| Taneatua Branch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Closed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini | Hawkens Junction Taneatua | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1928 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 2003 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | New Zealand Railways Corporation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | KiwiRail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Character | Rural | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rolling stock | None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 25 km (16 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of tracks | Single | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Taneatua Branch is a branch railway line from Hawkens Junction to Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.
From 2 September 1928 to 1978 the line was part of the East Coast Main Trunk line from Hamilton. With the opening of the Kaimai tunnel in 1978, the terminus of the East Coast Main Trunk line was changed to Kawerau and the section of line between Hawkens Junction and Taneatua became the Taneatua Branch line.
This line across the Rangitaiki Plains follows an inland or southerly route to avoid areas which were swampy at the time of construction, therefore bypassing Whakatane, the largest town in the area. The intention was for the line to be extended from Taneatua to Opotiki, then onwards east to connect with the isolated Gisborne Section line from Gisborne.
Some construction work was carried out beyond Taneatua towards Opotiki in 1928, and an opening ceremony was held for the new line (the ECMT) in Tauranga on 28 March. [1] [2] [3]
[5] [6] [7] [8] However work was stopped in July 1928 when the Government of the day transferred the construction workers to the Rotorua-Taupo line which it had just approved the construction of. However, as late as 1939 £45,000 was provided for extension from Taneatua to Opotiki. [9]
Various routes were investigated and surveyed to link the difficult section between Taneatua and Moutohora, but all were found to be difficult and expensive. Following the Great Depression, World War 2 and the greater availability of road vehicles in the period after the war, the proposal was subsequently dropped and Taneatua remained the eastern terminus of the railway line in the Bay of Plenty. Gisborne was subsequently linked to the south with Wellington by way of Napier and Palmerston North with the Palmerston North – Gisborne Line in 1942. The isolated Gisborne Section line became the Moutohora Branch line, which closed in 1959.
The line to Taneatua was run as the end section of the East Coast Main Trunk from 1928 to 1978. Freight services continued to be operated on the line until 2001.
A passenger service was provided on the line with the Taneatua Express from Auckland between 1928 and 1959. In 1959 railcars replaced this service, but the new railcar services only operated between Auckland and Te Puke, due to negligible passenger traffic between Te Puke and Taneatua.
The Whakatane Board Mills Line, a private line, was built and operated by the Whakatane Board Mills from Awakeri to their mill in 1939 to serve their large operation. This line was privately operated by the mill until 1999 when the then national rail operator Tranz Rail, took over the operation of the line. Tranz Rail discontinued operating the line in 2001 and the line was closed in 2003, together with the mothballing of the entire Taneatua Branch line.
In 2015 a rail cart operation, Awakeri Rail Advertures, was established on the section of the line between Awakeri and Rewatu Road.
Whakatāne is a town in the eastern Bay of Plenty region in the North Island of New Zealand, 90 kilometres (56 mi) east of Tauranga and 89 kilometres (55 mi) north-east of Rotorua, at the mouth of the Whakatane River. Whakatāne District is the encompassing territorial authority, which covers an area to the south and west of the town, excluding the enclave of Kawerau.
Te Puke is a town located 28 kilometres southeast of Tauranga in the Western Bay of Plenty of New Zealand. It is particularly famous for the cultivation of kiwifruit. Te Puke has a population of 7,496 as of the 2013 Census.
The Kaimai Express long-distance passenger train was operated by Tranz Rail under the Tranz Scenic brand between the North Island cities of Auckland and Tauranga via Hamilton. It used the Silver Fern railcars and operated from 9 December 1991 until 7 October 2001.
The Taneatua Express was an express passenger train operated by the New Zealand Railways Department that ran between Auckland and Taneatua in the Bay of Plenty, serving centres such as Tauranga and Te Puke. It commenced in 1929 and operated until 1959.
The East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) is a railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, originally running between Hamilton and Taneatua via Tauranga, connecting the Waikato with the Bay of Plenty. The ECMT now runs between Hamilton and Kawerau, with a branch line to Taneatua from the junction at Hawkens. The line is built to narrow gauge of 1,067 mm, the uniform gauge in New Zealand. It was known as the East Coast Main Trunk Railway until 2011, when the word "Railway" was dropped.
