58-683: The Ross Branch , officially known as the Hokitika Line since 2011, and previously as the Hokitika Industrial Line , is a branch line railway that forms part of New Zealand 's national rail network . It is located in the Westland District of the South Island 's West Coast region and opened to Hokitika in 1893. A further extension to Ross operated from 1909 until 1980. The first line opened in
116-601: A $ 25m road bridge opened. A few notable bridges, without rails, still stand on the route to Ross, including an impressive truss bridge over the Totara River just north of Ross itself and a smaller truss bridge over the Mahinapua Creek 5 km south of Hokitika that is now protected by the New Zealand Department of Conservation . The route between Ruatapu and Ross is largely out of sight from
174-411: A Hokitika auctioneer, was killed, and twelve others were injured. The derailment was caused by loose stones on the track that were scattered by a herd of cattle that had recently crossed the line; the front wheels left the rails while the rear ones did not, and the railcar in this condition travelled for 2.5 chains (50 m) as the driver unsuccessfully sought to stabilise and stop it. After this point,
232-510: A common sight along railroads in industrial and rural cities alike. As automobile and roadway technology improved throughout the early and mid-20th century, most low volume industry spurs were abandoned in favor of the greater flexibility and economic savings of trucking. Today, railroads remain the most economical way to ship large quantities of material, a fact that is reflected in industrial spurs. Most modern day spurs serve very large industries that require hundreds, if not thousands, of carloads
290-745: A day. Locomotive depots were established in both Ross and Hokitika, and when the Otira Tunnel linking the West Coast to Canterbury opened in 1923, the section to Hokitika began to increase in importance. Carriages from the Christchurch-Greymouth express were attached to mixed trains and conveyed to Hokitika while the extension to Ross operated more like a local line with two mixed trains daily. The introduction of small Leyland diesel railbuses in August 1936 to convey copies of
348-418: A distance of 547 km (340 miles) in 9 hours 26 minutes running time (an average speed of 58 km/h (36 mph)), despite the motor not having been run in. Another trial run from Christchurch to Timaru on 31 July 1936 demonstrated that the railcars could cover a distance of 164 km (102 miles) in 2 hours 8 minutes at an average speed of 77 km/h (48 mph). The speed of the vehicle surpassed
406-499: A fluid torque converter . Three months after services began, RM 20 was also fitted with a fluid torque converter. A 320 km (200-mile) trial run of RM 20 was undertaken in the Wellington area on Saturday 25 July 1936 and included a climb up to Pukerua Bay on the 1 in 57 grade. Its performance was considered "exceptionally good" and the car "flew like a bird" up the steepest grades. The all-round view that passengers had of
464-618: A freight train operates from Greymouth to Hokitika in the morning and returns in the evening. It takes fifty minutes to run each way, operates only when required between June and August, and no trains run on weekends. The branch's primary customer is the Westland Milk Products plant, based in Hokitika, and trains are typically operated by diesel locomotives of the DC and DX classes. In the days of steam locomotives , members of
522-551: A loading bank remain. In March 2010 work was started on clearing the Ruatapa - Ross section for use by cyclists. However, the long-term future of this is somewhat in doubt due to gold prospecting in the area. A number of bridges still exist in this section and are being refurbished as part of the cycle track. The West Coast Wilderness Trail from Hokitika to Ross, which incorporates the former railway route from Ruatapu south, opened on 24 October 2015. Branch line A branch line
580-464: A mainline, they tend to have lower maintenance and signaling (train control) standards. Before the rise of the long-distance trucking in the early 1930s, railroads were the primary means of transportation around the world. Industries of the era were commonly built along railroad lines specifically to allow for easy access to shipping. Short (under a mile, oftentimes only several hundred yards) industrial spurs with very small (under ten car) capacities were
638-823: A section of the West Rail line . Discontinued services include the Sha Tau Kok Railway and the Wo Hop Shek Branch . A spur line to Siu Sai Wan has been proposed. Delhi On the Delhi Metro , the Blue Line has a Branch Line with 8 Stations, linking Yamuna Bank to Ghaziabad via Anand Vihar ISBT and terminating at Vaishali. The first section of the Branch opened on 8 January 2010 with Anand Vihar as its terminal with six stations. It
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#1732790445949696-580: A small railbus. Two were built at Hutt Workshops in Petone and entered revenue service in the South Island . The Midland railcar used the chassis of a Leyland Tiger bus, though once its body was constructed it did not look like a bus. It had four wheels, was 7.9 metres (26 ft) long, and weighed 7.9 tonnes (7.8 long tons ; 8.7 short tons ) unladen. Power was provided by a Leyland 8.6-litre (520 cu in) diesel engine that could produce up to 73 kW (98 hp ) at 1,950 rpm and propel
