Wairio Branch
Encyclopedia
The Wairio Branch, now incorporating the Ohai Industrial Line, is a branch line
railway in Southland, New Zealand
. It opened in 1882 and is the sole remaining branch line in Southland, and one of only a few in the entire country. A number of smaller, privately owned railways fanned out from the terminus in Wairio; one of these lines, to Ohai
, was incorporated into the national network
in 1990.
section of the Tuatapere Branch
, what became the Wairio Branch left the Tuatapere Branch at Thornbury. It was built to open up new land to settlement and agricultural use and to access coal deposits. In 1879, it was opened to Otautau
, and then an extension to Wairio was built, opening on 3 March 1882. This was the terminus of the government's line but not the railway itself. The junction points at Thornbury
pointed towards Riverton rather than Invercargill
, implying that the developers might have thought Riverton was going to be the region's major port.
When the Tuatapere Branch closed in 1978, the Makarewa
to Thornbury section became part of the Wairio Branch. The closure of the Kingston Branch in 1982 meant the section of line from Makarewa to Invercargill was also incorporated into the Wairio Branch. This section of line is one of the oldest in New Zealand; originally built with wooden rails, it opened in 1864.
, operated by the Railways Department. The roads in the Ohai
area in 1909 were described as "unspeakably bad" in a publication of the Ohai Railway Board in 1925; although significant coal deposits were in the area, it was difficult and hardly viable to transport the coal the short distance to the railway in Nightcaps. For this reason, another line from Wairio was proposed, but delays and negotiations meant that it did not open until June 1914. This line was operated by the Wairio Railway & Coal Company (WR&CC) and it served two additional mines in Moretown, a locality south of the township of Ohai, but like the Nightcaps line, did not provide reasonable access to Ohai's mines. Thus a third line was required.
While the WR&CC's line was under construction, mining interests in Ohai united to present a petition that the government acquire the WR&CC line and extend it into Ohai. Unfortunately, the arguments in favour of this proposal were presented to a parliamentary committee in 1914 just as the hostilities of World War I
broke out in Europe
and further consideration of the proposal was postponed. However, later that year the Local Railways Act was passed by the government and, despite objections from the Nightcaps Coal Company and others in Nightcaps, the Ohai Railway District was declared on 4 May 1916. The declaration of this District included a condition that the Ohai Railway Board had to acquire the WR&CC line before constructing any new railway. The case for acquisition went to a compensation court, and, upon paying the sum of 19,862 pounds 6 shillings and 6 pence, the Ohai Railway Board took control of the WR&CC line on 22 June 1917.
The trackage acquired from the WR&CC was built to the low standards of a bush tramway, unsatisfactory as a permanent line. It could not even be appropriately extended into Ohai, though in 1919, an extension of 1 5/8 miles was opened to serve mines in the locality of Mossbank. In 1918 a proposal to build a third line directly from Wairio to Ohai was made, and it included a small deviation through Morley Village, considered part of Nightcaps. The construction of the line was opposed by the Nightcaps Coal Company, but after two commissions were held, approval to build the line was granted and construction commenced in July 1919. The first section was opened for traffic to Tinkers on 1 September 1920, but due to difficulties with the terrain, the Ohai section of the line was not completed until December 1924 and opened to traffic in the new year. In 1934, the line reached its final terminus of Birchwood
, 19 kilometres from Wairio. As the railway was built to the national standard, the Ohai Railway Board suggested that the government could acquire it as the start of a route northwards to Lakes Te Anau
and Manapouri
, but nothing came of this.
The Ohai Railway Board used locomotives bought from the Railways Department as motive power - initially, one C
and two FA class locomotives were employed, and they were later replaced by an X class
tender engine and a WAB class
tank locomotive
. Upon dieselisation in the 1960s, small diesel shunters such as a member of the DSA class were used, and then a DJ class
locomotive was employed. In the early 1990s, the Ohai line was incorporated into the national network and the line beyond Wairio became known as the Ohai Industrial Line. The motive power used on the line from this stage was the same as that employed to haul the train from Invercargill. Presently, one train runs every weekday from Invercargill and return, arriving at Ohai at 9.30am and leaving two hours later. This service operates on Saturdays and Sundays when required. In June 2007, the Southland District Council adopted a Regional Land Transport Strategy which included a provision to upgrade the Ohai line and maintain it as a viable alternative to road for bulk freight.
