Miranui Flax Tramway

Miranui Flax Tramway
Steam locomotive with lorries loaded with flax crosses the Tokomaru Stream
The Bagnall locomotive will pass under the Wellington – Manawatu Railway on the opening day
Route length:	5.6 km
Gauge :	914 mm ( English 3-foot track )
Legend 0 Miranui Flax Mill Wellington - Manawatu underpass Tokomaru Stream 5.6 Flying tracks in the flax fields

The Miranui Flax Tramway was operated from 1907 to 1920, 5.6 km long light rail with a gauge of 3 feet (914 mm) in Makerua Swamp (now Opiki Plains ) near Shannon in the Horowhenua District of the Manawatu-Wanganui region on the north island of New Zealand .

history

In the Makerua Swamp there were many flax mills on the banks of the Manawatu River around 1910 . Flax fibers from New Zealand flax ( Phormium tenax ), which is also called New Zealand hemp or Harekeke , were an important export good from New Zealand.

The Miranui Flax Mill near Shannon belonged to the Seifert brothers. Miranui means big mill in the Maori language . It operated from 1907 to 1933 and was the largest flax mill in the area. At its peak, it had seven flax breaking machines and 300 employees. Miranui had much better working conditions than the other mills.

transport

The Miranui Flax Mill was the only one that used a steam-powered field train to transport the flax from the fields to the mill. In 1907 she bought and imported a 5 ton steam locomotive from Bagnall and Co in England to pull the flax-laden wagons. However, even this lightweight locomotive turned out to be too heavy for the existing tracks, so it was sold and used by buyers from 1910 on forest railways on the Waitakere Coast near Auckland and at Raetihi in the middle of the North Island .

Since the locomotive was too heavy for the route in the swamp, horses were used from 1910 to pull the lorries loaded with flax to the mill. Two of these draft animals, usually a warm-blooded and a cold-blooded animal , could pull 5 carts and three horses could pull 9 carts. Each cart weighed over a ton when fully loaded. Over 70 horses were used for the various tasks at the mill and in the swamp. In 1920 the horses were replaced by trucks. The coachmen, known as Trammy , drove the horses on and laid the flying track in the flax fields. During the harvest season, over 200 m of flying track were relocated and relocated every day.

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  A worker harvests the green leaves

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  Loading of the flax on light rail trucks

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  From 1910 the carts were pulled to the flax mill by horses

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  Unloading the trolleys at the flax mill

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  The Miranui Flax Mill in Makerua Swamp, 1917

further reading

• Bob Ayson: Miranui - The Story of New Zealand's Largest Flax Mill. Published 1977. Retrieved May 6, 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ian Matheson: Flaxmills of Makerua Swamp. 1978, Palmerston North Libraries and Community Services.
2. ^ Albert Percy Godber: Bales of flax fiber ready for market AP Godber Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library. Reference Number: APG-1438-1 / 4-G.
3. ↑ ^{a b} George Leslie Adkin (1888–1964): Loading cut flax in Makerua. In: Photographs of New Zealand geology, geography, and the Maori history of Horowhenua. Ref: 1 / 2-065689-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.
4. ↑ Malcolm McKinnon: Manawatū and Horowhenua region - Human impact on the environment . Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved May 6, 2018.
5. ^ ^{A b} Catherine Knight et al: The little engine that couldn't: the Miranui tramway. Published March 17, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
6. ↑ Bob Ayson: Miranui - The Story of New Zealand's Largest Flax Mill. Published 1977. Retrieved May 6, 2018.

Coordinates: 40 ° 23 '31.12 "  N , 49 ° 50' 51.27"  E