754-531: A subsidy for grain transport, and instead allowed railways to absorb branch line subsidies freely without making effort to improve the profitability of the lines. The term "grain-dependent branch lines" began being used as early as 1978 to refer to the special case of these branch lines in agricultural areas whose viability depended on the economics of grain transport. The Western Grain Transportation Act of 1983 addressed this case specifically, but
812-466: A year. There is an international branch line between Italy and Vatican: the 300-metre Vatican Railway , connecting from the Pisa-Rome railway mainline at Roma San Pietro railway station , to Vatican City station . Many British railway branch lines were closed as a result of the " Beeching cuts " in the 1960s, although some have been re-opened as heritage railways . The smallest branch line that
870-569: 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 . Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located on a main line. Branch lines may also connect two or more main lines. An industrial spur is a type of secondary track used by railroads to allow customers at a location to load and unload railcars without interfering with other railroad operations. Industrial spurs can vary greatly in length and railcar capacity depending on
928-567: Is still in operation in the UK is the Stourbridge Town Branch Line from Stourbridge Junction going to Stourbridge Town . Operating on a single track, the journey is 0.8 miles (1.3 kilometres) long and the train takes around two and a half minutes to complete its journey. In North America, little-used branch lines are often sold by large railroads to become new common carrier short-line railroads of their own. Throughout
986-619: The A and A had been based in Ross, and when the line was dieselised in May 1969, DJ class diesels became the primary motive power until the arrival of the DBRs and DCs, though for a few years in the 1970s, all trains had to be operated by D class shunter locomotives before the Taramakau River bridge was repaired and upgraded. The bridge closed to road traffic on Sunday 22 July 2018, when
1044-532: The Bay of Plenty Region , lines were built inland to provide rail access to large logging operations. Today, many of the branch lines have been closed, including almost all of the general-purpose country lines. Those that remain serve ports or industries far from main lines such as coal mines, logging operations, large dairying factories, and steelworks . In Auckland and Wellington , two branch lines in each city exist solely for commuter passenger trains. For more, see
1102-622: The Christchurch Press newspaper to the West Coast led to the establishment of a direct service between Christchurch and Hokitika, as well as local services between Hokitika and Greymouth and briefly Reefton . By the early 1940s, the Vulcan railcars had replaced the Leylands and they ran all the way through from Christchurch to Ross, operating twice daily, with a Greymouth-Hokitika return service at mid-day, Monday to Friday. In 1955,
1160-753: The Gladstone Branch in New Jersey; as well as the New Canaan Branch , Danbury Branch , and Waterbury Branch in Connecticut . The Long Island Rail Road also refers to its services as "branches". In Chile, there are a lot of branch lines on its main line, of only a few remain operational. Most only operating in turistic services (like the Antilhue-Valdivia branch line), others have been taken over by other railways (like
1218-1048: The Grand Trunk , Canadian National , or Canadian Pacific ) which would acquire formerly independent short line railways for use as branch lines, with the short line often continuing to exist as a subsidiary. For example, when the Canadian Pacific acquired the Algoma Eastern Railway (a short line) in 1930, it soon after abandoned much of the Algoma Eastern mainline, but retained sections close to Algoma Eastern–Canadian Pacific junctions as short branch lines or spurs. The National Transportation Act of 1967 provided government subsidies for branch lines. Western railway development in Canada worked in concert with land settlement and cultivation, as pioneers were settled near railway lines, often on land
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#17327904459491276-607: The Lake Ianthe area. The following stations are or were located on the Ross Branch (in brackets is the distance from Greymouth): All private tramways that had junctions with the Ross Branch were closed by the end of the 1960s. Although sometimes considered to be part of the Midland Line , the Ross Branch was almost wholly operated as a separate route from Greymouth. The 1906 timetable showed 2 or 3 passenger trains
