Okaihau Branch

The Okaihau branch line (english: Okaihau Branch, sometimes referred to as Kaikohe Branch and rarer than Rangiahua Branch) was a side path which branched off from the North Auckland Line of the New Zealand rail network in Otiria. She was the northernmost line of New Zealand and was originally intended to lead to Kaitaia. The section to Okaihau opened in 1923 and closed in 1987.

Construction

Proposals for the construction of a railway line to Kaitaia and the Far North were already in the 1870s, but in 1909 Vorerkundungen were taken for a range attack. After the North Auckland Line 1911 was connected to the Opua branch line and led beyond this, first started in 1910 construction of Otiria towards Kaikohe. On May 1, 1914 This part of route opened. The next two years were few studies conducted on the next section, then stopped the First World War the works of 1916 until 1919. According to the resumption of work, the line was completed to Okaihau on 29 October 1923.

About the further route to Kaitaia there was a controversy. The proposal was to lead the route of Okaihau after Rangiahua, near the Hokianga Harbour. Then they should be led around on a 10 km long stretch without a tunnel to the mountains either take a 30 km route with two tunnels through the Maungataniwha Range, or. A commission set up in 1921 spoke out against the continuation of the route over Okaihau addition. In 1923 a compromise was reached and Rangiahua set as the northern edge. The Public Works Department took over the work again, but progress was slow.

The work continued in the 1920s, slow and were all set during the Great Depression in the early 1930s, although the track was already almost completed. New Zealand's northernmost railway tunnel was finished and built the rail yard and the station premises, including platform in Rangiahua. Here only lacked the station building itself

In 1936, a change of government to reassess the route of Okaihau after Rangiahau and it was decided to let this end in Kaitaia. The steep path down after Rangiahua was not considered particularly useful and has already been affected in the past by landslides. The line was therefore terminated in Okaihau on State Highway 1. During the Second World War, the already installed rails were dismantled for use elsewhere.

Operation

Although Kaikohe had established itself as a service center for the Far North, it did not create a lot of traffic during the first years of the track. In the first 10 months, only about 1,500 tons of cargo towards Kaikohe and about half were transported in the reverse direction. A further decline meant that in 1918 the stationmaster abolished in Kaikohe. They offered only minimal connections and although while the losses to 1930 further increased, the situation improved in around 1940. 1950 there was enough traffic for six trains in each direction per week. Two were freight trains, four were mixed trains and also transported passengers. The stations Kaikohe and Okaihau, where there was a locomotive depot, were fully staffed.

Folk singer Peter Cape wrote in the 1950s, the song Okaihau Express on the train on the track, which consisted only of a steam locomotive, one passenger and a freight car for security personnel.

In 1956 railcars were introduced for passenger transport north of Auckland in November, this drove up Okaihau. Previously known as a Northland Express passenger train had to Opua operates direct flight from Auckland to a port on mixed trains to Okaihau. With the change of the northern end point after Okaihau the branch line began to lose importance. Therefore, the well-used railcar traffic was discontinued in July 1967 due to technical problems at the railcars. We now again used combined trains with considerably older material and longer journey times and the demand dropped significantly. Passenger services ended on 21 June 1976.

1977, the road transport in New Zealand has been liberalized and relocation of cargo on the road allowed no economic operation of the line more. The line trains were abolished on 12 August 1983. For something less than 4 years, the line was operated as needed. On November 1, 1987, it closed completely.

The track today

After the closure of the New Zealand Railways Corporation retained ownership of the route because it was hoped that projects of forestry development in the region would again create a need. Part of the rails was still present in the 1990s. Most rails and bridges have now been dismantled, although piers and abutment of the bridge partially are still present. A loading ramp and rails under a bunker still exist in Kaikohe. In Okaihau the plane station area, the platform and the tunnel after Rangiahua is obtained. In Rangiahua of State Highway 1 between a loading dock and the platform instead of the tracks through the station area. Over a large part of the route is clearly visible through embankments and cuts.

There is a project of the Kaikohe Rau Marama Community Trust to use the route between Okaihau and Kaikohe as a walking and cycle route, as also happened during the Otago Central Rail Trail and the Little River Rail Trail on the South Island. This would be a first step towards a rail trail continues up to the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway in Kawakawa.