54-456: The Waikaia Branch , also known as the Switzers Branch , was a branch line railway in Southland , New Zealand . Proposed as early as the 1870s, it was not opened until 1909 and was operated by the New Zealand Railways Department for half a century until its closure in 1959. In the late 1870s, proposals for a railway line to or through Waikaia (then Switzers) and environs were seriously considered. These proposals were as part of
108-510: 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
162-595: A line be built from Kelso on the Tapanui Branch . The previously proposed branch from the Waimea Plains Railway was favoured, however, as it had been argued that it would open up a considerable area of productive farming land, and in 1884, construction commenced northwards from Riversdale . The terrain made construction easy and ten kilometres of formation had been made with 3.2 kilometres of track laid before economic difficulties associated with
216-464: 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
270-522: 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
324-823: 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
378-531: 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
432-466: 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
486-567: 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
540-532: 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
594-584: The Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company . The F class was the first class ordered by the central government, and between 1872 and 1888, a total of eighty-eight members of the class were constructed. The F class was an 0-6-0 ST . They operated essentially everywhere on New Zealand's railway network doing various jobs. F class locomotives could haul light passenger trains at speeds up to 70 km/h (43 mph) or pull up to 800 tonnes (790 long tons; 880 short tons) of freight on flat trackage. Originally
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#1732800877547648-753: 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
702-1048: 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
756-576: The Long Depression brought work to a halt. At some point over the next twenty years, the track was removed to be used elsewhere. Work on the line recommenced by 1904; a combined road-rail bridge over the Mataura River , the only work of significance required for the line, opened in May of that year. There were local fears that only the initial portion of the line would be built, but in 1905,
810-788: 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
864-704: 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
918-678: The Waimea Plains Railway to link Gore on the Main South Line with Lumsden on the Kingston Branch and featured either a circuitous line that passed through Waikaia, or a direct line with a branch to Waikaia. The Waimea Plains Railway was subsequently built on the direct route, and in 1880, a royal commission of New Zealand's railway network favoured an alternate route to the Waikaia area. It suggested that
972-429: The list of New Zealand railway lines . NZR F class Meg Merrilies (180) Rob Roy (111) Ada (233) 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 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) was adopted. The first locomotives built for the new gauge railways were two E class double Fairlies for
1026-489: The 1950s, the region's population had dwindled to a meagre 200 and trains ran twice weekly. What traffic did exist - mainly livestock and agricultural lime - was being transferred to the expanding road network. With no reason to justify the line's continued existence, the Waikaia Branch closed on 16 May 1959. In the early years of the line, small tank locomotives such as the F class were used to run trains from
1080-471: The 1960s, while Butler Bros. sawmill at Ruatapu on the West Coast had another. The majority of the class was scrapped between the late 1940s and late 1960s as diesel traction took over their traditional duties and younger steam locomotives were cascaded down onto shunting work, which the F class excelled at. The last strongholds of the class were Southland and Lyttelton – at Lyttelton the engines shunted
1134-637: The F class could no longer keep running as it did on the mainline, and so larger engines were introduced, thus pushing the F class to branch line and shunting duties. The class is unique in that it has been used on every line in New Zealand to be operated by New Zealand Railways, some were operated by the Public Works Department . Several were also owned by the Westport Harbour Board, whose assets were later acquired by
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#17328008775471188-491: The Invercargill locomotives were retained as shunters and also to shunt a dairy factory siding at Edendale; here, verandah beside the siding limited clearances and the F class were the only locomotives able to negotiate this siding without any trouble. From this period onwards, many of the locomotives were replaced with the arrival of the D class 0-6-0DM diesel locomotives. The Invercargill locomotives were withdrawn by
1242-508: The Museum of Transport and Technology. F 13 and F 163 were both painted in green and named Peveril and Ivanhoe respectively, and used in 1963 for the NZR's centenary celebrations. Neither was withdrawn until 1965, when F 163 was placed in storage at Arthur's Pass with W 192. By 1968 the class was extinct in NZR ownership with the exception of F 163, retained for nostalgic purposes. F 13, meanwhile,
