Ngatapa Branch 1911 - 1931 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Distances approximate, source: NZR Mileage Table 1957. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Ngatapa Branch was a secondary branch line railway 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) long that for a short time formed part of the national rail network in Poverty Bay in the North Island of New Zealand. The Ngatapa branch diverged from the Moutohora branch line about 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from Gisborne and ran a further 12.5 kilometres (7.8 mi) across the coastal flat to a terminus at Ngatapa. It was sometimes referred to as the Ngapata branch.[1][2]
Built to the New Zealand standard 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge the branch was originally authorised as part of the proposed inland route for the Wairoa to Gisborne section of the Palmerston North – Gisborne Line. However, in 1924, an engineer's report recommended that the then-new isolated section between Wairoa and Waikokopu in Hawke's Bay be incorporated as the southernmost portion of a new coastal route from Wairoa to Gisborne. The Public Works Department (PWD) accordingly stopped work on the inland Ngatapa route, which was officially opened as a branch line on 15 December 1924, and began work on the coastal route.[3] The Ngatapa branch became a dead end, and it was closed on 1 April 1931.[4]
- ^ "GISBORNE-NGATAPA LINE. Poverty Bay Herald". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 13 December 1924. Retrieved 26 March 2023.
- ^ Scoble, Juliet (April 2010). "Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand 1863 to 2010" (PDF). Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
- ^ Churchman & Hurst 2001, p. 145.
- ^ Hermann, Bruce J; North Island Branch Lines p 59 (2007, New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society, Wellington) ISBN 978-0-908573-83-7