On 15 May 2008 Fonterra
and Eastern Coal Holdings reached an agreement to continue to rail coal from Eastern Coal's Takitimu mining operations in the Ohai/Nightcaps district to Fonterra's Clandeboye dairy factory. Under this new contract, approximately 120,000 tonne
s of coal will be carried annually by the Ohai line. After infrastructural upgrades such as a new rail load-out system were undertaken, the contract came into effect on 1 September 2008; to fulfil it, trainloads of up to 550 tonnes of coal leave the Branch daily.
for restoration. WAB 794 is currently in mainline operating condition and hauls heritage passenger trains in the North Island
from its Feilding
depot and hauling the Overlander express on "Steam Engine Saturdays". The Ohai Railway Board established a Heritage Trust that is currently preserving facilities in Wairio and seeking to restore a number of steam locomotives of the P
and V
classes. These engines have been recovered from where they were dumped by a river in Branxholme, a former Kingston Branch town that is now on the Wairio Branch.
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...
railway in Southland, 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...
. It opened in 1882 and is the sole remaining branch line in Southland, and one of only a few in the entire country. A number of smaller, privately owned railways fanned out from the terminus in Wairio; one of these lines, to Ohai
Ohai
Ohаi is a town in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located 65 kilometres northwest of Invercargill and 25 kilometres west of Winton. The 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings gave its population as 399, a decline of 22.2% or 114 people since the 1996...
, was incorporated into the national 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...
in 1990.
Construction of the Wairio Branch
Built at about the same time as the RivertonRiverton, New Zealand
Riverton or Aparima is a small town at the south of the South Island of New Zealand. It is in the Southland region and lies at the western end of Oreti Beach, 30 kilometres west of Invercargill on the Southern Scenic Route. It is approx. 45 km from Stewart Island and provides a safe harbour...
section of the Tuatapere Branch
Tuatapere Branch
The Tuatapere Branch, including the Orawia Branch, was a branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. Although the Tuatapere and Orawia Branches look like a single line, operationally they were considered separate lines. The first section opened to Riverton in 1879 and reached Tuatapere three...
, what became the Wairio Branch left the Tuatapere Branch at Thornbury. It was built to open up new land to settlement and agricultural use and to access coal deposits. In 1879, it was opened to Otautau
Otautau
Otautau is a small farming, forestry and milling town located inland on the western edge of the Southland Plains of New Zealand on the banks of the Aparima River. Otautau is located approximately 40 km north west of Invercargill...
, and then an extension to Wairio was built, opening on 3 March 1882. This was the terminus of the government's line but not the railway itself. The junction points at Thornbury
Thornbury, New Zealand
Thornbury is a small township on the east bank of the lower Aparima River, in western Southland, New Zealand. It is approximately 10km northeast of Riverton, and 31km northwest of Invercargill. It is mainly a farming service community...
pointed towards Riverton rather than Invercargill
Invercargill
Invercargill is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. It lies in the heart of the wide expanse of the Southland Plains on the Oreti or New River some 18 km north of Bluff,...
, implying that the developers might have thought Riverton was going to be the region's major port.
When the Tuatapere Branch closed in 1978, the Makarewa
Makarewa
Makarewa is a small community north of Invercargill .Facilities include a primary school with a roll of about 130 children, two abandoned dairies, meeting rooms for clubs, a playcentre, country club, squash courts, lawn bowling club, and an indoor swimming pool on the school grounds.Alliance Group...
to Thornbury section became part of the Wairio Branch. The closure of the Kingston Branch in 1982 meant the section of line from Makarewa to Invercargill was also incorporated into the Wairio Branch. This section of line is one of the oldest in New Zealand; originally built with wooden rails, it opened in 1864.
