Windsor , directly adjacent to the old Tokarahi Branch, with access along the old railway formation. . There will also be an opencast coal mine at Ngapara, while the cement works and limestone quarry will be built close to the former Taylors limeworks at Cormacks
Branch line
A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line...
s in northern Otago
Otago
Otago is a region of New Zealand in the south of the South Island. The region covers an area of approximately making it the country's second largest region. The population of Otago is...
, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
, part of the national rail network
Rail transport in New Zealand
Rail transport in New Zealand consists of a network of gauge railway lines in both the North and South Islands. Rail services are focused primarily on freight, particularly bulk freight, with limited passenger services on some lines...
. The Ngapara Branch opened in 1877 and almost all of it closed in 1959; the remaining few kilometres, called the Waiareka Industrial Line, were removed in 1997. The Tokarahi Branch branched off the Ngapara Branch. It operated from 1887 until 1930 and was originally known as the Livingstone Branch, though it never progressed beyond Tokarahi
Tokarahi
Tokarahi is a small village located in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Its location is a rural setting in the Waiareka Valley, inland from Oamaru...
to Livingstone
Livingstone, Otago
Livingstone is a small settlement in inland North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is locaqted northeast of Danseys Pass, some 30 kilometres northwest of Oamaru....
. In early 2008 there is a proposal to reinstate the first 4.5 km of the Ngapara Branch.
Construction
In the early 1870s, residents in the Waiareka Valley inland from OamaruOamaru
Oamaru , the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is 80 kilometres south of Timaru and 120 kilometres north of Dunedin, on the Pacific coast, and State Highway 1 and the railway Main South Line connects it to both...
started petitioning for a railway connection to the coast to provide easier access to farmland and to export agricultural produce and limestone. The provincial government granted approval for a line to Ngapara
Ngapara
Ngapara is a locality in the north Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located in a rural setting 25 km inland from Oamaru. The name of Ngapara is derived from the Māori word for the "tables" or plateaus of limestone in the area.- Economy :...
in 1872, with construction commencing during the first half of 1874. The Public Works Department
New Zealand Ministry of Works
The New Zealand Ministry of Works, formerly the Department of Public Works and sometimes referred to as the Public Works Department or PWD, was founded in 1876 and disestablished and privatised in 1988...
began running trains on the line during 1876, but construction was hampered by delays and other problems, including an incident in May 1876 when two died after a contractor's locomotive exploded. On 1 April 1877 the 24.34-kilometre line from Waiareka Junction on the Main South Line
Main South Line
The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railroad line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Invercargill via Dunedin...
opened to Ngapara. The junction points faced south, away from Oamaru, because north-facing points would have required an excessively sharp curve.
In June 1879, construction of a side branch from Windsor Junction on the Ngapara Branch to Tokarahi
Tokarahi
Tokarahi is a small village located in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Its location is a rural setting in the Waiareka Valley, inland from Oamaru...
began, and through the economic depression of the 1880s building the line was used to provide unemployment relief. The 19.22-kilometre line opened on 8 July 1887. There were proposals that the two branches be extended to join the Kurow Branch
Kurow Branch
The Kurow Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network...
, but they were abandoned without any progress made.
Stations
The following stations were on the Ngapara Branch (in brackets is the distance from Waiareka Junction):- WestonWeston, New ZealandWeston is a township situated inland from Oamaru, South Island, New Zealand. It is regarded as one of the more affluent townships of the Waitaki District and had a population of 730 in the 2006 census....
(2.58 km) - site of McDonald Limeworks. - Siding to Taylor's Limeworks (4.6 km).
- Cornacks (4.74 km) - the original Cornacks Loop was 300 m closer to Weston.
- Lorne (6.4 km) - loop removed in 1949.
- Enfield (8.43 km) - originally known as Teaneraki.
- Elderslie (11.93 km)
- Windsor Junction (16.52 km) - originally Windsor before the construction of the Tokarahi Branch; remained Windsor Junction even after it ceased to be a junction.
