Kurow Branch
Encyclopedia
The Kurow Branch was a branch line
railway that formed part of New Zealand
's national rail network
. Located in the North Otago
region of the South Island
, it was built in the 1870s to open up the land behind Oamaru
for development and closed in 1983.
at Awamoko (now Pukeuri
) to Duntroon
commenced the next year with approval from the Otago provincial government
. In 1875, after the realisation that tramway standards were not sufficient for the line's purposes, an upgrade to railway standards commenced. Almost everything that had already been constructed had to be rebuilt; the rails were too light for the trains that were to operate, the sleepers
were too small, and insufficient ballast
had been laid. Nonetheless, only a fortnight after reconstruction began, the official opening ceremony took place on 1 December 1875. Freight trains did not actually begin running for another three weeks, and passengers were not carried until 16 August 1876, when the reconstruction programme had been completed. Furthermore, the line had not actually reached Duntroon; it terminated on the opposite, east bank of the Maerewhenua River
due to bridging difficulties.
Another company, the Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company, formed in 1878 after the 1877 District Railways Act was passed, with the intention of building a railway from Duntroon to Kurow
and then further up the Waitaki Valley. Construction commenced in 1879, and when the Waitaki River
was bridged on 7 November 1881, the line was completed to Hakataramea
, 1.76 km beyond Kurow by rail on the northern side of the Waitaki. There were plans to build the line further, to a proposed town that was to have 10,000 residents, but the town never came to fruition, the railway was not extended, and Hakataramea remained the terminus. A few months earlier, the Maerewhenua River was finally bridged on 2 July 1881, and with the completion of the Hakataramea section, the full line was opened for service. The Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company did not purchase its own equipment; the branch was always operated by the New Zealand Railways Department
. This arrangement lasted for over three years while the company and government disputed about ownership, primarily due to the fact the line was abbreviated to terminating in Hakataramea rather than being built to the full extent of original plans. Ultimately, the government purchased the line in April 1885 and charged a tariff beyond Duntroon until 1897.
Further railway construction in the area took place in 1928, when the Public Works Department
built 6.4 kilometres of railway from Kurow to the construction site of the Waitaki hydro-electric dam. This line was never owned or operated by NZR, though NZR trains did occasionally use the line (in such cases, a Public Works Department locomotive took over from NZR's in Kurow). Works and freight services began on 20 December 1928 and passengers were carried from 25 February 1929.
After the closure of the brief section between Kurow and Hakataramea, the end of the branch was just beyond the Kurow station at a distance of 59.22 km from Pukeuri.
Many of the stations were progressively closed during the branch's lifetime; when it was closed, the only four in use were Papakaio, Duntroon, Otekaieke, and Kurow.
that carried both passengers and freight would depart Kurow for Oamaru in the morning and return in the late afternoon. The train took roughly three hours each way. In 1926, the branch became the location for the trial of one of New Zealand's two steam railcar
s, the Clayton steam railcar
, offering a passenger timetable of 1 hour and 45 minutes between Oamaru and Kurow. However, the railcar did not prove popular and it was replaced by a regular carriage passenger train hauled by a steam locomotive
on 10 November 1928. This new train ran to the railcar's schedule but was cancelled as of 12 July 1930 due to the effects of the Great Depression
. Special passenger trains still ran on occasions, notably in 1931 when they took sightseers down the Public Works Department's line from Kurow to the then under construction Waitaki Dam. For a few years, the PWD used its own rolling stock
to offer a passenger service to school children who lived along the line and attended classes in Kurow. This service ceased with the other operations of the line in the mid-1930s; the line formally closed in late 1936 and the track was removed in April 1937. Prior to this, NZR had closed their section of track from Kurow to Hakataramea on 14 July 1930.
From its opening until the 1960s, the line was operated by steam locomotive
s, initially of the F
and T
classes, later the WF
and WW, and then from the late 1940s, the A
and AB
. By the 1940s, traditional forms of traffic such as livestock and agricultural supplies were declining as competition from road transport increased, and the primary freight became goods for the Upper Waitaki Hydro Scheme. On 25 March 1947, passenger provisions were withdrawn and the mixed trains became goods only. In the late 1960s, the line's motive power was dieselised
when the DJ class
was introduced and trains were reduced to operating thrice weekly, then just on Mondays and Thursdays. The line's future rested upon its role as the railhead for the dam construction, and even with just two trains a week, sometimes one would be cancelled. When the final project was completed in the early eighties, the line ceased to have a sufficient reason to exist and it was accordingly closed on 5 June 1983, with the final train running two days later to collect rolling stock still on the line.
