Dargaville and other North Auckland Branches

Following on from the update of the North Auckland Line files, the NAL Northland file is now released in its updated format. Both of these are now more or less Stage 2 or 3 status, where they will remain unless new sources of information come to hand, such as the locations of specific closed stations or new high-res GE coverage.

The main line of interest in the North Auckland area is the Dargaville Branch and is the focus both of this article and the map shown, which is a segment of the NAL Northland file itself. The file now includes the complete route taken by this branch, including the Kirikopuni Balloon Loop which at one time was the terminus of the line. The original approach to Dargaville is also shown. Some construction work was carried out on this route, shown as aqua from Te Wharau, but when the branch was officially completed in 1943 a deviation had been constructed taking the railway around the northernmost boundary of the town and entering it from the north. This also resulted in the construction of a new railway station about half a kilometre north of the riverside original, the building from which may still exist today. It was done this way in order to take the station and the numerous level crossings of the railway line out of the town centre. The link from the present yard to the site of the original station is also shown in aqua. The connecting line between the two points is shown in green as a hypothetical route, since there is not evidence at this stage that anything was actually constructed. On the other hand, some of the original eastern route was built, including the original Te Wharau station, the platforms of which can still be seen, as well as the nearby cutting and an embankment closer to the town. Thanks to geoff_184 and keithdsf for contributions.

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Pike River Coal Mine

This is a new coal mining development in the Paparoa Ranges about 50 km north-west of Greymouth. Coal will be conveyed to ship by three transport methods:

1. A coal slurry line from the mine to a processing plant (10 km)
2. Trucked by road to Ikamatua, a siding on the Stillwater-Ngakawau railway line (22 km).
3. Railed to Lyttelton Port via the Midland line and Main South Line through Christchurch (265 km).

The underground mine tunnel was recently completed and loading facilities are now being constructed at Ikamatua. Here, the regular Solid Energy coal trains from Ngakawau will be diverted into a balloon loop siding for loading the Pike River coal. The existing trains have 30 wagons of Stockton coal and at the time it has been proposed that these will have another 15 wagons added to them to load the Pike River output. The trains will then continue on their regular schedule to Lyttelton for unloading.

The map shows the location for the loading sidings which are not yet visible on Google Earth. The black line is the road route for coal transport from the mine.

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This map shows the approximate site of the coal processing plant (bottom right) and the mine entrance and tunnel (top left) along with the expected footprint of the mine itself.

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Christchurch Rail Workers’ Memorial

One aspect of the old central city railway station that’s often missed is this memorial to railway workers, tucked away in a corner of the old shunting yards.

Closeup of the plaque:

Map of the area, the location is shown as a red placemark. Some other points of interest of the old station area are also shown.

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Shunting was one of the most dangerous operations on the railways, involving as it did the movement of heavy railway wagons by workers who moved around the yards on foot. A shunter had to keep his wits about him at all times, making split second decisions, racing up and down the yard on foot to change the points, climbing onto and off moving wagons, which were often given a push by the engine and left to coast down the various roads of the yards until the shunter applied the handbrake or the wagon bumped into another. These days that kind of operation doesn’t happen – not only because of the damage caused to freight by the impacts, but because it’s simply considered too dangerous. What shunting that does occur generally involves the wagons being moved while all coupled together, and the shunter now rides on a safe platform built into the end of the locomotive, rather than on a narrow step between wagons. Some shunting is also carried out using remote control packs where the locomotive is moved by a shunter carrying a hand held controller on the ground.

Since the memorial is dated 1996, I have no idea what existed before that date, because deaths certainly occurred on the railways before then. The memorial is attended by a ceremony every year.