1334-827: The Midland Line and the Greymouth - Hokitika portion of the Ross Branch These kinds of vehicles were known in some other countries by a variety of other names, including "railbuses" and "railmotors". However, such self-propelled passenger vehicles were known in New Zealand as "railcars" from the late-1920s onwards. The New Zealand Railways Department (NZR) had been looking for an economic means of handling regional and rural passenger traffic for over two decades. Branch lines in rural New Zealand were typically operated by mixed trains that carried both passengers and goods, and their schedules were usually slow due to
1392-728: The North South Line between Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang stations was operated as a separate line, known as the Branch line . It was merged into the North–South Line with the opening of the Woodlands Extension in 1996. The future Jurong Region Line and Cross Island Line will also have branch lines. New Zealand once had a very extensive network of branch lines, especially in the South Island regions of Canterbury , Otago , and Southland . Many were built in
1450-704: The South Tseung Kwan O Spur Line to LOHAS Park station , opened in 2009. Earlier, a spur line was built in 1985 on the East Rail line to serve Racecourse station , bypassing Fo Tan station . Also, the Tsim Sha Tsui Extension [ yue ] was built in 2004 on the East Rail line to serve East Tsim Sha Tsui station . However, after the Kowloon Southern Link was completed in 2009, this spur line turns into
1508-480: The list of New Zealand railway lines . NZR RM class (Leyland diesel) The NZR RM class Midland railcar (or Leyland diesel railcar ) was the first successful railcar , and first diesel-powered vehicle, to enter revenue service in New Zealand . Two were built, RM 20 and RM 21, and they ran for five years from 1936 to 1941 before being replaced by larger Vulcan railcars . They operated primarily on
1566-477: The 88 seater railcars entered service in New Zealand, and on 20 February 1956, they began operating the services from Christchurch to Ross via Greymouth, significantly reducing the use of the Vulcans. They were augmented by two daily mixed trains to Ross, and these services lasted until 11 September 1967. The railcars operated for a few years more, but as of 9 October 1972, they ceased to run past Greymouth, removing
1624-511: The Midland line. Two windows were broken on the railcar and the stag was killed. The car was delayed 38 minutes, but continued, and the time had been made up by the end of the journey. While operating the afternoon Hokitika to Greymouth service on 18 January 1937, a Midland railcar was involved in a fatal accident when it jumped off the rails at a level crossing near Arahura . Aboard were 19 passengers and 3 railway employees; William Jeffries,
1682-695: The San Rosendo-Talcahuano branch line, which has been taken over by Biotrén and the Laja-Talcahuano train service) however, there is one branch line that still remains as fully operative. The Talca-Constitución branch line, which uses trains with bus motors. Two extensions to the MTR rapid transit network were built as branches of existing lines: the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line to Lok Ma Chau station , which opened in 2007; and
1740-623: The U.S. state of New Jersey . The line is a short branch of the Northeast Corridor Line , running from Princeton Junction northwest to Princeton with no intermediate stops. Also known as the "Dinky Line", at 2.9 mi (4.7 km) it is the shortest scheduled commuter rail line in the United States. The run takes 4 minutes, 47 seconds. Other than the Princeton Line, other surviving branch lines include
1798-469: The United States and Canada, branch lines link smaller towns too distant from the main line to be served efficiently, or to serve a certain industrial site such as a power station either because of a location away from the main line or to reduce congestion. They were typically built to lower standards, using lighter rail and shallow roadbeds when compared to main lines. Much of Canada's branch line history relates to large rail transport conglomerates (such as
Ross Branch (railway line) - Misplaced Pages Continue
1856-485: The construction of the extension, and preliminary work was well underway by August 1902. The first section, from Hokitika to Ruatapu , was opened on 9 November 1906, and the full line to Ross was completed on 1 April 1909. Even before the line had been built, it was intended to be part of a main-trunk line from Nelson to Dunedin . This would involve linking Ross to the Otago Central Railway (which at
1914-402: The earmarked funds were insufficient to construct the bridge and funding lapsed. Despite the failure of the railway to progress beyond Ross, a number of bush tramways fanned out from the railway to provide more convenient access to sawmills and other industrial activity. The most notable of these was the one owned by Stuart and Chapman Ltd, which extended south from Ross for about 20 km to
1972-478: The economic conditions of the Long Depression brought construction to a halt the next year with only 5 km of track laid. Furthermore, the residents of Kumara, led by future Prime Minister Richard Seddon , were indignant that the railway was going to take a more coastal route than the tramway and thus bypass their town. In 1886, work restarted, and the continued attempts from Kumara residents to have
