Foxton Branch
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The Foxton Branch was a railway line in New Zealand. It began life as a tramway, evolved into a railway by 1876, and operated until 1959. At Himatangi, there was a junction with the Sanson Tramway, a line operated by the Manawatu County Council that was never upgraded to the status of a railway.
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[edit] Construction
Located at the mouth of the Manawatu River, the settlement of Foxton was seen in the 1860s as a possible port for the Manawatu region. Roads in the region often became treacherous and impassable in bad weather, and as the Manawatu River became unnavigable not far inland, a more dependable route than the roads was necessary so that the region could receive imports and export its products, particularly timber. Due to poor financial conditions at the time, a tramway made with wooden rails rather than a railway was proposed in 1865 as a cost-effective mode of transport. Not even this was affordable for the region at the time, and it was not until Julius Vogel announced his "Great Public Works Policy" in 1870 that construction was finally approved.
As planned in 1865, the line was built as a wooden-railed tramway, with construction commencing in 1871. On 20 August 1872, a steam locomotive constructed by the Dunedin firm of Messrs R. S. Sparrow and Co. was delivered and operated on the completed portion of tramway; this was the first New Zealand-built locomotive to run. The whole line was completed to Palmerston North on 25 July 1873, a distance of 40 kilometres, and soon proposals were made to extend the tramway to Wanganui. However, by 1874, the inadequacies of wooden rails were becoming readily apparent, and after an attempt at relaying the line with iron rails in February 1875 did not provide the durability required, the decision was made to relay the line with steel rails at railway standards. The land through which the line ran was generally flat, with the Oroua River creating the only serious obstacle. It was crossed with a 56 metre long bridge. The line was formally opened as a railway on 27 April 1876.
In 1886, the Wellington and Manawatu Railway's (WMR) line from Wellington to Longburn was opened, the latter station located on the Foxton line near Palmerston North. The government's original plan had been to extend the Foxton line down to Wellington, but the private company established to build the line due to the government's inaction elected to follow the most direct route to Palmerston North, thereby bypassing Foxton. At this point, the Foxton line technically became a branch line, though it remained the terminus of the government railway's main line until 1908, when the WMR was purchased and incorporated in the North Island Main Trunk Railway linking Wellington and Auckland. The Foxton Branch was a branch in all aspects from this time onwards.
[edit] Stations
The following stations were on the Foxton Branch (in brackets is the distance from the junction in Longburn):
- Karere (2 km)
- Tiakitahuna (4 km)
- Rangitane (8 km)
- Rangiotu (10 km)
- Bainesse (15 km)
- Himatangi (22 km)
- Motuiti (27 km)
- Foxton (31 km)
[edit] Operation
The line was very important for its first twelve years. Freight and passengers north from Wellington would come up the west coast via ship and transfer to the railway in Foxton, and the town was served by express trains. When the WMR's line was opened, traffic to Foxton dropped so markedly that services were slashed to run on alternate days, though daily trains were restored at a later date. Passenger ferries between Wellington and Foxton disappeared overnight with people opting to use the WMR instead, and although most freight also used the new line, the government railways did not wish to utilise a competitor's service and continued to ship railway coal in via Foxton. The flax trade in the region also continued to use Foxton as a harbour and provided traffic for the line.
In 1903, a "mixed train" carrying both freight and passengers ran daily between Foxton and Palmerston North, and it was augmented by a passenger only service from Palmerston North and return thrice a week. In 1913, the passenger train's schedule was expanded and it operated six days a week. Freight services, however, were in decline; with the acquisition of the WMR in 1908, the Railways Department had no need to ship in coal via Foxton and accordingly ceased this practice. The wharf's condition was deteriorating and by 1916, only one shipping company possessing two steamers used Foxton as a port, and when the company's main shed burnt down in 1922, it ceased to operate. Local interests continued to try to generate shipping traffic but met with little success and only a small amount of traffic was generated for the railway. In 1942, all shipping via Foxton ceased.
In 1932, passenger services on the Foxton Branch were terminated and the locomotive depot closed, with the only trains on the line now a daily goods service from Palmerston North. During World War II, troop trains ran on the line as the Manawatu Mounted Rifles established a camp on Foxton's racecourse, but after the war, traffic continued to decline. Only three trains ran a week in 1952; in comparison, road freight services to the town were thriving. A mere 5,500 tonnes per annum were railed off the branch to other destinations, while 13,000 tonnes of freight came onto the line. The traffic outwards was mostly woolpacks and root crops, while lumber, lime, manure, and coal were the primary traffic inwards. Closure was inevitable, and some may see it surprising that the line actually survived until the end of the 1950s. A farewell passenger excursion ran on 17 July 1959, and the last freight train operated a few days later. Formal closure was on the 27 July.
[edit] The branch today
It is typical for evidence of closed railway lines to be destroyed by both nature and human activity, and this has certainly occurred on the Foxton Branch. During its lifetime, the line ran for much of its length right beside State Highway 56, but road re-alignment and flood control earthworks have destroyed some of the line's formation - or at one point near Longburn, utilise the old rail formation for the road. Rubble from both the railway and old road bridges across the Oroua River can still be seen from the new road bridge. Almost nothing of the railway remains in Foxton.
[edit] Resources
- Churchman, Geoffrey B., and Hurst, Tony; The Railways Of New Zealand: A Journey Through History, HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand), 1991 reprint
- Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Grantham House, 1998 revised edition
