The 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...

 Midland Railway Company partially constructed the Midland line

Midland Line, New Zealand

The Midland line is a 212 km section of railway between Rolleston and Greymouth in the South Island of New Zealand. The line features five major bridges, five viaducts and 17 tunnels, the longest of which is the Otira tunnel.-Freight services:...

 between Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 and Greymouth

Greymouth

Greymouth is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coast's inhabitants...

 and the Nelson

Nelson, New Zealand

Nelson is a city on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay, and is the economic and cultural centre of the Nelson-Tasman region. Established in 1841, it is the second oldest settled city in New Zealand and the oldest in the South Island....

 railway in 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 one of the few private railway companies in New Zealand, and it did not match the success of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company.

History

In the 1880s, New Zealand was in depression and the Government was in no position to make further investment in railways. The East and West Coast and Nelson Railway Act was passed to enable the railway to be built and operated by private enterprise and a deputation of Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson

Arthur Dudley Dobson

Sir Arthur Dudley Dobson was a pioneer surveyor, engineer and explorer. Born in London, he came to Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1850 on one of the First Four Ships. He is best known for taking the first party of Europeans over Arthur's Pass.-Early life:Arthur Dudley Dobson was born in Islington,...

, Alan Scott and C.Y. Fell visited London to interest financiers in promoting a company.

In July 1885 the deputation accepted an offer from a committee that became the New Zealand Midland Railway Company. The company contracted with the Government to build 235 miles (376 km) of railway between Christchurch and Nelson via Brunnerton (later Brunner

Brunner, New Zealand

Brunner is a town in the northwest of New Zealand's South Island. Together with Taylorville and Dobson to the south-west, it had a population of 672 at the 2006 census. It is 12 kilometres to the east of Greymouth, on the south bank of the Grey River. It is on the Midland Line railway near its...

) within ten years, but with insufficient capital and a London management remote from the realities of railway construction in New Zealand it had little chance of success. The company commenced construction from Brunner, the Nelson line heading up the Grey Valley towards Reefton while the Christchurch line diverged from it at Stillwater. It was not until 1890 that work commenced at the Canterbury end, the contract for the 5.5 miles from Springfield to Pattersons Creek being let to J. & A. Anderson Ltd of Christchurch. The work was to include steel viaducts over the Kowai River and Pattersons Creek.

The company ran out of money and construction ceased in 1895. On the Springfield

Springfield, New Zealand

Springfield is a small town in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, in the South Island, of New Zealand. In 2001 it had a population of 219. At the foot of the Southern Alps, west of Christchurch, it is the most westerly town of the central Canterbury Plains...

 section only the Kowai bridges and 4.5 miles to track to Otarama were usable as a railway. The foundations for Pattersons Creek viaduct were in place but the steel superstructure still had to be manufactured and erected.

In 1894, after lengthy litigation, the Government seized the company’s assets and completed works on the grounds that the contract had expired with the works incomplete. Legal argument and court actions between the parties ensued and it was not until 1898 that the Public Works Department took over and resumed the works.

Motive power

The company operated mainly 4-4-0 tank locomotives. When it was acquired 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...

 the first five locomotives, built by Nasmyth Wilson in 1887, were classed La class

NZR La class

The NZR LA class was a class of steam locomotives used by the New Zealand Railways Department and the New Zealand Midland Railway Company. They were built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in 1887 for New Zealand Midland Railway Company, and were taken over by NZR in 1900, when the government acquired...

. The last locomotive was a D class

NZR D class (1874)

The NZR D class was a class of tank steam locomotives that operated on New Zealand's national railway network. The first members of the class entered service in 1874, and all had left the service of NZR by the end of 1927, which allowed the D classification to be used again in 1929.- Introduction...

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