Take the Miners' Train to Rewanui!

 

take the miners' train to Rewanui

Black gold, location, something special

Map of Rewanui

Map of Rewanui

Rewanui was a small town built around the Liverpool State Coal Mine, but its significance in railway terms is that Rewanui had no road access. The Rewanui Branch line, from Runanga to Rewanui was built to service the mine and opened in 1914 and closed in 1985 when the mine closed. The line was 13km long and throughout its existence had a mix of coal trains, and passenger train services to take miners to and from the mines, and to enable those who worked (and in earlier days lived) in Rewanui to access the locality.

The line through the steam period used a Fell centre track to assist with braking, but was diesel operated from 1969.  The line also had a cycle track parallel to the railway for miners who were not working at times that coincided with scheduled train services.

This leaflet comes from 1983, when the Rewanui Branch still had regular passenger trains, with the timetable for tourists listed here as departing Greymouth's Riverside Station (now gone, but separate from the main station) at 12.30pm weekdays, arriving in Rewanui at 1.28pm.  The leaflet suggests visitors spend 47 minutes exploring Rewanui, specifically the mine-buildings, the bath-house (!), conveyor belts and coal bins, or undertake a bush walk before catching the return trip of the train at 2.15pm to arrive in Greymouth at 3.05pm.  Friday had a shorter schedule with only 17 minutes.

The train trip itself was scenic up the valley to Rewanui, but the rolling stock was old, consisting of 50ft steel-panelled 1930-1937 era rolling stock.  

It is understandable that the Railways Corporation tried to encourage tourists to ride the route to supplement miners' patronage, but in November 1984 the line was found to be unsafe and trains were cancelled. Occasional freight trains operated on the line until May 1985, hauling coal from neighbouring private coal mines. 

The line closed primarily because the Liverpool State Coal Mine closed, and the traffic from neighbouring mines was insufficient to justify the line remaining open.  The Rapahoe Branch (which continued pass Runanga until the junction with the Rewanui Branch) remains open to this day for occasional coal traffic.