Railways in the Bay of Plenty (1982) - mostly about the freight

 

Railways in the Bay of Plenty November 1982

Railways in the Bay of Plenty November 1982

It's not clear why the NZ Railways Corporation published this leaflet in November 1982, basically giving a history of railways in the Bay of Plenty since 1866.  Some of the curious highlights are:

• A proposed rail route from Rotorua to Tauranga via Te Puke, which was never built, it became the route for much of what is now State Highway 33. 
• Tauranga Railway Station only opened in 1924 (relatively late for many towns, but indicative of how relatively insignificant it was at the time)
• A workshop built at Mt Maunganui to provide steelwork for railway construction in the area in the 1920s
• In 1928 a train service started between Auckland and Taneatua (via the Karangahake Gorge), taking 16 hours 37 minutes, with four changes of train.
• In 1929 a single service reduced travel time to 10.5 hours.
• Opening of the Kawerau newsprint mill, and Mt Maunganui's development as an export port saw new lines opened to Kawerau, from Kawerau to Murupara, and the Mt Maunganui branch (the latter having fallen into disuse in 1946, but needing an upgrade to service the upgraded port).
• By the 1960s, Tauranga-Frankton (Hamilton) was the second busiest railway in the country, and investigations about a new route to bypass the slow, loading and weight restricted Karangahake Gorge began.
• The Kaimai Deviation in 1978 made a tremendous difference to rail capacity to the Bay of Plenty.
• Noting Kiwifruit being railed by container to Auckland at the time of this leaflet.
• "Fast highways" and private cars were seen as spelling the end of provincial rail passenger services, with the last service (at the time) operating from Auckland to Te Puke in 1967 (pre Kaimai Deviation of course).  Since this leaflet Auckland-Tauranga (Kaimai Express) was started in 199, operating for nearly ten years.
• Railways Road Services coaches were noted as providing key passenger services, plus transport for parcels and small lots of goods.  The leaflet notes the new Road Services depot in Tauranga.