Okaihau Branch

The Okaihau Branch, sometimes known as the Kaikohe Branch and rarely as the Rangiahua Branch, was a branch line railway that joined with the national rail network of New Zealand at the northern terminus of the North Auckland Line in Otiria. The line was the most northerly in New Zealand and was once intended to run all the way to Kaitaia. It opened to Okaihau in 1923 and closed in 1987.

Construction

Proposals for a railway line to Kaitaia and the Far North existed as early as the 1870s, but it wasn't until 1909 that preliminary surveys were conducted. After the North Auckland Line and Opua Branch were linked in 1911, construction progressed in earnest from Otiria towards Kaikohe, though initial work had been undertaken in 1910. On 1 May 1914, this section was opened to general traffic. A small amount of further construction took place over the next two years, but the effects of World War I meant that no work at all took place between 1916 and 1919. The resumption of work led to the completion of the line to Okaihau on 29 October 1923.

Debate raged over what route to follow to Kaitaia. The two most prominent proposals agreed to run from Okaihau to Rangiahua, near the Hokianga Harbour, but from here, they diverged: one proposal suggested route of about 30 kilometres with two tunnels through the Maungataniwha Range, while the other proposed a line roughly ten kilometres longer that skirted the range and did not require any tunnels. A 1921 commission did not support further work beyond Okaihau, but a compromise in 1923 established Rangiahua as the northern terminus and the Public Works Department continued to build northwards, albeit slowly.

The Great Depression proved catastrophic for the fortunes of the line beyond Okaihau, with construction abandoned in the early 1930s. The Rangiahua section was essentially complete: the line wound downhill to the town and a station yard complete with platform was built, though the station building itself had not yet been erected. In 1936, a change in government led to a review of the work beyond Okaihau and the decision was made not to extend the line to Kaitaia. The steep route to Rangiahua was not seen as being particularly useful and the line was accordingly terminated in Okaihau. Sometime during World War II, the abandoned trackage was salvaged for use elsewhere.

Stations

The following stations were located on the Okaihau Branch (in brackets in kilometres is the distance from Otiria; the extension to Rangiahua is not included as it never saw regular service):

• Kawiti (5 km)
• Cameron's Crossing (7 km)
• Ngapipito (10 km)
• Rakautao (17 km)
• Ngapuhi (22 km)
• Kaikohe (26 km)
• Lake Omapere Road Crossing (35 km)
• Okaihau (40 km)

Operation

Although Kaikohe has become established as the service centre of the Far North, it failed to generate much rail traffic in the early years of the line. During the first ten months of existence, a meagre 1,500 tons of inbound freight was carried, with roughly half that amount carried outbound; the decline continued to the point that in 1918, Kaikohe lost its stationmaster. Minimal services were offered, and although losses increased in the years up to 1930, fortunes had somewhat improved by 1940, and by 1950, there was sufficient traffic to justify six trains each way a week. Two solely carried freight, while four also catered for passengers and were known as "mixed" trains.

Curiously, when railcars were introduced to operate passenger services north of Auckland in November 1956, the decision was made to run them all the way to Okaihau. Previously, a carriage train known as the Northland Express had run a dedicated passenger service from Auckland to Opua with connections to Okaihau via the mixed trains, but with the change of the northern terminus to Okaihau, it rose in importance. This proved to be short-lived; in July 1967, the railcars were withdrawn and no dedicated passenger service was offered as a replacement. Passengers had to return to utilising mixed trains that operated with significantly older rolling stock on a slower schedule, and unsurprisingly, demand slipped. Timetable cutbacks ultimately led to the full cancellation of regular passenger services on the Okaihau Branch from 21 June 1976.

In 1977, a relaxation of road transport regulation laws led to a decline in freight traffic on the line and forestry proposals that would have required a railway service failed to eventuate. Regular trains were cancelled on 12 August 1983, and for a little over four years, the line was shunted when required. It seemed nothing could improve the economic fortunes of the Okaihau Branch and it was accordingly closed on 1 November 1987, leaving Otiria as the northernmost terminus of New Zealand's railway network.

The branch today

After the line's closure, the New Zealand Railways retained ownership over the trackbed in the hopes that forestry proposals would eventually come to fruition and require the service of trains, and while this is yet to happen, it is known that some rails were still in place during the 1990s. In most places, however, track and bridges have been removed, though evidence of the bridge piles and ballast remain. Remains such as a loading bank and rails under a loading chute exist in Kaikohe, and in Okaihau, the flat area where the yard was once located, the tunnel before leading down to Rangiahua and the platform are very apparent. For much of the line's length, its formation is quite obvious and includes embankments and cuttings. It remains obvious as it continues towards Rangiahua, and at the site of New Zealand's northernmost railway terminus, State Highway 1 runs where rails used to be located, with a loading bank on the left and a platform on the right.

Resources

• Churchman, Geoffrey B., and Hurst, Tony; The Railways Of New Zealand: A Journey Through History, HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand), 1991 reprint
• Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Grantham House, 1998 revised edition