52-524: Distances approximate, source: NZR Mileage Table 1957. The Moutohora Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand 's national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand . The branch ran for 78 km approximately North-West from Gisborne into the rugged and steep Raukumara Range to the terminus at Moutohora. Construction started in 1900, and
104-552: A Member of the Executive Council (without portfolio; 27 July 1920 – 16 July 1923). Fraser was widely criticised as Minister of Public Works for using railway branch lines as "electoral bait" particularly in the South Island and for not adopting new techniques. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor on 6 February 1918 and, on the occasion of the royal visit by Edward, Prince of Wales to Australia and New Zealand,
156-510: 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
208-464: 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
260-569: A practical route, but the expensive nature of the works required to provide a descent to the Bay of Plenty always deterred politicians from authorising any further extension of the line. In his annual report to parliament in 1916, the Minister of Public Works, William Fraser stated "Construction beyond the Kowhai Road [Moutuhora] Station cannot be put in hand until the route of the mainline towards
312-823: 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
364-423: A short-term increase in freight traffic towards the middle of 1952, as large volumes of superphosphate were required in the district. This did not last and after lingering on for a few more years the end came in 1959, by which time keeping the line open cost more than three times its annual revenue. Despite the activities of a Railway Promotion League persisting into the 1950s to have the line extended to Taneatua ,
416-531: 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
468-466: 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
520-569: 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
572-567: 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
SECTION 10
#1732780657214624-532: 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
676-753: 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
728-1048: 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
780-788: 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
832-704: The Silver Stream Heritage Railway at Silverstream in the Hutt Valley near Wellington . Locomotive W 165, which arrived in 1911 to work the Gisborne section (as it was then) has also survived in preservation. Now owned by the Gisborne City Vintage Railway Incorporated, it has been returned to running order and is regularly steamed to provide excursions. Branch line A branch line
884-704: 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
936-476: The embankments , cuttings , bridge abutments and tunnels can be seen from State Highway 2 from near Ormond to Matawai. About 5 km of the old roadbed is now the Otoko recreational walkway. Just past the northern end of the walkway, the abutments and one of the steel piers of the 30m high Otoko viaduct are clearly visible to the east of the highway. Between Otoko and Rakauroa the current highway runs largely on
988-717: The list of New Zealand railway lines . William Fraser (New Zealand politician, born 1840) Sir William Fraser KCVO (1840 – 16 July 1923) was an Independent Conservative then Reform Party member of parliament in New Zealand. Fraser was born in India, the son of Captain Hugh Fraser of the 5th Madras Light Cavalry . He received his education at Elizabeth College in Guernsey , Victoria College in Jersey , and
1040-546: The Bay of Plenty is definitely located." With the completion of the branch to Moutohora in 1917, construction workers were almost immediately transferred from Moutohora to Ngatapa to continue work on the line south. In 1924, with the Napier - Wairoa section of the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line was under construction and a short section between Wairoa and Waikokopu had been completed; it was decided that year to extend
1092-626: The East Coast Railway League was established to press for the development of rail connections, and in 1899 the Government announced that Gisborne was to be connected to Auckland by a line of rail. Work on the line started in early 1900. On 14 January the then Minister for Railways , the Joseph Ward , turned the first sod . The first 20 kilometres (12 mi) of the line ran across coastal plains with few obstacles, and
SECTION 20
#17327806572141144-742: The Lycée de St Brieuc in Brittany , France. He came to New Zealand in September 1858 for farming. Together with Alfred Rowland Chetham-Strode , he took up Earnscleugh Station on the Earnscleugh River . In 1874, he married Ellen Isabel Strode, the daughter of his business partner, in 1874. Fraser was a member of the Otago Provincial Council (1867–1870). He was a member of the inaugural Vincent County from 1877 until 1893,