Construction of the private coal lines from Wairio
The development of private railway lines beyond Wairio was somewhat complex. The first was established not long after the Wairio Branch was opened and was a privately owned extension of a little over two miles to the Nightcaps Coal Company in nearby NightcapsNightcaps
Nightcaps is a town in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. According to the 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings, its population is 339, consisting of 186 males and 153 females. This represents a decline of 13.6% or 54 people since the 1996 census. State Highway 96...
, operated by the Railways Department. The roads in the Ohai
Ohai
Ohаi is a town in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located 65 kilometres northwest of Invercargill and 25 kilometres west of Winton. The 2001 New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings gave its population as 399, a decline of 22.2% or 114 people since the 1996...
area in 1909 were described as "unspeakably bad" in a publication of the Ohai Railway Board in 1925; although significant coal deposits were in the area, it was difficult and hardly viable to transport the coal the short distance to the railway in Nightcaps. For this reason, another line from Wairio was proposed, but delays and negotiations meant that it did not open until June 1914. This line was operated by the Wairio Railway & Coal Company (WR&CC) and it served two additional mines in Moretown, a locality south of the township of Ohai, but like the Nightcaps line, did not provide reasonable access to Ohai's mines. Thus a third line was required.
While the WR&CC's line was under construction, mining interests in Ohai united to present a petition that the government acquire the WR&CC line and extend it into Ohai. Unfortunately, the arguments in favour of this proposal were presented to a parliamentary committee in 1914 just as the hostilities of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
broke out in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and further consideration of the proposal was postponed. However, later that year the Local Railways Act was passed by the government and, despite objections from the Nightcaps Coal Company and others in Nightcaps, the Ohai Railway District was declared on 4 May 1916. The declaration of this District included a condition that the Ohai Railway Board had to acquire the WR&CC line before constructing any new railway. The case for acquisition went to a compensation court, and, upon paying the sum of 19,862 pounds 6 shillings and 6 pence, the Ohai Railway Board took control of the WR&CC line on 22 June 1917.
The trackage acquired from the WR&CC was built to the low standards of a bush tramway, unsatisfactory as a permanent line. It could not even be appropriately extended into Ohai, though in 1919, an extension of 1 5/8 miles was opened to serve mines in the locality of Mossbank. In 1918 a proposal to build a third line directly from Wairio to Ohai was made, and it included a small deviation through Morley Village, considered part of Nightcaps. The construction of the line was opposed by the Nightcaps Coal Company, but after two commissions were held, approval to build the line was granted and construction commenced in July 1919. The first section was opened for traffic to Tinkers on 1 September 1920, but due to difficulties with the terrain, the Ohai section of the line was not completed until December 1924 and opened to traffic in the new year. In 1934, the line reached its final terminus of Birchwood
Birchwood, New Zealand
Birchwood is a locality in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. It is situated west of Ohai and Nightcaps, and north of Tuatapere and Orawia, with the nearest State Highway in Ohai....
, 19 kilometres from Wairio. As the railway was built to the national standard, the Ohai Railway Board suggested that the government could acquire it as the start of a route northwards to Lakes Te Anau
Lake Te Anau
Lake Te Anau is in the southwestern corner of the South Island of New Zealand. Its name was originally Te Ana-au, Maori for 'The cave of swirling water'. The lake covers an area of 344 km², making it the second-largest lake by surface area in New Zealand and the largest in the South Island...
and Manapouri
Lake Manapouri
Lake Manapouri is a lake in the South Island of New Zealand. Its name is Maori for "sorrowful heart", though this name is misapplied due to an early cartographical error...
, but nothing came of this.
Operation
Freight trains off the Wairio Branch were largely industrial, and passengers were carried from Wairio to Invercargill from the line's opening until well into the 20th century. Due to decay of the old WR&CC line, the Railways Department stated that it would not permit its wagons to be used on the line after 31 December 1924, and thus the timing of the opening of the line to Ohai at the start of January 1925 proved to be fortuitous, as it could carry traffic from the mines that had previously utilised the WR&CC route. Later in 1925, the Nightcaps Coal Company shut down operations and had their railway extension acquired by the Railways Department, who dismantled it in 1926.The Ohai Railway Board used locomotives bought from the Railways Department as motive power - initially, one C
NZR C class (1873)
The C class consists of a number of tank locomotives built to operate on New Zealand's national rail network during its infancy. It is sometimes referred to as the little C class or the original C class to distinguish it from the C class of 1930....
