The Historic Waiau Branch 1: Waipara [1]

The branch line to Waiau closed in January 1978 - almost 38 years ago. The 29.5 km section from Waipara to the Hurunui River Bridge was sold to the Weka Pass Railway which initially proposed to operate with an extension to the Hurunui Hotel. For various reasons these plans were soon abandoned and the line beyond the Highway 7 road crossing at Waikari was eventually lifted. The Weka Pass Railway now operates on the first 12.5 km of the former branch.

In 2015 the interest for all closed branches for railway enthusiasts remains in what can be traced on the ground. The main focus for the updating of the maps has been in the identification of historic rather than  currently present features. The maps will be presented in this series of articles along with some photos from my collection.

None of the maps feature detailed layouts of any station as this information is still to come with possibly historic aerial surveys to be obtained in the future and used as they have in some other places. The track diagrams produced by the NZ Model Railway Journal are however included.

We start traditionally from the junction end of the line, however the maps sequence on Flickr goes the other way because they are always arranged from north to south.

Waipara is the junction station and of course is still operational on the Main North Line. It is the base of the Weka Pass Railway. For Kiwirail its operational purpose nowadays is as a crossing location for trains. The Waipara township population was boosted significantly by railways employees at the height of operations in the 1970s because various maintenance gangs were based there. Even after the Waiau Branch closed these gangs still worked on the Main North Line and I remember in the 1986 census which I worked on that Waipara was really a railway town at the time. Since the reorganisation of the railways around that period, all of the railways employees got moved elsewhere. The township enjoyed a second renaissance of sorts when the Weka Plains irrigation scheme was developed in the Weka Pass bringing water into what was traditionally a very dry area. This kickstarted grape growing developments and lifestyle blocks and has boosted the area with vineyards.

Firstly we have four maps showing the historical track layout of Waipara. The current layout is not depicted and will be left for another time.

Starting at the south of the township just past the 62 peg the first siding started on the east side of the line. Highway 7 never crossed here originally because the junction with SH1 was further to the west, since until 1972 Highway 1 went through the township of Waipara.

On the next slide you see a few more sidings but not much else of note.

Here's the main part of the yard. We can now see a lot of tracks. At the south end the distinct group of tracks on the east side were for the locomotive depot. Then there is another group of parallel tracks on the west side and the gap in the middle was the island platform of the station. We can also see the turning triangle, and freight shed tracks, but unfortunately I have not marked any structure on this diagram. The cross track near the top of the diagram is misdrawn as it should actually show the footbridge.

Continuing to the northern end of Waipara we have the junction with what was the Waiau Branch and now is the Weka Pass Railway. There were several tracks alongside the first part of the branch which connected it into the Waipara yard. The present day junction is actually not as shown as the diagram is incorrectly drawn - the Weka Pass Railway line goes onto a siding before it joins the main line.

Today we are focusing on Waipara as it was in the mid 1980s. You will see some references to the Weka Pass Railway but that is not the primary objective of this post. Unless otherwise stated all photos are by myself.

The north end of Waipara seen in 1986 with a freight arriving from the north. The home signal is set at clear. At this time the station was still staffed by a traffic operator who attended for most trains but was not there all of the time. The branch line to the left is still as it was when the Waiau line was open with extra connecting trackage into the service sidings to the left.

A Colin Duthie photo at the north end of the yard shows the main line and loop and the original goods shed with loading bank to the right. In the distance is the Way and Works depot. The turning triangle is to the right with one leg visible behind the goods shed. This photo would probably be late 1970s.

Some of these photos which I scanned a very long time ago might get rescanned one day from the negatives. Anyway here we have the double slip that connected the triangle into the yard at the north end. The footbridge had been taken down by the time of this 1987 shot. The small white building on the right is the later goods shed.

Another small scan, this one taken 1985 is from the footbridge with a NZR freight coming through on the main. A couple of tracks over you can see some Weka Pass Railway rolling stock. In the distance, carriages are being turned on the triangle.