Taneatua is a small town in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. The town is located southeast of Pekatahi, a similarly small settlement; Whakatane is the nearest significantly sized town. Just to the southwest of Taneatua, the Whakatane River and Waimana Rivers meet. The Whakatane River itself flows to the west of Taneatua, while the Waimana River is south of the township.
Awakeri is a village located southwest of Whakatane in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located in a farming and fruit-growing area, has basic amenities and a primary school for students aged 5 to 13, and is best known for nearby hot springs.
There have been a number of proposals to build a Taupo Line as a branch railway linking the township of Taupo in the central North Island of New Zealand to New Zealand's rail network. One proposal proceeded as far as the construction stage before being stopped.
Eastern Bay of Plenty is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, which existed for one parliamentary term from 1993 to 1996, and was held by National's Tony Ryall.
The Palmerston North–Gisborne Line (PNGL) is a secondary main line railway in the North Island of New Zealand. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk at Palmerston North and runs east through the Manawatu Gorge to Woodville, where it meets the Wairarapa Line, and then proceeds to Hastings and Napier in Hawke's Bay before following the coast north to Gisborne. Construction began in 1872, but the entire line was not completed until 1942. The line crosses the runway of Gisborne Airport, one of the world's only railways to do so since Pakistan's Khyber Pass Railway closed.
State Highway 2 runs north–south through eastern parts of the North Island of New Zealand from the outskirts of Auckland to Wellington. It runs via Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, Gisborne, and Napier and Hastings in Hawke's Bay. It is the second-longest highway in the North Island, after State Highway 1, which runs the length of both of the country's main islands.
The Rotorua Branch is a railway line from Putaruru to Rotorua, in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty regions of the North Island of New Zealand. Construction of the line was commenced by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company and finished by the Public Works Department. The complete line, 50.5 kilometres (31.4 mi) in length, opened in two sections; on 24 November 1893 to Tarukenga and the final 8 mi 43 ch (13.7 km) to Rotorua on 8 December 1894.
The Thames Branch railway line connected Thames, New Zealand, with Hamilton and was originally part of the East Coast Main Trunk railway. Part of the line between Morrinsville and Waitoa remains open and is in use as the Waitoa Branch line, connecting to the Fonterra Dairy Factory at Waitoa.
The Bay of Plenty is a bight in the northern coast of New Zealand's North Island. It stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaway in the east. The Bay of Plenty Region is situated around this body of water, also incorporating several large islands in the bay. The bay was named by James Cook after he noticed the abundant food supplies at several Māori villages there, in stark contrast to the earlier observations he had made in Poverty Bay.
The Moutohora Branch was a branch line railway that formed part of New Zealand's national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North island of New Zealand. The branch ran for 78 km approximately North-West from Gisborne into the rugged and steep Raukumara Range to the terminus at Moutohora. Construction started in 1900, and the line was opened to Moutohora on 26 November 1917.
The Whakatane Board Mills Line of 10 km length was opened about 1939 as a freight only line, and was sometimes referred to as a "private siding".
The Paeroa-Pokeno railway line or deviation in the upper North Island of New Zealand between Paeroa on the East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) and Pokeno on the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) was a proposed route with construction started but abandoned. The proposal has been revived in recent years as part of a more direct route between Auckland and Tauranga.
The Great Journeys of New Zealand is the tourism division of KiwiRail that brings together its three Scenic train services with its passenger ferry business, Interislander. The new division was launched in May 2017 and replaced the former tourism brand KiwiRail Scenic Journeys. It has continuity with the earlier InterCity Rail (1987–1995) and Tranz Scenic (1995–2011).
George Iles was a winger and centre who played for the New Zealand rugby league team. He debuted for them in 1919 and became Kiwi number 125. He played his club rugby league for the Grafton Athletic and Newton Rangers teams in the Auckland Rugby League competition. He later moved to Tauranga and played for Tauranga and Bay of Plenty at rugby union including against the touring Springbok team in 1921. In 1922 he made an effort to establish Rugby League in the Tauranga area which failed however he did play matches for Tauranga and a Bay of Plenty league team who played against Auckland and the touring New South Wales team.