2030-540: The expectations of all Railways Department experts, according to the general manager, Garnet Mackley . RM 20 entered service on Wednesday 5 August 1936, two days later than earlier announcements but less than two weeks after its first trial run. The second Midland railcar, RM 21, arrived in the South Island in October 1936. It made a fast trial run on Friday 16 October from Christchurch to Greymouth and back,
2088-467: The expenditure and costs associated with a locomotive-hauled carriage train. The first experiment with railcars took place in 1912 with a MacEwan-Pratt petrol railcar , and while it was not a success, further research and development was undertaken in the following years. By 1936, no design had proven successful enough to warrant construction of a whole class, though an Edison battery-electric railcar built in 1926 had proved efficient and popular until it
2146-562: The final passenger service on the line. In the early years of the line, timber was the dominant traffic from Ross, and in the 1920s, there was some pressure to operate NZR rolling stock on the Stuart and Chapman Ltd tramway, but this came to nothing and the tramway used private rolling stock until its closure in 1959. As the forests were felled, they were not replaced, and agriculture grew in importance, with agricultural lime and fertiliser railed in and livestock railed out; Ross served as
2204-569: The first president of the Canadian National Railway , said that although most branch lines cannot pay for themselves, they are even essential to make main lines pay. In the United States, abandonment of unproductive branch lines was a byproduct of deregulation of the rail industry through the Staggers Act . The Princeton Branch is a commuter rail line and service owned and operated by New Jersey Transit (NJT) in
2262-426: The insignificance of the line. Road traffic was diverted to another bridge upstream and the line from Hokitika to Ross closed on 24 November 1980. This made the closure of the Ross section somewhat remarkable as its passenger service had ceased only eight years earlier; most rural New Zealand branches lost their passenger service at least two or three decades before the entire line was closed. Presently every weekday
2320-485: The late 19th century to open up inland regions for farming and other economic activities. The branches in the South Island regions were often general-purpose lines that carried predominantly agricultural traffic, but lines elsewhere were often built to serve a specific resource: on the West Coast , an extensive network of branch lines was built in rugged terrain to serve coal mines, while in the central North Island and
2378-399: The line's route changed failed to force an alteration to the plans. Work progressed steadily over the next few years, and on 18 December 1893, the complete line from Hokitika to Greymouth opened. To the south of Hokitika was a thickly wooded country, and with the prospect of significant logging traffic, surveys for an extension of the railway were undertaken. In 1901, the government approved
Ross Branch (railway line) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2436-497: The loading and unloading of freight that occurred during the journey. This slowness made them unpopular with travellers, but insufficient demand existed to justify a dedicated passenger service. Secondary main lines in regional districts often had their own passenger trains, but these were often uneconomic, especially as car ownership and bus competition rose in the 1920s and 1930s. Thus, NZR investigated railcars as an alternate means of providing an attractive passenger service without
2494-411: The loading point for cattle driven up from southern Westland. By the 1970s, the line beyond Hokitika was operating uneconomically, and closure came in 1980. The combined road/rail bridge south of Hokitika, known as the "longest xylophone in the world" in New Zealand railfan jargon due to the rattling its planks made, required urgent repairs but it was decided that the cost outweighed the benefits due to
2552-620: The paper. The first timetable came into effect on 3 August 1936 with a 2:20 am departure from Christchurch, arriving in Greymouth at 6:40 am and Hokitika at 7:55 am, soon changed to 7:45 am. Two local return services were operated from Hokitika: a morning trip to Reefton (cut back to Greymouth by August 1938) and an afternoon trip to Greymouth. The return service left Hokitika at 4:25 pm, called at Greymouth at 5:42 pm, and reached Christchurch at 10:23 pm. The service between Greymouth and Christchurch
2610-437: The railbus at speeds of up to 97 km/h (60 mph). Electric lighting and thermostatically controlled hot air radiators were both fitted. Up to 19 passengers could be carried, though with a full load of 1.0 tonne (1.0 long ton; 1.1 short tons) of newspapers this was reduced to 8 passengers. Initially, the two railcars had one technical difference: RM 20 was built with a four-speed manual gearbox , while RM 21 utilised
2668-572: The railways had owned. However, by the mid-20th century, railways began neglecting lines in western agricultural regions. This was historically driven by factors such as the Crow Rate , which regulated the price railways could charge for shipping grain. Railways had little incentive to invest in rural Prairie branch lines, but were legally unable to abandon them under the National Transportation Act , which also did not provide