Taken the same day as the previous photo we can see the Weka Pass Railway turning their locomotives and carriages on the Waipara triangle.

The station footbridge seen in 1986. It was demolished soon after.

Looking across the apex of the triangle towards the station about 1987. The triangle was pulled up some time in the 1990s. The tracks ran out almost to the footpath at the side of the main road and there is still a narrow strip of the corridor left open today.

Late 1980s and you have the south end of the station platform. The tracks on the right side were removed early 1980s. At the platform is an excursion returning from Kaikoura.

Part of the way and works depot at the south end, here is the trolley shed.

Part of the works depot with a light track for material trolleys to be loaded.

Towards the south end and you can see the trolley shed in the distance.

I am considering rescanning some of the old photos to add to what can be seen here. In the meantime this is what is getting published today.

Waiau Branch : Part 5 – Waikari to Hawarden

As noted elsewhere, the Weka Pass Railway began the removal of all track beyond the Waikari road crossing in 1986, in various stages. These were:

• March 1986: WPR decided to recover all track between the Hurunui River and Medbury. Commenced May 1986 and was completed August 1987.

• November 1986: WPR decided to recover all track between Hawarden and Medbury. (The Hawarden backshunt had however been lifted in mid 1985) Work started late 1987 and was completed mid -1991. The Waitohi River bridge beams were not recovered until 1996.

• October 1988: WPR decided to recover all track beyond Waikari crossing. Completed mid-1991 when the Waikari yard was lifted.

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Photomap. Zoom in and click on photos for more information.
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Main map. Zoom in and click on placemarks for more information.

Waiau Branch Railway album on Picasa

As alluded to in a previous post, I have been busy today creating a single Picasa web album for all my Waiau Branch photos. This of course includes all Weka Pass Railway photos. At the moment the album is just over 400 photos, all of which have been geotagged. The next step is to remove duplicates (the same photo with two different names) and after that to caption every photo. Once those tasks are complete the album will be ready to share – whether directly with people, or through inserting photos or maps into postings on this blog. As already alluded to the earlier series of posts relating to the WBR / WPR will be altered to use the photos from the album instead of duplicating with the pictures being put into Blogger’s album.

This is quite a big step and is roughly comparable to putting together my big Otago Central album about a year ago, although there is a big difference in that the OCR album has got many older pictures rescanned at a larger size (up to 1600 pixels), whereas all the Waiau pictures are without rescanning. I don’t intend to rescan anything for the Waiau album at this time as it is quite a major job, and the pictures which were captured off video can’t be made bigger anyway. The Waiau album includes a small number of scans from other sources, video capture images from the videos I made of the 1999 and 2001 Waipara Vintage festivals, lots of photos and a small number of slides that I took at various times.

UPDATE: Some of the photos will be rescanned at a later date to get them into Panoramio (minimum 500 x 500)

Recent Articles

As you can see, I have focused on posting the series of articles covering the Weka Pass Railway from 1985 to 1991 of late. These have now been completed in 14 parts. At this stage I have not determined how to present photos taken since that time; probably these will appear in a Picasa web album.
Completion of this series means I can move on to the Waiau branch article series and other similar material.

Early Years of the Weka Pass Railway – Part 14 : 1990-91

Please note that this blog is a personal journal and does not purport to be officially representative of the Weka Pass Railway in any way.

As the year of the New Zealand Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary), 1990 offered special opportunities to community groups to receive government funding for commemorative events. The railfan community was just as quick to seize the moment as any other, and the year saw the Canterbury Steam and Rail Festival organised by Ferrymead Historic Park as the first inter-society event of its kind since Ferrymead 125 two years before. Another group at Ferrymead organised a Vulcan Railcar tour of the South Island; this had an unexpected outcome when railcar RM 51 broke down at Waipara on its way north and the organisers made use of the Weka Pass Railway's facilities to ready the car for towing back to Christchurch. June 1990 saw steam locomotive W 192 operated on the line during the Queens Birthday weekend. During 1991 the Railway also began to develop its Japanese tour train operation and the first trains ran towards the end of that year.