1196-505: The Moutohora branch served a purely local function in maintaining access to Gisborne's hinterland . The line had heavy traffic in its early years and consistently showed an operating profit In the 12 months between April 1903 and March 1904, when only about 21 km of line were open, the approximately 6,500 people in the district made 47,706 single or return passenger journeys, and 4,464 tonnes of freight were carried. In 1919-1920, with
1248-695: 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
1300-623: 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
1352-469: 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
1404-651: The branch line it subsequently became was closed in March 1959. The branch had four names during its lifetime. Initially, it was authorised as a Gisborne to Rotorua line and labelled as such in the Public Works Statement until 1910. From then, while isolated from the rest of the NZR system, it was known as the Gisborne section (later the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line ) of the NZR. Once Gisborne
1456-399: The branch officially closed on 14 March 1959. The last working train ran a month later, on 14 April, bringing out a final load of road metal for highway improvements that would use the railway alignment once the rails had been lifted. Five kilometres of the Moutohora branch remain vacant to Makaraka, as the industrial siding to service a fruit storehouse closed in the late 80s. Many remains of
1508-443: The branch on 29 January 1945. They were replaced by a 24-seat New Zealand Railways Road Services bus. For the first seven years from 1902 two D class 2-4-0T locomotives provided all the motive power required for both construction and running services. In 1909 they were supplemented by an F class 0-6-2T , and in 1910 the first of six W class 2-6-2T engines arrived, with the two D class locomotives being shipped away at about
1560-597: The construction of two large viaducts 18 and 30 metres high; in 1910 Massey Bros ( Auckland engineers from 1901 to 1913) won a £3,002 contract for steel girders for the Gisborne-Rotorua Railway on the Otoko to Rakauroa section. Much of the line was built on steep grades of up to 1 in 30, and many tight curves were required. Despite all earthworks being carried out by pick and shovel, and although hindered at times by floods, washouts and landslips and (in
1612-569: 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
Moutohora Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
1664-441: The full length of the line in operation, over 30,000 tonnes of freight were carried. Road metal from a quarry at Moutohora accounted for 16,400 tonnes of the 1919-1920 total, and continued to be a major component of all freight traffic in following years. Much of the rest of the 1919-1920 freight was timber cut from the extensive forests to which the line provided access. In the same year over 113,000 passenger journeys were recorded,
1716-415: The heavy gradients train working was not as difficult as may have been expected. Most of the uphill traffic comprised empty wagons being sent to transport the district's primary produce back to Gisborne. The heavy downhill trains required more braking power than tractive effort, and special train management rules were in place to ensure a safe descent into Poverty Bay. As freight volumes continued to decrease
1768-578: The last ten years as chairman. He won the Wakatipu electorate in the 1893 general election , and retired in 1919 . He served on the Legislative Council from 1919 to 1923 when he died. Under Prime Minister William Massey , he was Minister of Public Works (10 July 1912 – 3 April 1920), Minister of Mines (10 July 1912 – 12 August 1915; 4 September 1919 – 27 July 1920), Minister of Industries and Commerce (10 July 1912 – 26 July 1912) and
1820-485: 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
1872-434: The later stages) a wartime shortage of materials, progress continued at a slow but steady pace, and the line was opened to Moutohora at 78.5 km by 26 November 1917. Once at Moutohora, even though over the main divide, there was no easy way for the railway to link up with the rest of the NZR network, as a definitive line for a connection to the Bay of Plenty had never been identified. By 1920, 13 separate surveys had sought
1924-495: The line from Waikokopu to Gisborne via the coast rather than the longer inland route to Ngatapa. With the passing of time it became clear that Gisborne would be connected to the rest of the NZR system via this coastal route. This line south was finally completed and opened for traffic in 1942. There was briefly interest in reviving a connection when the East Coast Main Trunk reached Taneatua in 1928. A new survey
