Taonui Branch
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The Taonui Branch was a minor railway line in New Zealand's national network. It opened in 1879 and was used until 1895.
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[edit] Construction
In the late 1870s, sleepers were required for the Foxton & Wanganui Railway (later the now-closed Foxton Branch, and parts of the North Island Main Trunk Railway and the Marton - New Plymouth Line, and the Wanganui Branch. Accordingly, a line was constructed from Taonui, near Feilding, in a north easterly direction towards Colyton to reach a stand of totara trees. It was opened on 17 November 1879, and over the next three years it was overseen by three separate authorities: initially the Railways Commissioners; the Public Works Department from 20 April 1881; and the Railways Department from around the start of July 1882.
[edit] Operation
Despite being officially designated a branch line, it was little more than an elongated siding. Soon after opening, horses substituted for locomotive power as a means of saving money - the animals pulled the wagons up the line, and gravity took the wagons back down the moderate descent to Taonui.
The line was not just used to provide the national railways with sleepers; some private timber companies also offered traffic. However, this traffic was not significant and closing the line was proposed by 1893. Closure came on 14 August 1895 and the rails were gone by February the next year.
[edit] The branch today
No earthworks at all were required for the line and no traces of the formation survive. Until the 1960s the station building from the junction at Taonui lived in a farmer's paddock near its original location for many years before the farmer donated it to the Feilding and District Steam Rail Society. It has now been restored and included as part of the society's depot in Feilding, and the restoration work earned the society a Certificate of Merit from the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
[edit] External link
[edit] Reference
- Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Grantham House, 1998 revised edition
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Ahuriri • Castlecliff and Wanganui • Foxton • Greytown • Johnsonville • Melling • Mount Egmont • Moutohora • Ngatapa • Opunake • Raetihi • Taonui • Te Aro • Waitara
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Bluff • Catlins River • Dunback and Makareao • Fernhill • Hedgehope • Kingston • Kurow • Moeraki • Mossburn • Ngapara and Tokarahi • Outram • Port Chalmers • Roxburgh • Shag Point • Tapanui • Tokanui • Tuatapere • Waikaia • Waikaka • Wairio • Walton Park • Wyndham
Private lines
Glen Massey Branch • Dunedin Peninsula and Ocean Beach Railway • Dun Mountain Railway • Hutt Park Railway • Kaitangata Line • Sanson Tramway • Wellington and Manawatu Railway
Significant proposals
Canterbury Interior Main Line • Nelson Railway Proposals • Taupo Railway Proposals • Wainuiomata Railway Proposals |
