Kurow Branch

The Kurow Branch (also known as the Hakataramea Branch) was part of New Zealand's national rail network. In the North Otago region of the South Island, it was built in the 1870s to open up the land behind Oamaru for development, and closed in 1983.

The branch started as a tramway when the Awamoko Tramway Company was formed in 1873. Construction of a tramway from the Main South Line at Awamoko (now Pukeuri) to Duntroon commenced the next year with approval from the Otago provincial government. In 1875, after the realisation that tramway standards were not sufficient for the line's purposes, an upgrade to railway standards commenced. Almost everything that had already been constructed had to be rebuilt; the rails were too light, the sleepers were too small, and insufficient ballast had been laid. Nonetheless, only a fortnight after reconstruction began, the official opening ceremony took place on 1 December 1875. Freight trains did not begin running for another three weeks, and passengers were not carried until 16 August 1876, when the reconstruction programme had been completed. The line had not reached Duntroon; it terminated on the opposite (east) bank of the Maerewhenua River due to bridging difficulties.

The Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company was formed in 1878 after the 1877 District Railways Act was passed, with the intention of building a railway from Duntroon to Kurow and then further up the Waitaki Valley. Construction commenced in 1879, the Maerewhenua River was bridged on 2 July 1881, and when the Waitaki River was bridged on 7 November 1881 the line was completed to Hakataramea, 1.76 km beyond Kurow by rail on the northern side of the Waitaki. There were plans to extend to a proposed town that was to have 10,000 residents, but the town never came to fruition and Hakataramea remained the terminus. The Duntroon and Hakataramea Railway Company did not purchase its own equipment; the branch was always operated by the New Zealand Railways Department. This arrangement lasted for over three years while the company and government disputed ownership, primarily due to the fact the line terminated at Hakataramea rather than being built to the full extent of original plans. The government purchased the line in April 1885 and charged a tariff beyond Duntroon until 1897.

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