1296-500: The NZR connection. These lines were usually of a higher standard than the bush tramways, and so no track modifications were required to accommodate these engines. As the locomotives were particularly suited to conversion to petrol or diesel power, several locomotives were rebuilt as diesel locomotives when their boilers expired. The Auckland Farmers Freezing Company (AFFCo) had three such steam to diesel conversions, one at Moerewa, one at Auckland's Export Wharf, and another at Horotiu , in
1350-642: The NZR. In all, a total of 88 were acquired by the government and by various private railways, notably the Westport Harbour Board and the Thames Valley & Rotorua Railway (TVRR). Not all of the 88 locomotives were in NZR service at one time. One locomotive, Neilson 1842, was sold to the Public Works Department before the nationwide numbering scheme of 1890 was implemented. Another twelve locomotives were rebuilt as F class 0-6-2 T locomotives. This ensured that only 75 engines of
1404-695: 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
1458-623: 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
1512-498: The Undersecretary for Public Works and the district engineer inspected the proposed route and felt that due to the agricultural land that would be served, it would be a mistake to terminate the line short of Waikaia township. By 1908, the 3.2 kilometres constructed in the 1880s had been fully relaid and beyond this point, construction was swift. The 22 kilometre long line opened on 1 October 1909. The following were stations on
1566-469: 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
1620-618: The Waikaia Branch as well as the Wyndham Branch in late May 1926 in an attempt to provide more efficient passenger service at a lower operating cost. They proved to be economical by the Railways Department's fuel consumption standards of the time, able to run 100 km on 18.8 litres of fuel. However, as the railcars rode roughly and were prone to overheating, they were unpopular with passengers and thus unsuccessful. The line became freight only from 9 February 1931. By
1674-470: The Waikaia Branch, in order from the junction at Riversdale: The Waikaia Branch was essentially a line to nowhere. Roughly 1,700 people lived in the area served by the line when it opened, and Waikaia was home to a mere 250 people. Photos of the grand opening, attended by Prime Minister Joseph Ward , show that the Waikaia station was essentially in the middle of a field. Initially, there was some traffic generated by gold mining and dredging near Waikaia, but
Waikaia Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
1728-454: The conversion of C1 was in fact due to an accident sustained in the period 1885–87. Both locomotives worked around Perth until the early 1900s, by which time C1 had been sold in 1899 to a sawmill. It last steamed in 1940 but was purchased by WAGR in 1956 and restored at their Midland Workshops before being placed on display at the Perth railway station . It has since moved into preservation with
1782-600: The design was meant for use on the Southland's railways, and three prototypes were built by Neilsons of Glasgow in 1872; among these was what would become F 13 Peveril , now preserved at the Ferrymead Railway in Christchurch. The engines were originally given names from the works of Sir Walter Scott by order of a government official. Originally some had New Zealand names; for example, F 36 (later F 13)
1836-612: The end of the 1950s, as were the two Greymouth examples, F 5 and F 277, which were dumped at Omoto, 2 km from Greymouth, along with other withdrawn locomotives and wagons in an attempt to control erosion of the railway embankment at Omoto by the Grey River. The last allocation for the F class was at Lyttelton, where their short wheelbase allowed them to run over the sharp curves on the wharves. The last two in service, F 13 and F 163, were withdrawn in 1963. Before this, both locomotives were overhauled and repainted in an approximation of
1890-569: 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
1944-617: The green livery used in the 1870s and named Peveril (F 13) and Ivanhoe (F 163) respectively. After taking part in the NZR centenary celebrations at the Christchurch Railway Station in 1963, both were placed in the Arthur's Pass locomotive shed with W 192 for safekeeping. In 1968, NZR donated F 13 to the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society Canterbury Branch for their Ferrymead Railway, and it
1998-559: The junction in Riversdale, but in the later years, considerably larger tender locomotives such as the A class were used. Apart from the 1926-31 experiment with the Model T Ford railcars , the line was always operated by steam locomotives ; it closed before dieselisation began in Southland to any substantial degree. It is not unusual for relics from closed railway lines to deteriorate and disappear over time, but remnants can be found
2052-546: 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
2106-507: The length of the Waikaia Branch. Much of the formation is still visible from local roads, and bridge foundations remain at a number of stream crossings. Freshford station still possesses its loading bank, stockyard, and goods shed , which are preserved by local residents. A loading bank and ramp for sheep to board wagons remained in Waipounamu until being removed in the late 1990s or early 2000s to allow for other development. In Waikaia,