2726-425: The rear wheels also left the rails as the front wheels dropped over the side of an embankment , and three chains (60 m) from the level crossing, the railcar had spun so that it faced in the direction opposite to that which it was travelling. The top of the railcar separated from the bottom, with the bottom half coming to rest fifteen feet (4.6 m) from the line down the side of the embankment while one end of
2784-464: The region was a bush tramway built to a gauge of 1,219mm (4 ft). It ran from Greymouth south to Paroa and opened in 1867. Ten years later, an extension inland to Kumara was opened, with the Taramakau River crossed by a cage suspended from a wire. Around this time, plans were formulated to replace the tramway with a railway and link Greymouth and Hokitika. Work began in 1879, but
2842-507: The requirements of the customer the spur is serving. In heavily industrialized areas, it is not uncommon for one industrial spur to have multiple sidings to several different customers. Typically, spurs are serviced by local trains responsible for collecting small numbers of railcars and delivering them to a larger yard, where these railcars are sorted and dispatched in larger trains with other cars destined to similar locations. Because industrial spurs generally have less capacity and traffic than
2900-417: The road, but can be driven for much of its length and is used as an accessway by some locals. From Hokitika to Ruatapu, the railway's formation is readily apparent as it is often near the road, and the road has even been diverted to use portions of it. Little else remains of the railway due to the passage of time and influence of human and natural activity, but at the site of Ross's yard, some twisted rail and
2958-402: The surrounding countryside from the front half of the railcar was favourably commented on by passengers, as was the very quiet running of the engine. The first of the two railcars, RM 20, was taken from Wellington to Lyttelton on the deck of the steamer Waipiata on 29 July 1936. The first trial run of RM 20 in the South Island was on 30 July 1936 from Christchurch to Hokitika and return –
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#17327904459493016-583: The time terminated in Omakau ) via the Haast Pass and Wānaka , and this proposal was viewed favourably by Richard Seddon during his Prime Ministership in the early 20th century as a tourist route. Local demand for expansion of the line further south to Waitaha saw authorisation made for an extension of the line from Ross to the south-side of the Mikonui River however, in spite of a public pressure
3074-529: The top half lay on the line. The railcar was subsequently repaired and returned to service. In 1940, the first Vulcan railcar was introduced into service. It took over the Monday, Wednesday, and Friday trips from the Midland railcars on 28 October 1940, the Midlands continuing to operate on other days. In 1941 more Vulcans arrived, replacing the Midlands altogether, and in 1942 the Midlands were dismantled at
3132-472: The trip to Greymouth being driven by the general manager, Mr Mackley, himself. RM 21 entered service on Monday 19 October 1936, and RM 20 was then given an overhaul, having completed 35,000 km (22,000 miles). Their regular services were subsidised by the Christchurch morning newspaper The Press and the first service of the day was timetabled to allow early delivery of the morning edition of
3190-454: Was almost two and a half hours quicker than the steam-hauled West Coast Express passenger trains of the time. The railcars initially covered 526 miles (847 km) a day, reducing to 434 miles (698 km) when the Reefton service was cut back to Greymouth. Early in the morning on Monday 30 November 1936, a railcar that had departed Christchurch at 2:30 am collided with a stag on
3248-420: Was destroyed by fire in 1934. In 1936, NZR and a newspaper company were looking into the development of a railcar to provide quick conveyance of both passengers and Christchurch Press newspapers from Christchurch to Westland : although long-term prospects for large railcars existed, a more immediate solution was required. For this experiment, NZR utilised a diesel-engined Leyland bus chassis to create
3306-504: Was further extended to Vaishali in 2011. The line is planned to be extended from Vaishali to Mohan Nagar via Sahibabad Station to link with the main line. The East West Line of the MRT system in Singapore has a two-station branch to Changi Airport . The first station, Expo , opened in 2001. It was extended to Changi Airport station the next year. From 1990 to 1996, the section of
3364-502: Was repealed in 1994 in the wake of the North American Free Trade Agreement and budget-balancing initiatives in favour of a one-time payout by the federal government directly to farmers, to arrange transport of grain themselves. From the mid-1970s to the late 2010s, more than 9,300 kilometres (5,800 mi) of Prairie branch lines were abandoned or had a discontinuance of service. David Blyth Hanna ,
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