1976-593: The line was opened to Kaitaratahi on 10 November 1902. A Gisborne-Rotorua line from Makaraka to Mōtū of about 37 miles (60 km) was authorised by the Railways Authorisation Act, 1904. An eventual connection to the Rotorua Branch disappeared after a 1911 survey to connect the "Gisborne Section" with the East Coast Main Trunk . Once past this point the line required large river bridging works, four tunnels , heavy earthworks and
2028-488: The line was opened to Moutohora on 26 November 1917. Built to the New Zealand standard 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge the line was originally intended to become part of a railway to Auckland via Rotorua, and later as part of an East Coast Main Trunk Railway running from Gisborne to Pokeno by way of Ōpōtiki , Taneatua , Tauranga , and Paeroa . This comprehensive scheme never came to pass, and
2080-574: The old railway alignment, and the piers of the Rakauroa viaduct still stand about 100m to the west of the highway just before reaching Rakauroa. The Matawai station platform edge can be seen alongside the Matawai-Moutohora road, and the Motu river bridge truss remains in situ. Some railway buildings remain at various places up and down the old line, but there are now no railway remains left at
2132-404: The onset of the depression both passenger and freight operations fell away, with only a small fraction of the district's primary produce being exported. Even when economic conditions improved rail traffic did not recover to pre-depression levels until the imposition of road traffic restrictions and petrol rationing during the 1939-1945 war years. In August 1942 the Moutohora branch was connected to
Moutohora Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
2184-421: The passenger traffic being sufficient to support a privately leased refreshment room at Te Karaka station. Apart from occasional passenger excursion trains all trains were mixed, carrying both passengers and freight. By 1930 most of the economically accessible timber had been cut out and sawmills along the line began closing down. Road metal and livestock continued to provide reasonably large tonnages, but with
2236-572: 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
2288-507: 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
2340-487: The rest of the NZR network via the Palmerston North – Gisborne Line, causing a temporary increase to nearly 70,000 passenger journeys on the branch in the 1942-1943 year. After 1944, and the partial easing of some road transport restrictions, passenger numbers and freight fell away dramatically. Because of the combination of reduced passenger numbers and wartime coal shortages, passenger services were withdrawn from
2392-555: The same time. As the F class locos aged they were themselves replaced by W class 4-6-4Ts and B class 4-8-0 locomotives. Finally in 1952 A class 4-6-2 Pacifics were introduced. The large tender on the As limited visibility when running backwards, so to ensure the line could be worked safely by these more powerful engines NZR installed a turning triangle at Moutohora station. Previous to this all engines had run smokebox first towards Moutohora and bunker first on their return. Despite
2444-457: The site of the Moutohora terminus. The East Coast Museum of Technology is the current terminus of what it left of the Gisborne to Moutohora Branch Line, with plans to restore the Makaraka section and run services with GCVR and ECMoT's own Locomotives. Locomotive D 143, one of the two D class locomotives to work on the line in the first few years, has survived and is now in preservation at
2496-466: The viability of the branch came into question, particularly as it was now clear the connection with the Bay of Plenty would never be made. In 1952 a Royal Commission was appointed to look into the profitability of branch lines, including the Moutohora branch. The Commission sanctioned the retention of the branch for the time being, but made it clear to the local citizens that it was a case of "use it or lose it." The development of aerial topdressing led to
2548-504: 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
2600-632: Was linked to the rest of the NZR network in 1942 the line became the Motohora Branch, to be renamed the Moutohora Branch on 16 November 1950, when the New Zealand Geographic Board decided on this spelling for the line's terminal locality. The first report on proposals to link Gisborne and the rest of Poverty Bay to the outside world by rail was made in 1886, but nothing eventuated at that time. In April 1897
2652-502: 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 ,
SECTION 50
#17327806572142704-627: Was undertaken by local surveying firm Grant and Cooke, proposing the new line leave the branch south of Matawai , crossing a saddle near Te Wera and then following the Koranga and Wairata streams to the Waioeka Valley down to the Bay of Plenty via Opotiki, and then on to Taneatua. The Great Depression following the Wall Street Crash of 1929 saw this scheme shelved. Until connected with the Palmerston North – Gisborne Line in 1942
#213786