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 system. The department was created in 1880 and was corporatised on 1 April 1982 into the New Zealand Railways Corporation. Originally, railway construction and operation took place under the auspices of the former provincial governments and some private railways, before all of the provincial operations came under the central Public Works Department. The role of operating the rail network was subsequently separated from that of the network's construction. From 1895 to 1993 there was a responsible Minister, the Minister of Railways. He was often also the Minister of Public Works.
Apart from four brief experiments with independent boards, NZR remained under direct ministerial control for most of its history.
History
Originally, New Zealand's railways were constructed by provincial governments and private firms. The largest provincial operation was the Canterbury Provincial Railways, which opened the first public railway at Ferrymead on 1 December 1863. During The Vogel Era of the late 1860s to the 1870s, railway construction by central government expanded greatly, from just in 1869 to in 1880.
Following the abolition of the provinces in 1877, the Public Works Department took over the various provincial railways. Since the Public Works Department was charged with constructing new railway lines (among other public works) the day to day railway operations were transferred into a new government department on the recommendation of a parliamentary select committee. At the time of railway lines were open for traffic, in the North Island and in the South Island, mainly consisting of the Main South Line from the port of Lyttelton to Bluff.
Formation and early years
The Railways Department was formed in 1880 during the premiership of Sir John Hall. That year, the private Port Chalmers Railway Company Limited was acquired by the department and new workshops at Addington opened. Ironically, the first few years of NZR were marked by the Long Depression, which led to great financial constraint on the department. As a result, the central government passed legislation to allow for the construction of more private railways. A Commission, ordered by Hall, had in 1880 reviewed 85 proposed and partly-constructed railway lines in the colony, and it proposed postponing 21 projects and recommended against proceeding with 29 others. The Commissioners were especially critical of the colony's existing railways' inability to generate sufficient income to pay the interest on the loans that had funded their construction:The extent to which this fatal mistake has been made may be in some degree realized by a comparison of the relations between railways and population in this and other countries. In Great Britain the amount of population to each mile of railway is 1,961; in the United States, 580; in New South Wales, 1,108; in Victoria, 924; while in New Zealand we have only a population of 362 to each mile of railway already made.In August 1881 the Railways Construction and Land Act was passed, allowing joint-stock companies to build and run private railways, as long as they were built to the government's standard rail gauge of and connected with the government railway lines. The Act had the effect of authorising the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to build the Wellington-Manawatu Line.
In 1877 the first American locomotives were purchased; the NZR K class (1877) from Rogers, followed by the NZR T class of 1879 from Baldwin.
The most important construction project for NZR at this time was the central section of the North Island Main Trunk. Starting from Te Awamutu on 15 April 1885, the section—including the famous Raurimu Spiral—was not completed for another 23 years.
The economy gradually improved and in 1895 the Liberal Government of Premier Richard Seddon appointed Alfred Cadman as the first Minister of Railways. The Minister appointed a General Manager for the railways, keeping the operation under tight political control. Apart from four periods of government-appointed commissions (1889–1894, 1924–1928, 1931–1936 and 1953–1957), this system remained in place until the department was corporatised in 1982. In 1895, patronage had reached 3.9M passengers per annum and 2.048M tonnes.
NZR produced its first New Zealand-built steam locomotive in 1889; the W class built in the Addington Railway Workshops.
Along with opening new lines, NZR began acquiring a number of the private railways which had built railway lines around the country. It acquired the Waimea Plains Railway Company in 1886. At the same time, a protracted legal battle began with the New Zealand Midland Railway Company, which was only resolved in 1898. The partially completed Midland line was not handed over to NZR until 1900. By that time, of railway lines were open for traffic. The acquisition in 1908 of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company and its railway line marked the completion of the North Island Main Trunk from Wellington to Auckland. A new locomotive class, the X class, was introduced in 1909 for traffic on the line. The X class was the most powerful locomotive at the time. Gold rushes led to the construction of the Thames Branch, opening in 1898.
In 1906 the Dunedin railway station was completed, architect George Troup. A. L. Beattie became Chief Mechanical Officer in April 1900. Beattie designed the famous A class, the Q class (the first "Pacific" type locomotive in the world), and many other locomotive classes.
NZR's first bus operation began on 1 October 1907, between Culverden on the Waiau Branch and Waiau Ferry in Canterbury. By the 1920s NZR was noticing a considerable downturn in rail passenger traffic on many lines due to increasing ownership of private cars, and from 1923 it began to co-ordinate rail passenger services with private bus services. The New Zealand Railways Road Services branch was formed to operate bus services.
In 1911 tenders for bookstalls were being advertised for 33 main stations – Auckland, Frankton Junction, Rotorua. Paeroa, Taumarunui, Ohakune, Taihape, Marton, Feilding, Palmerston North, Levin, Wellington Thorndon and Lambton, Masterton, Woodville, Dannevirke. Waipukurau. Hastings, Napier, New Plymouth, Stratford, Hāwera, Aramoho, Whanganui, Nelson, Christchurch, Ashburton, Timaru, Oamaru, Dunedin, Milton, Gore, and Invercargill.
By 1912, patronage had reached 13.4M passengers per annum (a 242% increase since 1895) and 5.9M tonnes of freight (a 188% increase since 1895).
In 1913, damages of £15 were awarded against New Zealand Railways to S. J. Gibbons by the Supreme Court in a precedent-setting case; for damages to a car that hit a train at a level crossing: see Cliff Road railway station.
