Kaitangata Line

The Kaitangata Line, also known as the Kaitangata Branch in its first years of operation, was a railway line in Otago, New Zealand. It was built by a private company and was later acquired by the government's Mines Department, and operated from 1876 until 1970. It provided a link from coal mines to the Main South Line, and was never integrated into the network managed by the New Zealand Railways Department, thus although it could be seen as a branch line of the Main South Line, it officially never was.

History

The Kaitangata Railway & Coal Co. built the line to provide a railway link between its mine in Kaitangata and the Main South Line at Stirling, and it was opened for service on 17 June 1876. An engine shed and a station building were located at Kaitangata, 5.95 km from the Main South Line. ["New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas", fourth edition, edited by John Yonge (Essex: Quail Map Company, 1993), 28.] Although the station bore much resemblance to buildings on the national network operated by the Railways Department, the line was never part of its network. Trains were initially operated by the Railways Department on behalf of the private owners and the line appeared in working timetables as the Kaitangata Branch, but by the 1880s, this practice had ceased and private operation took over. Passenger services were provided until 1937. Until 1963, an extension ran down a road to the Castle Hill Mine, and for much of its life the line was operated by an "Improved F" 0-6-0 tank locomotive, constructed in 1896 by Sharp, Stewart & Co.

In 1956, the Mines Department took over the branch and in August 1968 introduced a diesel shunter to work the trains, although the F was retained as a spare. By the end of the 1960s, the condition of the line had deteriorated markedly; accordingly, on 30 December 1970 it was closed by the Mines Department. [Geoffrey B. Churchman and Tony Hurst, "The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey Through History" (Auckland: HarperCollins, 1991), 205.] The F was donated to the preservation society at Shantytown, near Greymouth on the West Coast, where it continues to operate and is named "Kaitangata" after its former home. [Churchman and Hurst, "The Railways of New Zealand", 219.]

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