- Corriedale (18 km)
- Queens Flat (21.48 km)
- Ngapara (24.34 km)
Tokarahi Branch, distances from Windsor Junction on the Ngapara Branch:
- Tapui (?? km)
- Island Cliff (?? km)
- Tokarahi (19.22 km)
Operation
Once the Tokarahi Branch opened, the two lines employed some inventive working. Each morning mixed trainMixed train
A mixed train is a train that hauls both passenger and freight cars or wagons. In the early days of railways they were quite common, but by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. As the trains provided passengers with very slow service, mixed trains have...
s from the two termini met at Windsor Junction, where they were marshalled into a passenger train to Oamaru and a slower goods train. The reverse of this took place in the afternoon. Although the two branches were set up to open up country and provide transport for farmland, the freight on the line was not purely agricultural: a coal mine and, at the turn of the 20th century, a flour mill were located in Ngapara, and limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
for both building blocks and agricultural uses was loaded from quarries along the line. Enfield had a ballast pit until the late 1940s or early 1950s, used to supply materials for the protection of Oamaru's foreshore.
In the early days, motive power included the FA class, which were stationed in Ngapara and were known to haul the passenger train from Windsor Junction to Oamaru prior to 1918. Other classes utilised included the P
NZR P class (1885)
The P class was a class of steam locomotives built to haul freight trains on the national rail network of New Zealand. The class consisted of ten individual locomotives ordered from the British company of Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1885, but miscommunications about the weight limitations...
, T
NZR T class
The NZR T class was a class of steam locomotive used in New Zealand.-History:By the late 1870s there was a distinct need for a powerful type of locomotive to operate the steep section of the Main South Line between Dunedin and Oamaru...
, UB, UC, WD
NZR Wd class
The NZR WD class was a class of tank locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works to operate on New Zealand's national rail network. Essentially a more advanced version of 1898's WB class, the eighteen members of the WD class were ordered in 1901 and most entered service that year, though three...
, and WF
NZR Wf class
The NZR WF class were steam locomotives designed, built and used by New Zealand Railways Department. Their wheel arrangement is described by the Whyte notation 2-6-4T and the first members of the class entered service in 1904. The locomotives were tank engines designed by the Railways Department's...
. T class are known to have operated to Tokarahi into the 1920s.
The Ngapara and Tokarahi Branches were some of the first in the country to lose their passenger services, in December 1926, when buses replaced trains in an attempt to stem increasing financial losses. In 1927, Ngapara's locomotive depot closed and trains operated from Oamaru. The Tokarahi Branch closed on 14 July 1930. This was due at least in part to the decline in wheat farming; at the start of the 20th century, thousands of acres of the crop were grown in the region, but by the 1920s it was no longer a significant commodity.
After the closure of the Tokarahi Branch, freight trains ran thrice weekly to Ngapara, typically on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. They departed Oamaru at 7:30am and arrived at Ngapara at 9:40am. The return working departed Ngapara at 10:30am, reaching Oamaru at 1:30pm. By 1951 trains ran on Tuesdays and Thursdays, except for services to the limeworks 4.74 kilometres from the junction with the main line, which provided a few hundred tonnes of freight daily. In 1958, regular services were cancelled and trains ran only when required, restricted to 10 km/h due to the poor condition of the track. Financial losses and the prohibitive cost of repairs meant that closure of the line past the limeworks came on 31 July 1959; despite local protests to keep the line open, the final train departed Ngapara behind AB
NZR Ab class
The NZR AB class was a class of 4-6-2 Pacific tender steam locomotive that operated on New Zealand's national railway system. Originally an improvement on the 1906 A class, 141 were built between 1915 and 1927 by NZR's Addington Workshops, A & G Price Limited of Thames, New Zealand, and North...
783. This class and the A
NZR A class (1906)
The A class were steam locomotives built in 1906 with a 4-6-2 wheel arrangement for New Zealand's national railway network, and described by some as the most handsome engines to run on New Zealand rails. The class should not be confused with the older and more obscure A class of 1873. They were...
were the mainstay of motive power on the branch for its final 25 years. The remainder of the branch, known from August 1959 as Taylor's Siding after the business it served, Taylor's Limeworks, continued to provide traffic until 1997, when the siding closed. The track was lifted in 1999.