Pre-1914 coaches
In 1863 Canterbury Provincial Railways had the first 4 coaches in the country, two 1st and two 2nd class, built by W. Williams, Melbourne. From 1867 to 1875 the Bluff-Invercargill-Winton lline was standard gauge. In 1867 one article mentioned that carriages for the Great South lines were imported from the Metropolitan Carriage Company. When those lines were converted to 3 ft 6in gauge about 1875, new stock was needed.
31 carriages were landed from Britain in 1873. They generally arrived in packing cases, but that didn't always protect them, resulting in claims against the builders. Some were built by Oldbury Railway Carriage & Wagon Company. In 1873 A & G Price built 3 1st class and 7 2nd class carriages for £2,217 at their Onehunga works, using kauri and imported axles. In later years there were complaints that coaches could as well be built locally, though in 1876 it had been claimed the quality was poorer. In 1875 the Kaipara and Riverhead railway had 6 English built coaches. In 1880 the Auckland-Waikato line was using 30 C Class ( long with 32 seats) & 20 D Class ( long with 16 seats) carriages. 1st class cars had cushioned, leather-covered, longitudinal seats, with coir mats on the floor, though later woven flax was used. Smoking compartments had brass spitoons screwed to the floor. 2nd class seats were straight backed and wooden with no cushions. All doors were sliding with the doors kept locked between 1st and 2nd class compartments, as were the gates between cars. No heating or toilets were provided. Colza oil lamps hung through holes in the roof. The cars had straight sides, low flat-top roofs, narrow bodies and small, high, drop down windows. In 1887 67 carriages were built locally. Until the 1880s trains were loose coupled. By 1900 the last 6 of the 1870s and 1880s coaches had been scrapped, or transferred away from the main lines.
Bogies were first used for coaches built at the Auckland Railway Worksheds in 1876. long bogie coaches, built in Christchurch and Auckland, were introduced from 1884 to give a smoother ride. Birdcage (or gallery) bogie carriages, built at Addington, with toilets, were introduced to the Marton–New Plymouth line in 1889. Similar coaches were built at Newmarket for the opening of the Napier line in 1890. Their bodies were long, wide and high, built of kauri, mangeao, puriri, rewarewa, totara and rimu, with reversible seats and linoleum floors. Gas lighting was first trialled in 1879, but didn't come into widespread use until Pintsch gas lighting replaced oil lamps from 1895, initially between Hurunui (from 1905 renamed Ethelton) and Bluff. The cost was claimed to be reduced from ¾d per light per hour to ¼d. Pintsch plants were built in Auckland and Wellington in 1897. Westinghouse air brakes were fitted to stock from 1900. 63 American built coaches were imported in 1901 and again there were complaints that they could have been built locally.
Until 1908 NZR carriages were small ( to ), with a few long. The great majority were bogie carriages, but 6-wheeled and 4-wheeled cars existed. About 1908 the NZR 50-foot carriage was introduced, initially for the newly completed North Island Main Trunk. NZR had 1,002 carriages on 1 April 1908. On 31 March 1909 it had 1,116 cars. NZR workshops built 58 new 50 ft cars - 24 day cars, 6 sleeping-cars and 4 refreshment cars for NIMT, plus 14 Class A cars and 10 postal cars. Steam heating was provided in the new 50-footers. Previously footwarmers were used. Petone workshops built 8 sleeping cars, wide, with 20 berths (4 x 4-berth cabins, 2 x 2-berth), or 30 seats, in -wide compartments.
From 1886 carriages were classed as A for bogie carriages over 30 feet long, Aa for wide coaches, B for 30 foot bogies, C for 6 wheelers and D for 4 wheelers.
Preserved early coaches
Preserved pre-1914 carriages include - ClassNo.TypeLengthBuiltBuilderLocationA47birdcage1891AddingtonFerrymeadA84composite1899PetoneMOTATA1041883FerrymeadA1991883LumsdenA2221880FerrymeadA255composite1884AddingtonRemutaka InclineA302gum digger1884PetoneMOTATA433gum digger1885NewmarketMOTATA4631894AddingtonFerrymeadA5161896AddingtonFerrymeadA5181896AddingtonFerrymeadA5251896LumsdenA5312nd class car1896PetoneMOTATA5571899PetoneMOTATA5851900FerrymeadA595birdcage1900Kingston FlyerA7191896PapanuiA8512nd class car1904PetoneMOTATAa1060sleeper1909Remutaka InclineAa10682nd class car1908PetoneMOTATAa11341909PetoneGlenbrookAa11362nd class car1909PetoneMOTATA11611911NewmarketGlenbrookA11621911NewmarketGlenbrookA11771912AddingtonFerrymeadA12221912NewmarketGlenbrookA12551913Kingston FlyerAa12331912PetoneGlenbrookAa12581912PetoneGlenbrookAa1480dining-car1908PetoneMOTATAf8041903NewmarketGlenbrookAf970composite1907NewmarketMOTATAf11821911NewmarketGlenbrookC1001877LumsdenC2751877FerrymeadC472composite1879OldburyGlenbrookD26composite1874FerrymeadD1371877OldburyFerrymeadWMR A2421905ThorndonSilverstreamWMR A2481906ThorndonSilverstreamWMR A2521907ThorndonSilverstream
World War I