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 that formed part of 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...
's 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...
. Located in the North Otago
North Otago
The district of North Otago in New Zealand covers the area of Otago between Shag Point and the Waitaki River, and extends inland to the west as far as the village of Omarama . The large east-coast town of Oamaru serves as North Otago's main centre...
region of the South Island
South Island
The South Island is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand, the other being the more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman Sea, to the south and east by the Pacific Ocean...
, it was built in the 1870s to open up the land behind Oamaru
Oamaru
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...
for development and closed in 1983.
Construction
The Kurow Branch started life as a tramway when the Awamoko Tramway Company was formed in 1873. Construction of a tramway from the Main South LineMain 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...
at Awamoko (now Pukeuri
Pukeuri
Pukeuri is a settlement to the north of Oamaru in the North Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located near the coast in the Waitaki District that straddles the border of Otago and Canterbury...
) to Duntroon
Duntroon, New Zealand
Duntroon is a small farming town in the Waitaki District of New Zealand's South Island. Although traditionally considered a North Otago town, it is presently officially located within the farthest southern reaches of Canterbury...
commenced the next year with approval from the Otago provincial government
Otago Province
The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876.-Area:The capital of the province was Dunedin...
. In 1875, after the realisation that tramway standards were not sufficient for the line's purposes, an upgrade to railway standards commenced. Almost everything that had already been constructed had to be rebuilt; the rails were too light for the trains that were to operate, the sleepers
Railroad tie
A railroad tie/railway tie , or railway sleeper is a rectangular item used to support the rails in railroad tracks...
were too small, and insufficient ballast
Track ballast
Track ballast forms the trackbed upon which railway sleepers or railroad ties are laid. It is packed between, below, and around the ties. It is used to facilitate drainage of water, to distribute the load from the railroad ties, and also to keep down vegetation that might interfere with the track...
had been laid. Nonetheless, only a fortnight after reconstruction began, the official opening ceremony took place on 1 December 1875. Freight trains did not actually begin running for another three weeks, and passengers were not carried until 16 August 1876, when the reconstruction programme had been completed. Furthermore, the line had not actually reached Duntroon; it terminated on the opposite, east bank of the Maerewhenua River
Maerewhenua River
The Maerewhenua River, also known as the Marewhenua River, is a small river in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is located in North Otago and acts as a tributary of the Waitaki River, which forms the border between Otago and Canterbury....
due to bridging difficulties.
Another company, the Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company, formed in 1878 after the 1877 District Railways Act was passed, with the intention of building a railway from Duntroon to Kurow
Kurow
Kurow is a town in the Waitaki Valley in the South Island of New Zealand, 55 kilometres inland from OamaruThe name of the town is an Anglicised form of the name of the nearby mountain Te Kohurau....
and then further up the Waitaki Valley. Construction commenced in 1879, and when the Waitaki River
Waitaki River
The Waitaki River is a large river in the South Island of New Zealand, some 110 km long. It is the major river of the Mackenzie Basin.It is a braided river which flows through Lake Benmore, Lake Aviemore and Lake Waitaki. These are ultimately fed by three large glacial lakes, Pukaki, Tekapo,...
was bridged on 7 November 1881, the line was completed to Hakataramea
Hakataramea
Hakataramea, spelt Hakateramea in some older sources, is a rural village located in the southern Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island...
, 1.76 km beyond Kurow by rail on the northern side of the Waitaki. There were plans to build the line further, to a proposed town that was to have 10,000 residents, but the town never came to fruition, the railway was not extended, and Hakataramea remained the terminus. A few months earlier, the Maerewhenua River was finally bridged on 2 July 1881, and with the completion of the Hakataramea section, the full line was opened for service. The Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company did not purchase its own equipment; the branch was always operated by the New Zealand Railways Department
New Zealand Railways Department
The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway system. The Department was created in 1880 and was reformed in 1981 into the New...
. This arrangement lasted for over three years while the company and government disputed about ownership, primarily due to the fact the line was abbreviated to terminating in Hakataramea rather than being built to the full extent of original plans. Ultimately, the government purchased the line in April 1885 and charged a tariff beyond Duntroon until 1897.