Track refurbishment continued and at Easter 1990 the line was open to the 6.5 km peg. By December 1991 this had been extended to 9.5 km, past Frog Rock where a temporary platform was built. An NZR tamper and ballast regulator worked along the major relay site at Antills in May 1990. Track in the whistle board cutting was lifted in May 1991 and the trackbed was dug out by a scraper and the fill used to form an embankment for a proposed siding. The track was then replaced, ballasted and tamped by the Society's 04 tamper, probably the last occasion it was operated successfully on the line. Recovery work continued between Waikari and Hawarden. During 1990 scrap metal contractor Railbase Systems assisted in the recovery of surplus rail in this section. The work was finally concluded in August 1991 and enabled the track workers to focus their efforts solely on the operating railway. Progress after 1991 was however slow and it took another eight years to complete the last 3.5 kilometres to the Waikari Corner terminus. A major milestone came towards the end of 1990 when repayment of the NZR track purchase loan was completed. Following the completion of recovery from Medbury the road metal/ballast pit was extended right across the former station site. The backshunt at Glenmark station was aligned with the help of the crane and the loop points were completed.

Major restoration work was carried out on the Weka Pass Railway car-van during 1990 and 1991. As NZ Rail had changed its colour scheme to blue, the WPR's blue carriages were repainted red during the period. Bogies were also changed on the 50 foot guard's van. Battery boxes were removed from the carriages as the batteries were not in use and acid leakage posed a maintenance problem. A KP wagon was purchased as a dangerous goods store. The WPR purchased a 3 wheel hand trolley, WW 198. Work continued on A 428 with a replacement smokebox manufactured and the boiler almost completed. DG 791 was fitted with a new set of batteries, while TR 275 was trucked to Nelson by its owners. DSA 822 was sent up to Waipara for trials and as these proved successful it was later purchased by the railway.

Other events during 1990 - 1991 included the Easter 1990 Waipara Fair, demolition of the Waipara station (a part of which was recycled as a carriage workshop and shelter), purchase and transport of the Hundalee Station to Waikari, a bus trip to Waiau looking at some of the remains of the branch line, relocation of the gangers hut from Bentleys Road crossing near Hawarden, repairs to the social hall, purchase of land in the Waipara yard, purchase of six Tyers Train Tablet machines, purchase of a new diesel powered air compressor, commissioning new train control huts along the line, installation of a shower in the social hall, a members day in February 1990, purchase of sleepers from Addington Workshops, painting of Glenmark Station, and purchase of the Waipara trolley shed.

1991 was the last year that I worked personally on the Railway, as I no longer had the free time to travel to the site and work on Sundays, the main work days. I also allowed my membership of the Society to lapse after this time. Over the succeeding years until about 2003 I continued to take an interest by attending the biennial Waipara Vintage Festivals. However due to having severed my participation in the local railfan community in the last few years, I have not maintained contact since that time.

August 1990. This is the Gemmells Road level crossing just south of Hawarden. There was still some track in place at that time.

August 1990. Track had recently been removed just west of the Waikari level crossing at this time. This section of the formation is now a walkway.

 

August 1990. The cutting at Waikari which was partly filled several years before is seen, very overgrown and waterlogged. The overbridge No.2 can just be seen in the background.

August 1990. This is the former station building at Rotherham. It was owned by the WPR and intended to be used at Waikari, but was assessed about this time to be unsuitable for restoration due to its deteriorating condition. This caused the society to purchase the Hundalee station instead and the Rotherham building was then sold.

May 1991. The whistle board cutting before removal of the track.

May 1991. A contractor lifts the track in the whistle board cutting.

