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Seddonville Branch
The Seddonville Branch, later truncated as the Ngākawau Branch, is a branch line railway in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. Construction began in 1874 and it reached its terminus at the Mokihinui Mine just beyond Seddonville in 1895. In 1981 it was closed past Ngākawau and effectively became an extension of the Stillwater–Westport Line, since formalised as the Stillwater–Ngākawau Line. Construction The branch was built for transporting coal from mines to the harbour at Westport. Unlike most other railways of the era, there was no expectation that it would open up country for settlement and farming, as the terrain was mountainous and not suited to settlements of significant size. Coalfield surveys had identified significant deposits of bituminous coal on the Mount Rochfort and Stockton plateaus high above the coastal plain and outcrops of sub-bituminous coal had been located at low level close to the rivers at Waimangaroa and Ngākawau. However ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Rail
Various terms are used for passenger railway lines and equipment; the usage of these terms differs substantially between areas: Rapid transit A rapid transit system is an electric railway characterized by high speed (~) and rapid acceleration. It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded (i.e. is fully grade-separated from other traffic). It uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading. Originally, the term ''rapid transit'' was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, and other forms of public transport. A variant of the term, ''mass rapid transit (MRT)'', is also used for metro systems in Southeast Asia and Taiwan. Though the term was almost alway ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Long Depression
The Long Depression was a worldwide price and economic recession, beginning in 1873 and running either through March 1879, or 1896, depending on the metrics used. It was most severe in Europe and the United States, which had been experiencing strong economic growth fueled by the Second Industrial Revolution in the decade following the American Civil War. The episode was labeled the "Great Depression" at the time, and it held that designation until the Great Depression of the 1930s. Though a period of general deflation and a general contraction, it did not have the severe economic retrogression of the Great Depression. It was most notable in Western Europe and North America, at least in part because reliable data from the period is most readily available in those parts of the world. The United Kingdom is often considered to have been the hardest hit; during this period it lost some of its large industrial lead over the economies of continental Europe. While it was occurring, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Midland Line, New Zealand
The Midland line is a 212 km section of railway between Rolleston and Greymouth in the South Island of New Zealand. The line features five major bridges, five viaducts and 17 tunnels, the longest of which is the Otira tunnel. It is the route of the popular TranzAlpine passenger train. History Railway development in the South Island in the 1870s was concentrated on a main line linking the established centres of Christchurch, Timaru, Dunedin and Invercargill and light, easily constructed branch lines serving the arable plains; (see Vogel Era). These later included a branch to Springfield which was reached by January 1880. In 1882 the East and West Coast Railway League was formed and in 1884 a Royal Commission, although fully aware of the construction difficulties of the Waimakariri Valley-Arthurs Pass route, as compared with the somewhat easier but longer Hurunui Valley-Harpers Pass route, chose the more direct route. The construction of the line was rejected in 1883 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fighting occurring throughout Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Pacific, and parts of Asia. An estimated 9 million soldiers were killed in combat, plus another 23 million wounded, while 5 million civilians died as a result of military action, hunger, and disease. Millions more died in genocides within the Ottoman Empire and in the 1918 influenza pandemic, which was exacerbated by the movement of combatants during the war. Prior to 1914, the European great powers were divided between the Triple Entente (comprising France, Russia, and Britain) and the Triple Alliance (containing Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy). Tensions in the Balkans came to a head on 28 June 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mixed Train
A mixed train or mixed consist is a train that contains both passenger and freight cars or wagons. Although common in the early days of railways, by the 20th century they were largely confined to branch lines with little traffic. Typically, service was slower, because mixed trains usually involved the shunting (switching) of rolling stock at stops along the way. However, some earlier passenger expresses, which also hauled time-sensitive freight in covered goods wagons (boxcars), would now be termed mixed trains. Generally, toward the end of the mixed train era, shunting at intermediate stops had significantly diminished. Most railway passenger and freight services are now administered separately. Exclusions Not intended by this article is the definition of mixed train to describe: * mixed freight. * wagonload service (single wagons for various customers, assembled into trains), as opposed to trainload service (point to point, complete train for one customer). * a passenger trai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Summerlea, New Zealand