2160-481: The line was much too late to serve the gold fields of the 19th century and it mainly carried agricultural traffic. Its role was essentially to open up the surrounding land to farming and to provide a convenient link to major centres before the development of modern road transportation. In 1925, Ford Model T bus equipment was used as the basis for two railcars , the RM class Model T Ford railcars . They began operating on
2214-407: The locomotive water tank has been preserved by the locals, and on its side, "Switzers - Estd 1909" is written in large letters. Nearby, the goods shed remained standing, with both "Switzers" and "Waikaia" visible on the ends, until it collapsed in 2005. The water tank also collapsed around this time but was restored. Branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off
Waikaia Branch - Misplaced Pages Continue
2268-403: The locomotives were relatively reliable, and some were fitted with extra bunkers behind their cabs to increase their small fuel capacity. The other applications where the F class found a useful second life were at freezing works and coal mines. Here, the locomotives were used as shunters, and in the case of coal mines, to run trains of empty NZR wagons to the loading bins and loaded wagons back to
2322-572: 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
2376-507: 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
2430-474: The standard engines. Another two locomotives were dumped at Oamaru Locomotive Dump in 1930 but their identities have not been proven as the locomotives have since been pulled into the harbour by the undertow. The last three F class engines in service were engines F 13 and F 163 in Christchurch, and F 180 at Eastown Workshops. In 1965, F 180 was named Meg Merrilies (which supposedly was the engine's original name, though this has not been verified), and donated to
2484-505: The type were in service with the NZR at any one time, given the length of the period over which NZR acquired these engines. By the 1940s, the F class were in retreat with the largest concentrations being in Christchurch, Invercargill, and Greymouth, where they were still used for shunting duties. The Christchurch locomotives were retained to shunt the Lyttelton wharves (their short wheelbase gave them greater operational flexibility), while
2538-498: The wharves, while in Southland, the Southland Dairy Co-operative required an F class engine to shunt its Edendale works as these were the only engines that could pass a verandah that stood too close to the tracks for other types to be able to safely shunt the siding. Two Greymouth engines, F 5 and F 277, were dumped at Omoto in 1957 following their withdrawal. F 277 was unique in that it had a larger cab than
2592-451: The withdrawal of F 13 and F 163 in 1963, F class locomotives continued to work in the bush or at a coal mine. The F class, while successful on the NZR network, did not succeed on the roughly laid bush tramways of New Zealand. Being heavier than the older A, C, and D class tank locomotives used on bush trams before, operators who used F class locomotives had to upgrade the standard of their track to accommodate these locomotives. Despite this,
2646-753: Was donated to the NZR&;LS Canterbury Branch in 1968. In 1985, F 163 was transferred to Palmerston North and was overhauled by off-duty NZR workers and railfans to ready the engine for the centenary of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway . It then spent another decade based at Palmerston North, before being transferred to Feilding. F 163 is the sole member of the once 88-strong class to be certified for mainline running. The 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) gauge Riotinto Railway of Spain ordered two similar locomotives from Neilson in 1875, works numbers 1950/51. A third locomotive of this type, Neilson 3611,
2700-504: 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
2754-692: Was ordered in 1887. Although largely the same as the NZR locomotives, they had a larger cylinder diameter. None of these locomotives have survived. Two more locomotives were built by Stephensons to this design, as their works numbers 2391/92, in 1880 for the Western Australian Government Railways as their C class . These locomotives were a direct match to the NZR F class and received the numbers C1 and C2 respectively. Due to their small fuel capacity, they were later rebuilt with two-axle tenders and modified cabs to become 0-6-0STT. It has been suggested by one railway website that
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#17328008775472808-576: Was originally named Clutha , and later renamed Edie Ochiltree . Some were at times classified as the O class as these had Cartazzi axles , but by the nationwide renumbering of 1890 all were classified F. By this time none of the engines carried names any more. The F class had originally been conceived as a mainline mixed-traffic tank locomotive, and their capabilities exceeded the expectation of even Charles Rous-Marten , who wrote of having observed them in all manner of duties while in New Zealand. As time went on and lines were extended, it became clear that
2862-502: 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 ,
2916-414: Was steamed from Arthur's Pass to Christchurch with a special excursion train. The F class was one of the most versatile locomotives in NZR service, and this was also true of these locomotives in industrial service. As larger and more powerful locomotives started to displace the F class from regular service, many were sold into industrial service, working at coal mines, sawmills, and freezing works. Following
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