and two FA class locomotives were employed, and they were later replaced by an X class
NZR X class
The NZR X class was a pioneering class of eighteen 4-8-2 steam locomotives designed by A. L. Beattie that operated on the national rail network of New Zealand...
tender engine and a WAB class
NZR Wab class
The WAB class locomotives were steam locomotives designed, built and used by New Zealand Railways Department. Their wheel arrangement is described by the Whyte notation 4-6-4T. The locomotives were designed by NZR chief draughtsman S.H. Jenkinson as tank versions of the AB class 4-6-2 Pacific...
tank locomotive
Tank locomotive
A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...
. Upon dieselisation in the 1960s, small diesel shunters such as a member of the DSA class were used, and then a DJ class
NZR DJ class
The NZR DJ class locomotive is a class of diesel-electric locomotive used in New Zealand. The class were purchased from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries with a modernisation loan from the World Bank to replace steam locomotives in the South Island, where most of the class members worked most of their...
locomotive was employed. In the early 1990s, the Ohai line was incorporated into the national network and the line beyond Wairio became known as the Ohai Industrial Line. The motive power used on the line from this stage was the same as that employed to haul the train from Invercargill. Presently, one train runs every weekday from Invercargill and return, arriving at Ohai at 9.30am and leaving two hours later. This service operates on Saturdays and Sundays when required. In June 2007, the Southland District Council adopted a Regional Land Transport Strategy which included a provision to upgrade the Ohai line and maintain it as a viable alternative to road for bulk freight.
On 15 May 2008 Fonterra
Fonterra
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited is a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative owned by almost 10,500 New Zealand farmers. The company is responsible for approximately 30% of the world's dairy exports and with revenue exceeding NZ$19.87 billion, is New Zealand's largest company.- History :In...
and Eastern Coal Holdings reached an agreement to continue to rail coal from Eastern Coal's Takitimu mining operations in the Ohai/Nightcaps district to Fonterra's Clandeboye dairy factory. Under this new contract, approximately 120,000 tonne
Tonne
The tonne, known as the metric ton in the US , often put pleonastically as "metric tonne" to avoid confusion with ton, is a metric system unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. The tonne is not an International System of Units unit, but is accepted for use with the SI...
s of coal will be carried annually by the Ohai line. After infrastructural upgrades such as a new rail load-out system were undertaken, the contract came into effect on 1 September 2008; to fulfil it, trainloads of up to 550 tonnes of coal leave the Branch daily.
The preservation movement
The Ohai Railway Board was closely associated with the railway preservation movement. Its former steam locomotives, X 442 and WAB 794, were donated to the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society in 1968 and have now been leased to the Feilding and District Steam Rail SocietyFeilding and District Steam Rail Society
The Feilding and District Steam Rail Society, also known as Feilding Steam Rail, is a railway preservation society located in Feilding in the Manawatu region of New Zealand...
for restoration. WAB 794 is currently in mainline operating condition and hauls heritage passenger trains in the North Island
North Island
The North Island is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the much less populous South Island by Cook Strait. The island is in area, making it the world's 14th-largest island...
from its Feilding
Feilding, New Zealand
Feilding is a town in the Manawatu-Wanganui Region of the North Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 54, 20 kilometres north of Palmerston North....
depot and hauling the Overlander express on "Steam Engine Saturdays". The Ohai Railway Board established a Heritage Trust that is currently preserving facilities in Wairio and seeking to restore a number of steam locomotives of 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...
and V
NZR V class
The NZR V class steam locomotive was used on New Zealand's railway network from 1885 onwards.-Introduction:The heavy increase in traffic by the early 1880s necessitated a design for a new class of passenger locomotive. The V class was conceived as an enlarged version of the 2-4-2 NZR K class of...
classes. These engines have been recovered from where they were dumped by a river in Branxholme, a former Kingston Branch town that is now on the Wairio Branch.