The Shag Point Branch was a short branch off the

Main South Line The Main South Line, sometimes referred to as part of the South Island Main Trunk Railway, is a railway line that runs north and south from Lyttelton in New Zealand through Christchurch and along the east coast of the South Island to Inv ...

on the east coast of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasma ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

. It left the main line about nine kilometres north of

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman and ...

at the small settlement of

Shag Point Shag Point / Matakaea is a headland and township in East Otago, New Zealand. It is located close to State Highway 1 nine kilometres to the northeast of Palmerston, at the southern end of a long open bay known as Katiki Beach. The point itself ...

to provide railway access to a nearby supply of coal. It was built in 1879 and ran until 1934.

Construction and operation

Authorisation was granted to build the line in 1878 and was built wholly to serve the Shag Point Coal Company, whose engineer supervised construction in 1879. Records exist of traffic using the line in June that year, though the official opening was not held until 18 August. The line was roughly three kilometres in length and it was shunted when required by passing freights on the Main South Line. Traffic declined as the 20th century began, and on 1 April 1908, the

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

(NZR) stopped serving the line. This, however, was not the end for the branch. It passed into the ownership of the Shag Point Coal Company, who privately operated the line for a quarter of a century. At different points during this time, the company owned two small ex-NZR

tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of a more traditional tender. Most tank engines also have bunkers (or fuel tanks) to hold fuel; in a tender-tank loco ...

s. Activity picked up in the 1920s but then the Great Depression began and the mine did not survive. The mine closed in 1934 and therefore so did the line.

Today

Little remains of this line. The rusted remains of the local wharf are clearly evident, and the line approached this wharf through a cutting. Evidence of the line's formation can be seen near where it met the Main South Line at Shag Point station. Part of the formation has been re-used as a road serving some houses in the small fishing village.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{NZR Lines Railway lines in New Zealand Closed railway lines in New Zealand Rail transport in Otago Railway lines opened in 1879 Railway lines closed in 1934