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The Hedgehope Branch, also known as the Browns Branch, [1] was a branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand that started life in the 1880s as a privately owned bush tramway. It opened as a railway in 1899 and operated until 1968, though the section beyond Browns closed in 1953. [2] It connected with the national rail network in Winton on the Kingston Branch.
In 1883, the Forest Hill Tramway was established and a line that ran eight kilometres west of Winton to settlers in the Browns Gap area was constructed. Although the line was not particularly successful, the Hokonui Coal Company extended it in 1886 to serve their coal mining operations near the settlement of Hokonui. The tramway was built to standards far inferior to those of a railway, and the decision to upgrade was made in the 1890s. In 1896, the Makarewa River was bridged, and over the next three years, the old tramway was rebuilt to railway standards and the line was extended to Hedgehope. [2] The line was completed in 1899 and was handed over to the government's Railways Department in time for the grand opening on 17 July 1899. [2]
The following stations were located on the Hedgehope Branch (in brackets is the distance from Winton):
The line's passenger services barely lasted three decades, with cancellation coming on 9 February 1931. Unlike most branches in Southland, the Hedgehope Branch had significant industrial traffic, mainly coal and agricultural lime, and trains ran five days a week. The line was losing money by 1930, and despite staff cuts, the losses were relatively the same in 1952. As most of the lime traffic came from the stations of Kings and Browns, the section beyond Browns to Hedgehope was accordingly closed on 24 December 1953. [1] Roughly 75,000 tonnes of lime was being railed off the branch annually until 1959, when government incentives for farmers to transport lime via rail were slashed. [1] The line failed to survive the next problem to strike its lime trade. A significant quantity of lime was railed up the Tokanui Branch, but when it closed in early 1966, the Browns Branch saw its traffic almost evaporate. After struggling through the rest of the year and 1967, it was closed on 1 January 1968. [2]
There is very little left of the Hedgehope Branch, with both nature and human development removing most interesting traces. [3] Some of the formation is faintly visible, but only one substantial remnant can be found - the truss bridge across the Makarewa River, converted to allow access to a farm. Otherwise, no goods sheds, loading banks, disused rails, or other railway structures and objects remain. Discernible flat areas are all that is left of the yards that once existed in the termini of Browns and Hedgehope. [3]
The Waikaka Branch was a branch line railway of the Main South Line that ran through agricultural and gold-mining country in Southland, New Zealand. It was constructed in 1907 and 1908, and was operated by the New Zealand Railways Department until its closure in 1962.
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The Mossburn Branch was a branch line railway in New Zealand from Lumsden on the Kingston Branch to the town of Mossburn in northern Southland. Construction began in 1879, Mossburn was reached in 1887, and the line closed in 1982. It was operated by the New Zealand Railways Department.
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The Bluff Branch, officially the Bluff Line since 2011, is a railway line in Southland, New Zealand that links Invercargill with the port of Bluff. One of the first railways in New Zealand, it opened in 1867 and is still operating. Presently, it essentially functions as an elongated industrial siding.
The NZR RM class Clayton steam rail motor was a unique railcar that was operated by New Zealand Railways (NZR) for New Zealand's national rail network and one of only two steam railcars to operate in New Zealand - the other being 1925's RM class Sentinel-Cammell.
The Eyreton Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network. Located in the Canterbury region of the South Island, it left the Main North Line in Kaiapoi and was built a mere ten kilometres south of the Oxford Branch. It opened in 1875 and operated until 1954, except for the first portion, which remained open until 1965.
The Whitecliffs Branch was an 18.4 kilometres (11.4 mi) long branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network in the Canterbury region of the South Island. It was more industrial than the many rural branches on the South Island's east coast whose traffic primarily derived from agriculture, and it operated from 1875 until 1962.
The Ross Branch, officially known as the Hokitika Line since 2011, and previously as the Hokitika Industrial Line, is a branch line railway that forms part of New Zealand's national rail network. It is located in the Westland District of the South Island's West Coast region and opened to Hokitika in 1893. A further extension to Ross operated from 1909 until 1980.
Browns is a locality in Central Southland in New Zealand's South Island. It is just to the east of the town of Winton in the southwestern reaches of the Hokonui Hills. State Highway 96 passes through the town on its route between Winton and Springhills.
Springhills is a locality in the central Southland region of New Zealand's South Island. Situated in a gap between Forest Hill and the Hokonui Hills, it is located on State Highway 96 29 kilometres west of State Highway 1 near Mataura and 15 kilometres east of State Highway 6 at Winton.
The Seddonville Branch, later truncated as the Ngākawau Branch, is a branch line railway in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. Construction began in 1874 and it reached its terminus at the Mokihinui Mine just beyond Seddonville in 1895. In 1981 it was closed past Ngākawau and effectively became an extension of the Stillwater–Westport Line, since formalised as the Stillwater–Ngākawau Line.
The Ngatapa Branch was a secondary branch line railway 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) long that for a short time formed part of the national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. The Ngatapa branch diverged from the Moutohora branch line about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Gisborne and ran a further 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) across the coastal flat to a terminus at Ngatapa. It was sometimes referred to as the Ngapata branch.
