Post by emron on Dec 15, 2018 21:04:53 GMT 12
Talk elsewhere on the Forum about the revival of rail passenger services through the Waikato got me thinking about another railway network that also once thrived in Dave’s neck of the woods.
Back in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s my Mum’s cousin was doing his country service as sole teacher at Ngaroma School, South Waikato. His house was one of the single men’s huts in the nearby sawmill village of Smyth Bros and Boryer Ltd. The mill processed native timber that was logged in the Rangitoto Range at the northern end of Pureora Forest. Once felled, the logs were dragged by crawler tractor or steam hauler to the nearest branch line of the light gauge railway where they were mounted on bogies and hauled out by small steam locos to the mill siding. The sawn timber was later carted by truck to the nearest railhead at Te Awamutu. During his stay there were major construction projects close by. First the town of Mangakino was developed to house the workforce that then built the Maraetai Dam and power station which were completed in 1952. There must have been many a school trip to watch the progress.
By this time the large exotic pine plantations at Kaingaroa and Kinleith, planted during the Depression, were beginning to mature and there was already pressure to limit the further logging of native timber. Small mills were closing across the region and Ngaroma was one of the last remaining and continued in business until 1975. It’s steam rail operation however, was closed by 1956 and the rolling stock was laid up at the mill siding along with other locos that had been gathered from neighbouring mills.
Amongst those abandoned there were:
A&G Price Type E #110 (1923) salvaged in 1974 by Tauranga Museum; now in the collection of Rotorua Ngongotaha Rail Trust.
A&G Price Type Cb #114 (1924) scrapped c.1958.
Davidson #9 Light (1911) scrapped c.1958.
Gibbons & Harris #5 (1912) ex Smyth Bros & Boryer Ltd Arohena mill; salvaged by Te Aroha Mountain Railway; now in storage by Watercare Services, Nihotupu Tramway, Auckland.
Climax B #1317 (1915) salvaged by the Lions Club of Te Awamutu 1957 for display at Te Awamutu Memorial Park; currently under restoration.
Back in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s my Mum’s cousin was doing his country service as sole teacher at Ngaroma School, South Waikato. His house was one of the single men’s huts in the nearby sawmill village of Smyth Bros and Boryer Ltd. The mill processed native timber that was logged in the Rangitoto Range at the northern end of Pureora Forest. Once felled, the logs were dragged by crawler tractor or steam hauler to the nearest branch line of the light gauge railway where they were mounted on bogies and hauled out by small steam locos to the mill siding. The sawn timber was later carted by truck to the nearest railhead at Te Awamutu. During his stay there were major construction projects close by. First the town of Mangakino was developed to house the workforce that then built the Maraetai Dam and power station which were completed in 1952. There must have been many a school trip to watch the progress.
By this time the large exotic pine plantations at Kaingaroa and Kinleith, planted during the Depression, were beginning to mature and there was already pressure to limit the further logging of native timber. Small mills were closing across the region and Ngaroma was one of the last remaining and continued in business until 1975. It’s steam rail operation however, was closed by 1956 and the rolling stock was laid up at the mill siding along with other locos that had been gathered from neighbouring mills.
Amongst those abandoned there were:
A&G Price Type E #110 (1923) salvaged in 1974 by Tauranga Museum; now in the collection of Rotorua Ngongotaha Rail Trust.
A&G Price Type Cb #114 (1924) scrapped c.1958.
Davidson #9 Light (1911) scrapped c.1958.
Gibbons & Harris #5 (1912) ex Smyth Bros & Boryer Ltd Arohena mill; salvaged by Te Aroha Mountain Railway; now in storage by Watercare Services, Nihotupu Tramway, Auckland.
Climax B #1317 (1915) salvaged by the Lions Club of Te Awamutu 1957 for display at Te Awamutu Memorial Park; currently under restoration.
