Cambridge Branch
| Cambridge Branch | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Open Ruakura - Hautapu, closed Hautapu - Cambridge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | Waikato | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini |
Ruakura, East Coast Main Trunk Hautapu |
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| Operation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 6 October 1884 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Closed | 1999 (Hautapu - Cambridge) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner | ONTRACK | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operator(s) | KiwiRail | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Character | Rural | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 19.27 km (11.97 mi) Ruakura - Cambridge 15.08 km (9.37 mi) Ruakura - Hautapu |
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| Number of tracks | Single | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Cambridge Branch, officially named the Hautapu Branch since 2011, is a rural railway line in the Waikato, New Zealand. It was previously known as the Cambridge Industrial Siding (and erroneously as the Cambridge Industrial Line) from 1996 to 2011, and as the Cambridge Branch Railway from 1977 to 1996. It was also named the Hautapu Industrial Siding. The Cambridge Branch Line stretched from Ruakura Junction for 19.27 km to the town of Cambridge. It had five stations along its length, at Newstead, Matangi (Tamahere), Bruntwood (Fencourt), Hautapu and the terminus at Cambridge.
Passenger service on the line ceased on 9 September 1946, although during the 1950 British Empire Games at Auckland three passenger trains took 1,500 people to the rowing events held on the nearby Lake Karapiro on 7 February.
In the late 1870s the need for a railway line to the flourishing town of Cambridge had been noted. Preliminary surveying was conducted in 1881. The line starts at Ruakura Junction on the East Coast Main Trunk, where the first sod was turned in the line's construction on 6 May 1882.
A kilometre south of the Newstead Station a five span timber bridge was needed to cross the Mangaonua Stream, and a contract to lay the permanent way over the full distance was let on 21 February 1884 at the price of £5,455.
On the morning of 1 October 1884 the line was inspected and passed ready for traffic. On 6 October a special train brought the new station master and his family along with other members of the staff to Cambridge and two days later the line was open for traffic.
The Cambridge railway yard was located on a tract of land between Queen Street and Lake Te Ko-outu and crossed at its entrance by Lake Street. Railway infrastructure originally included a Class 3 station building, goods shed and crane, locomotive shed, turntable and stockyards. The rail yard consisted of main line, crossing loop, four sidings, goods shed siding, backshunt, turntable and locomotive depot, stockyard and private sidings.
Cambridge yard was protected by both 'Home' and 'Distant' semaphore signals controlled via gainstock levers located at the station building. Four NZR built railway staff houses were also located on Queen Street bordering the railyards.
The locomotive depot was removed at some point during the 1920s but the turntable remained and was occasionally used until the early 1970s when it was dismantled and filled in. During the 1940s construction of the Karapiro Dam and Hydro scheme (9 km east of Cambridge) necessitated the construction of a new siding and Public Works building in the yard site.
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Wikipedia