Mount Egmont Branch

Mount Egmont Branch
Overview
Status	Closed
Termini	Waipuku Mount Egmont
Operation
Opened	1908
Closed	1951
Owner	New Zealand Railways Department
Operator(s)	New Zealand Railways Department
Character	Rural
Rolling stock	None
Technical
Line length	11 km (6.8 mi)
Number of tracks	Single
Track gauge	1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)

The Mount Egmont Branch was a short but steep branch railway line in Taranaki, New Zealand, built to supply rail ballast for the Taranaki and Wanganui districts from a quarry on Mount Egmont. It left the Marton–New Plymouth Line at Waipuku, 9 km north of Stratford.

Work started in 1906, and the first 9.6 km section was handed over to the NZR by 1 April 1908. The line was extended to about 11 km from the main line by 1912-13, but an upper quarry extension to an elevation of 930m (which would have made it the highest line in New Zealand by over 100m) was not proceeded with.

As the readily available rock was worked out by 1937 and it was cheaper to supply ballast from riverbed plants, most of the branch closed in 1938 and the remainder, which had been unused for years, in 1951. Few signs of the branch are now left apart from some roadbed, and the foundations of the crusher which are hidden in bush.

References

Churchman, Geoffrey B., and Hurst, Tony; The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey Through History p133 (1990, HarperCollins, Auckland) ISBN 1-86950-015-6
Leitch, David, and Scott, Brian; Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways p22 (1995; 1998 revised edition, Grantham House, Wellington) ISBN 1-86934-048-5

Upper North Island	Cambridge Dargaville Donnellys Crossing Glen Afton Kinleith Kumeu–Riverhead Manukau Mount Maunganui Murupara Okaihau Onehunga Onerahi Opua Rotorua Taneatua Thames Waiuku and Mission Bush

Lower North Island	Ahuriri Castlecliff Foxton Gracefield Greytown Johnsonville Melling Mount Egmont Moutohora Ngatapa Opunake Raetihi Taonui Te Aro Waitara Wanganui

Upper South Island	Blackball and Roa Cape Foulwind Conns Creek Eyreton Fairlie Ferrymead Little River Methven Mount Somers Oxford Rapahoe Rewanui Hokitika/Ross Seddonville Southbridge Waiau Waimate Whitecliffs

Lower South Island	Bluff Catlins River Dunback and Makareao Fernhill Hedgehope Kingston Kurow Moeraki Mossburn Ngapara and Tokarahi Outram Port Chalmers Roxburgh Shag Point Tapanui Tokanui Tuatapere Waikaia Waikaka Wairio Walton Park Wyndham

Private lines

Significant proposals

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Mount Egmont Branch

References

Further reading