May 1991. Formation at the whistle board cutting after the track was removed.

May 1991. A road scraper starts work on lowering the formation at the whistle board cutting.

May 1991. The formation being scraped at the whistle board cutting.

May 1991. Just south of the whistle board cutting, the scraper is dumping earth at the site of a proposed siding. At the time it was considered desirable to have an intermediate crossing point in the Weka Pass for use on busy days.

May 1991. After the earthworks are completed, the track is lifted back in by Gray and Lewis’s excavator.

1991. A work train ballasts the relaid track in the whistle board cutting.

1991. The track gang at work at 8.5 km, just below Frog Rock. The terminus reached Frog Rock soon after, and then advanced very slowly towards Waikari; the last 4 km took some seven years to complete.

1991. The Plasser 04 tamper at work at the whistle board cutting. Probably this is the last time it was successfully operated on the railway.

 

1991. A closeup of the front of the Plasser 04 tamper working in the whistle board cutting with Shane Ward checking the operation.

Early Years of the Weka Pass Railway – Part 13 : 1989 (B)

Please note that this blog is a personal journal and does not purport to be officially representative of the Weka Pass Railway in any way.
See part 12 for a narrative of 1989 events.

June 1989. Harold Feather’s truck is loading at one of the banks in Hawarden yard. At left is the main station building with the men’s urinal the enduring structure (that is possibly still there today).
 
June 1989. Getting ready to tow rails off the formation across a small bridge/culvert. Ken Parker and Lindsay May to the right, the location is just north of Hawarden with the township in the background.
 
June 1989. Track still in place just north of Hawarden (looking north) alongside the oxidation ponds.
 
June 1989. Loading sleepers onto a truck at Hawarden level crossing.

August 1989. The recently acquired 10 ton diesel crane lifting the air compressor. This was taken by road to Waikari for a day’s work lifting track north-west of the station.

August 1989. As the NZR Waipara yard works continued, the redundant home signal at the north end was removed by a contractor. This signal has been re-erected at Glenmark. At right the loop extension works can be seen, with the WPR sidings at left.
 
August 1989. A little later the loop extension was completed, the old turnout to the former loop is still in the mainline at right. On the left are the Weka Pass Railway sidings.

August 1989. Beginning a day’s work with a quick look from the vicinity of the 16 km peg in the direction of Fenwicks Road crossing. Here we are looking along the straight towards Waikari, this stretch includes Bridge No.4 of which the guard rails are just visible in the distance, and No.3 closer to the crossing.
 
August 1989. Fenwicks Road crossing and Bridge No.3. The line curves around to the north ending the long straight run up from Waikari station.

August 1989. Starting work at Fenwicks Road over Bridge 3. The air compressor and tools were at work here due to the track being screwspiked.

August 1989. Further up the straight, the trolley with the compressor is seen sitting on Bridge No.4.

August 1989. Glen Anthony is hard at work lifting track on Bridge No.4 with an old milepost to the right.

August 1989. Rounding the curve near 16 km, an old trolley stand is seen. The track here is held in place with elastic spikes requiring crowbars to remove. An alternative solution for separating the rails is to jack up the track and sledge hammer the sleepers off. The compressor and air tools are still in use, now just for removing the fishbolts at rail joints.

August 1989. Fenwicks Road, looking towards Waikari.

August 1989. Rounding the curve near the 16 km peg.

Early Years of the Weka Pass Railway – Part 12 : 1989 (A)

Please note that this blog is a personal journal and does not purport to be officially representative of the Weka Pass Railway in any way. Many photos in this article are undated, partly because the negatives in some cases were not developed for 10 or more years.

