Glen Massey Line

Glen Massey Line
Overview
StatusClosed
OwnerPrivate then State Mines Department
Termini
Service
Operator(s)Private then New Zealand Railways Department
History
OpenedMarch 1914
Closed19 May 1958
Technical
Line length10.64 km (6.61 mi)
Number of tracksSingle
CharacterRural/Industrial
Track gauge1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
Route map
1944 one inch map.[1]
Map
Map

The Glen Massey Line was a private railway of 10.6 km near Ngāruawāhia in the Waikato region of New Zealand, built to serve coal mines, and, from 1935, run by the New Zealand Railways Department. The line had grades of 1 in 40, sharp curves - sharpest 6 ch (400 ft; 120 m) and 40 of less than 10 ch (660 ft; 200 m) - and 22 bridges, including a 91.5-metre-long and 18.3-metre-high timber trestle bridge over Firewood Creek halfway between Ngāruawāhia and Glen Massey and a 70-foot-long (21 m) bridge, adapted in 1917 to take sheep,[2] on 52 ft (16 m) piles over the Waipā River, as well as the railway, after collapse of the road bridge.[3][4]

  1. ^ This work is based on LINZ’s data which are licensed by Land Information New Zealand (LINZ) for re-use under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 New Zealand licence.
  2. ^ "LOCAL AND GENERAL. (Waikato Times, 1917-02-02)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  3. ^ "Papers Past — New Zealand Herald — 13 March 1912 — A PRIVATE RAILWAY". natlib.govt.nz.
  4. ^ The End of an Era: Gwyneth Jones page 28