The Mount Egmont Branch was a short but steep branch railway line in

Taranaki Taranaki is a regions of New Zealand, region in the west of New Zealand's North Island. It is named after its main geographical feature, the stratovolcano Mount Taranaki, Taranaki Maunga, formerly known as Mount Egmont. The main centre is the ...

, New Zealand, built to supply rail ballast for the Taranaki and Whanganui districts from a quarry on

Mount Taranaki Mount Taranaki (), officially Taranaki Maunga and also known as Mount Egmont, is a dormant stratovolcano in the Taranaki region on the west coast of New Zealand's North Island. At , it is the second highest mountain in the North Island, afte ...

(known as Egmont during the line's lifetime). Although officially known as a branch, the line was more akin to an industrial siding, with only ballast being carried.

Construction

A "Mount Egmont branch" line of about 9 miles (14 km) was authorised by the ''Railways Authorisation Act, 1904''. The branch 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

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining Rail transport in New Zealand, New Zealand's railway infrastruc ...

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.

Today

Between the junction and the edge of

Egmont National Park Egmont National Park, officially known as Te Papa-Kura-o-Taranaki, is a national park located south of New Plymouth, close to the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. The park covers three volcanic cones: Taranaki Maunga and its sl ...

, few signs of the branch remain. Within the park, the old

roadbed A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are Road surface, p ...

has been converted into a walking track maintained by the Department of Conservation. Various relics of the railway and quarrying activity are visible from the track, most notably the substantial remnants of the ballast crusher.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * Hermann, Bruce J; ''North Island Branch Lines'' p 47 (2007, New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society, Wellington)

External links