Further railway construction in the area took place in 1928, when 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...
built 6.4 kilometres of railway from Kurow to the construction site of the Waitaki hydro-electric dam. This line was never owned or operated by NZR, though NZR trains did occasionally use the line (in such cases, a Public Works Department locomotive took over from NZR's in Kurow). Works and freight services began on 20 December 1928 and passengers were carried from 25 February 1929.
Stations
The following stations were located on the Kurow Branch (in brackets is the distance from the junction in Pukeuri):- Papakaio (6.94 km)
- Gibsons (10.18 km)
- Peebles (12.75 km) - gravel pits located west of the station.
- Aitchisons (17.52 km)
- Uxbridge (19.85 km)
- Black Point (26.01 km)
- Bortons (28.72 km)
- Maerewhenua Siding (34.4 km) - the "Duntroon" terminus before the Maerewhenua River was bridged. Sometimes spelt "Marewhenua".
- Duntroon (35.5 km)
- Waikaura (39.75 km)
- Otekaieke (45.97 km)
- Strachans (52.33 km)
- Hilles (55.73 km)
- Kurow (58.57 km)
- Hakataramea (60.33 km) - also spelt "Hakateramea".
After the closure of the brief section between Kurow and Hakataramea, the end of the branch was just beyond the Kurow station at a distance of 59.22 km from Pukeuri.
Many of the stations were progressively closed during the branch's lifetime; when it was closed, the only four in use were Papakaio, Duntroon, Otekaieke, and Kurow.
Operation
The Kurow Branch's operations in its first few decades of existence were unremarkable from those typical of many rural New Zealand branch lines. A single 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...
that carried both passengers and freight would depart Kurow for Oamaru in the morning and return in the late afternoon. The train took roughly three hours each way. In 1926, the branch became the location for the trial of one of New Zealand's two steam railcar
Railcar
A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...
s, the Clayton steam railcar
NZR RM class (Clayton)
The NZR RM class Clayton steam railcar was a unique railcar that operated on New Zealand's national rail network and one of only two steam railcars to operate in New Zealand - the other being 1925's RM class Sentinel-Cammell...
, offering a passenger timetable of 1 hour and 45 minutes between Oamaru and Kurow. However, the railcar did not prove popular and it was replaced by a regular carriage passenger train hauled by a steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
on 10 November 1928. This new train ran to the railcar's schedule but was cancelled as of 12 July 1930 due to the effects of the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. Special passenger trains still ran on occasions, notably in 1931 when they took sightseers down the Public Works Department's line from Kurow to the then under construction Waitaki Dam. For a few years, the PWD used its own rolling stock
Rolling stock
Rolling stock comprises all the vehicles that move on a railway. It usually includes both powered and unpowered vehicles, for example locomotives, railroad cars, coaches and wagons...
to offer a passenger service to school children who lived along the line and attended classes in Kurow. This service ceased with the other operations of the line in the mid-1930s; the line formally closed in late 1936 and the track was removed in April 1937. Prior to this, NZR had closed their section of track from Kurow to Hakataramea on 14 July 1930.
From its opening until the 1960s, the line was operated by steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s, initially of the F
NZR F class
The NZR F class was the first important class of steam locomotive built to operate on New Zealand's railway network after the national gauge of 1067 millimetres was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new 1067 mm railways were two E class double Fairlies for the Dunedin and Port Chalmers...
and 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...
classes, later the 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...
and WW, and then from the late 1940s, 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...
and 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...
. By the 1940s, traditional forms of traffic such as livestock and agricultural supplies were declining as competition from road transport increased, and the primary freight became goods for the Upper Waitaki Hydro Scheme. On 25 March 1947, passenger provisions were withdrawn and the mixed trains became goods only. In the late 1960s, the line's motive power was dieselised
Dieselisation
Dieselisation or dieselization is a term generally used for the increasingly common use of diesel fuel in vehicles, as opposed to gasoline or steam engines.-Water Transport:...
when the 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...
was introduced and trains were reduced to operating thrice weekly, then just on Mondays and Thursdays. The line's future rested upon its role as the railhead for the dam construction, and even with just two trains a week, sometimes one would be cancelled. When the final project was completed in the early eighties, the line ceased to have a sufficient reason to exist and it was accordingly closed on 5 June 1983, with the final train running two days later to collect rolling stock still on the line.