1989 offered most railway societies a chance to get back to their own thing after the hectic pace of the Ferrymead 125 event, or to consolidate on the opportunities that the inter-society cooperation of the festival offered. This was certainly true of the Weka Pass Railway. During the year they continued to make progress in key areas of projects that had been underway in prior years. 1989 was also the first year since 1983 when a steam locomotive from the Ferrymead Railway visited the WPR. C 864 was used to run trains on the line in conjunction with the National Federation of Rail Societies' annual conference at Waipara. In November, Mainline Steam Trust's J 1211 also operated trains on the Railway. However the Society did not run its annual excursion to Arthur's Pass as in previous years, citing declining profitability in the face of increased NZR charges for these trains. Public trains ran at Easter on the Railway as they had in previous years.

On the track front, recovery work continued throughout the year between Waikari and Medbury. Work camps were held during the year to help in this effort. The level crossings at Princess Street, Waikari, and Hawarden station, were removed by the Hurunui District Council. This was not a major obstacle as there had never been any real prospect of recovering the line by rail based means. Track rehabilitation on the main line achieved the opening of the Railway to the 6.5 km peg by the year's end.

As noted the Railway was visited during the year by two steam locomotives, C 864 and J 1211. The boiler of A 428 was also taken to Belfast for sandblasting, and transported to Scotts Engineering of Christchurch for inspection and restoration. During the year the Railway purchased a 10 ton diesel crane from NZR and brought it into service. 1989 also saw the public debut of the Plasser 04 tamper which worked on several sections of the main line. This was actually the highlight of the tamper’s short WPR career.

Other events during 1989 included the purchase of semaphore signals from Amberley and Waipara, work begun on the toilet block at Glenmark station, purchase of a URT wagon and overhaul of the works EA 65 wagon for trackwork, a telephone exchange installed for train control use, the purchase of the Rotherham Station building, installation of the dock road at Glenmark, purchase of a turntable, hosting of the NFRS conference, and completion of various facilities in Glenmark station.

 
1989. The works wagon at Glenmark as the train is prepared for another day’s work. One half of the wagon stores equipment and fittings while the other half is a lunchroom complete with pot belly stove. Its purchase marked a major step forward in providing for crew comfort during workdays on the line.

1989. The Glenmark station development is progressing well with the annex built onto the station (which houses the train control equipment). The platform has been filled with gravel – sealing would come at a later date.

1989. TR 275 was towed up from Christchurch and used for a time before being taken by road to Nelson for use by the Nelson Railway Society (then called the Grand Tapawera Railroad Co).

1989. C 864 operates a passenger train approaching No.1 Gate during the Federation conference.

1989. A rake of old guards vans are seen in the Waipara public siding. I believe these vans went to the Waipara Sleepers holiday park nearby although their website states theirs arrived in 1993.

1989. Track removal works north of Hawarden with rails waiting to be recovered. The gangers shed to the right was also removed and is now in use somewhere in the Weka Pass.

1989. Ballasting up the line in one of the many cuttings after track repairs.

1989. The same cutting showing the Plasser 04 tamper at work. The tamper did some great work when it was running but its operation was very sporadic due to numerous breakdowns. On this occasion or another when I was present the radiator hoses burst resulting in a “dead” gravity-assisted trip back to Glenmark.

1989. The tamper at work. The tines are in the lowered position tamping under the track. Gary Kelly is profiling ballast on the far side. Operating the machine (when it worked) was as simple as positioning directly over a sleeper and pushing a button to initiate the automatic tamping cycle in which the built in jacks lifted the track a predetermined amount and the ballast was then tamped under the sleepers. The trolley on the long arm in front (see previous picture) was used to
measure the level of the track (and thus the amount of lift needed).

1989. Looking north from the Hawarden station yard, we can see the level crossing that was removed by the Hurunui District Council. Most of the yard sidings were still in place and the site was being used as a collection point for the lifted track.


1989. Track removal work in progress just north of Hawarden, looking south.

1989. At the north of the Hawarden yard, one of the tracks that formerly crossed the road is still in place under a stack of rail.

1989. The main line and most of the siding track is still in place at the south end of the Hawarden yard (except for the backshunt, which was removed in 1985).