Summerlea is a lightly populated locality on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. Summerlea is on the Tasman Sea coastline with the Glasgow Range to the east. To the north of the town is the neighbouring settlement of Mokihinui and the rivermouth of the Mōkihinui River. State Highway 67 passes through the locality. It is included in the Mokihinui statistical area by Statistics New Zealand, and according to the 2013 New Zealand census, Mokihinui has a population of 186, an increase of 15 people since the 2006 census. In the early 1890s, a branch line railway was opened from Westport through Summerlea, opening to Seddonville on 23 February 1895 and thus acquiring the name of the Seddonville Branch. Passenger services were provided to Summerlea by mixed trains until 14 October 1946, when the line became freight-only. Coal was almost the sole traffic on the line from this point, and when coal mining activity declined in the 1970s, the line's maintenance costs came to ou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hector, New Zealand
Hector and Ngakawau are two lightly populated settlements located at the mouth of the Ngakawau River in the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast region of New Zealand. Both settlements are situated on New Zealand State Highway 67, State Highway 67 between Westport, New Zealand, Westport and Karamea. Despite a low population, many of the workers at New Zealand's largest open-cut coal mine at Stockton, New Zealand, Stockton choose to live at these places and shuttles frequently operate between the two places. Hector Hector sits on the northern side of the Ngakawau River's mouth, and is the more populous of the two settlements. Hector has adopted the endangered Hector's dolphin as a town icon and is involved in Department of Conservation (New Zealand), Department of Conservation projects to protect the dolphin. The dolphins often play just offshore from Hector and attract visitors. Another local attraction is a country music museum. Ngakawau Ngakawau, the more economically important ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hector And Ngakawau
Hector and Ngakawau are two lightly populated settlements located at the mouth of the Ngakawau River in the West Coast region of New Zealand. Both settlements are situated on State Highway 67 between Westport and Karamea. Despite a low population, many of the workers at New Zealand's largest open-cut coal mine at Stockton choose to live at these places and shuttles frequently operate between the two places. Hector Hector sits on the northern side of the Ngakawau River's mouth, and is the more populous of the two settlements. Hector has adopted the endangered Hector's dolphin as a town icon and is involved in Department of Conservation projects to protect the dolphin. The dolphins often play just offshore from Hector and attract visitors. Another local attraction is a country music museum. Ngakawau Ngakawau, the more economically important of the two settlements, stands on the southern side of the mouth of the Ngakawau River. Ngakawau serves as the terminus of the Ngakawa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Granity
Granity is a small town on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, north-east of Westport on State Highway 67. Karamea is further north. Squeezed between the often-tempestuous Tasman Sea to the west and steep forested cloud-shrouded mountains to the immediate east, the town is the largest in this sparsely populated part of New Zealand. Long known as a coal-mining town, the population has declined as the industry has waned. The population was 168 in the 2018 census, a decrease of 33 from 2013. Several neighbouring towns, such as Denniston, have become virtually ghost towns. In 1911 Granity's population was 589, 641 in 1921 and 547 in 1956. Granity had a railway station on the Westport-Ngākawau Line from 28 Feb1892 until 16 May 1982, though closed to passengers from 14 October 1946. In 1902 it had a staff of 5. The name "Granity" was given to the town by gold prospectors, in reference to the large quantity of granite in the area. Demographics The population of Granity ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conns Creek Branch
The Conns Creek Branch was a 2.7 kilometre (1.7 mile) branch line railway in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island. It diverged from the Seddonville Branch at Waimangaroa and followed the southern bank of the Waimangaroa River to the line's terminus at Conns Creek at the foot of the Denniston Incline. The line operated from 1877 until 1967 and existed for the sole purpose of conveying coal from mines to the port of Westport. Construction Construction of the Seddonville Branch railway from Westport to Seddonville had begun in 1874. In September 1875 the Wellington Coal Mining Company called for tenders for a private line from a junction with the Seddonville branch at Waimangaroa to a site 1.6 kilometres (1 mile) up the Waimangaroa River adjacent to the company's mine. The Seddonville Branch was completed as far as Waimangaroa on 5 August 1876 and the first portion of the Conns Creek Branch - as far as the Wellington Mine - opened in 1877. A bridge across the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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