The branches today
Traces of the Ngapara and Tokarahi Branches survive remarkably well. The old formation is often very distinct: rails are still embedded into the road surface at Weston, the Enfield station building and goods shedGoods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train.A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built alongside a track with possibly just a canopy over the door...
have been moved into a paddock and are in good repair, Corriedale yard is well preserved with the 11-mile peg still in place, and both Tokarahi branch tunnels survive, on private land. In Tokarahi very little remains of the terminus, but in Ngarapa some rails remain embedded in tar seal where the backshunt
Backshunt
* A backshunt is a railway track configuration in situations where a change in direction is required and a traditional curve cannot fit.There are two main applications of a backshunt....
crossed the highway, the loading bank and platform edge survive, and the old station sign is affixed to the local rugby club's rooms. The old flour mill that once provided traffic for the railway is also still present in the town.
Since 2008 there has been an annual "Over The Tunnels" recreational run/ride of the Tokarahi Branch organised by Waitaki Girls High School. The event consists of a half marathon and a cycle ride along the route of the line. The events have attracted hundreds of participants.
Reinstatement proposal
In August 2006 a proposal was made to reinstate the first 4.5 km of the branch. Weston is under consideration as the location for a cement works, and if chosen, the harbour in either TimaruTimaru
TimaruUrban AreaPopulation:27,200Extent:Former Timaru City CouncilTerritorial AuthorityName:Timaru District CouncilPopulation:42,867 Land area:2,736.54 km² Mayor:Janie AnnearWebsite:...
or Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers
Port Chalmers is a suburb and the main port of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand, with a population of 3,000. Port Chalmers lies ten kilometres inside Otago Harbour, some 15 kilometres northeast from Dunedin's city centre....
would be used for export purposes. The company intending to establish the cement works, Holcim
Holcim
Holcim is a Swiss-based global company supplying cement and aggregates . The company also supplies ready-mix concrete and asphalt including associated construction services.-Holcim Group:...
, has stated a strong preference to use rail transport between the cement works and harbour and thus would seek to restore the line to Weston. The rail corridor is still owned by ONTRACK
New Zealand Railways Corporation
KiwiRail Network, formerly ONTRACK , is the infrastructure arm of KiwiRail. The ONTRACK trading name was introduced in 2004 after the government repurchased all of New Zealand's rail infrastructure from Toll NZ. It does not operate revenue rolling stock...
and the proposal would involve the operation of at least two trains each way daily. However, the rail corridor is designated as "closed" in the Waitaki District Council's district plan. ONTRACK asserts this is a clerical error and has filed with the Environment Court in September 2007 to have the status corrected so that the railway can be reinstated . The Waiareka Valley Preservation Society (WVPS), whose existence is premised upon opposition to Holcim's proposal, has challenged ONTRACK and filed with the Environment Court to have the railway's reinstatement declared to be in contravention of the Resource Management Act
Resource Management Act
The Resource Management Act passed in 1991 in New Zealand is a significant, and at times, controversial Act of Parliament. The RMA promotes the sustainable management of natural and physical resources such as land, air and water...
. If the railway cannot be reinstated it may jeopardise the Holcim proposal as access to rail transport is crucial to transport the cement. On 2 November 2007 the case went before the Environment Court, and Judge Jeff Smith and commissioner Sheila Watson reserved their decision and the matter may not be resolved before Christmas 2007. The Commissioners granted a consent for the cement works on 11 February 2008, but this was challenged by the WVPS, who sub sequentially won an appeal in the Environment Court, requiring the re-opening of the branch line to be notified.
As of December 2009 the cement works project remains under consideration. . A decision on the cement works proposal is expected to occur in August or September 2010. If the project goes ahead, a sand quarry will be established at Windsor , directly adjacent to the old Tokarahi Branch, with access along the old railway formation. . There will also be an opencast coal mine at Ngapara, while the cement works and limestone quarry will be built close to the former Taylors limeworks at Cormacks
External links
- Branch lines with modelling potential: Ngapara - contains a map of the line and a brief history.
- Remnants of the Ngatapa and Tokarahi Branches Today