Takaka Tramway

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Takaka Tramway
Pioneer private locomotive on the Takaka Tramway, built by the Anchor Foundry, Nelson, circa 1900
Pioneer private locomotive on the Takaka Tramway,
built by the Anchor Foundry, Nelson , circa 1900
Route of the Takaka Tramway
Route of the former narrow-gauge railway south of Takaka
Route length: 13.4 km
Gauge : 2 feet 6 inches = 760 mm
Maximum slope : 1:96 = 10  ‰
Minimum radius : 2 chain = 40 m

The Takaka Tramway was a 13.4 kilometer long narrow gauge railway with a gauge of 760 millimeters (2 feet 6 inches ), which was in operation in the Takaka Valley , Golden Bay , New Zealand from 1882-1905 .

history

John Rochfort carried out the surveying work for the route of the railway line in 1880. Construction began in February 1881 and was completed in early 1882. The cost was £ 1,350 per mile. The government provided the rails and funded £ 2,000 of the project cost. The remaining £ 4000 was loaned. The rails with a weight of 11 kg / m (22 lb / yard) led from Waitapu Wharf in the north along Commercial Street on the Takaka River and Paines Ford to Takaka and over an embankment between the river and the limestone cliffs further south into the East Takaka Plain.

After the opening of the tramway in 1882, the steam locomotive Pioneer commuted twice a day with a passenger car and 2-3 freight cars loaded with boards and beams between East Takata and the port. It was mainly used to transport wood. By 1905 the volume of traffic had drastically reduced. The railway was then offered for sale and dismantled in 1906.

There was only one locomotive on the line, a 0-4-0T called the Pioneer , made by the Anchor Foundry in Nelson . She was delivered to Waitapu Wharf on June 3, 1882. It had a cubic capacity of 130 × 250 mm (5 × 10 inches) and wheels with a diameter of 530 mm (1 foot 9 inches).

In the mid-1890s, the Takata Tramway Company ran into financial difficulties due to the decline in the timber industry. The company changed hands several times. Severe flooding destroyed much of the infrastructure in 1904. Therefore, in 1905, the locomotive, the cars and the rails were sold to a company in Wellington. After the line was closed in 1910, she was spotted in a scrapyard in Onehunga near Auckland .

  • Page & Spurge's Junction Store on Main Street, Takaka

  • A train loaded with wool at the Junction Store: "Page & Spurge's wool for SS Alexander Dec 22nd 1803"

  • Freight and passenger train in East Takaka

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "The Takaka Tramway" Manawatu Standard, Volume 3, Issue 55, January 29, 1883
  2. ↑ a b Display board on Commercial Street, Takata. A high resolution image is available on Flickr.
  3. ^ John Roger Yonge, Quail Map Company: New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas ( en ). Quail Map Company, 1993, ISBN 9780900609923 .
  4. ↑ Display board at the East Takaka Terminus.
  5. ↑ Display board at Waitapu Wharf.
  6. ^ Colonist, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11738, September 21, 1906 .
  7. ^ Colonist, Volume XXVI, Issue 3482, June 15, 1882 .
  8. ^ Anchor Foundry Locomotives .

Coordinates: 40 ° 49 ′ 36 ″  S , 172 ° 48 ′ 14 ″  E