The coming of the railway
As written for the community newsletter by Sue Allison

The coming of the railway caused a lot of angst in the Waimakariri district.

The Christchurch-Ferrymead line, the first railway in New Zealand, opened in 1863. Work had already started on the Lyttelton tunnel and William Moorhouse, champion of this huge undertaking, envisaged links with the southern and northern extremities of the Canterbury province, all connected to the port of Lyttelton.

Moorhouse had wooed the Kaiapoi electors with talk of a northern railway as early as the late 1850s and the settlements north of the Waimakariri were abuzz with excitement. A meeting called for the inclusion of Rangiora on the proposed line, and Oxford settlers drew up a petition asking for a tramway from the great timber source, Harewood Forest, to the nearest point on the main line.

However, a map of the proposed new northern line showed it to be leaving Christchurch by way of the eastern suburbs and following the northern road from Marshlands to Leithfield, passing over both branches of the Kowai river above Amberley.

This route caused much controversy and was the subject of an investigation by the Canterbury Railway and Bridge Commission in 1864. All members agreed the route should leave via the western suburbs and cross the Ashley at Waikuku, its narrowest point. But they split over the route from Papanui to the Ashley. Some favored a line crossing the Waimakariri near Jackson’s old ferry, the line then traversing the Mandeville swamps, cutting across the Rangiora-Woodend road and on to the Waikuku crossing. Others favoured a coastal route through Woodend to Waikuku.

The coastal line looked to be holding sway, despite arguments that the Eyre and Mandeville districts would be left isolated. Then in 1864, Parliament passed a railway bill which favoured the western route and gave authority to purchase the required land.

However, it soon became apparent that the government had pigeon-holed all plans for a northern line, claiming Kaiapoi Island would not survive repeated floods and track maintenance would be an on-going problem.  (The Waimakariri river split near Clarkville and one branch flowed northwards behind Kaiapoi settlement to join the Cam river about where the motorway now crosses.)

There followed seven years of deputations and petitions, with heated public meetings in woolsheds and  schoolrooms throughout the district. Advocates for northward development were lead by Marmaduke Dixon, William Maskell, James Wylde and John Evans Brown. The settlers resented the government pouring money into the southern link with Timaru while the northern districts were struggling. By 1869, more than half the original land purchasers beyond the Waimakariri had moved away, either ruined or in search of better security.

In 1869, the government finally set aside money for the northern route and authorized the purchase of the land. Again, there was confusion and fiery promotion of a variety of branch lines. Again the woolsheds and classrooms resounded with heated debates, this time between neighbouring communities afraid their settlements would not enjoy the benefits of rail communication.

Kaiapoi was by now a flourishing mercantile town, and J.T.Peacock, who among other things owned the Mandeville flour mill, presented to the Provincial Council a scheme by which Kaiapoi would be the terminus for two lines, one serving the Waipara-Hurunui area and the other the Eyre-Oxford-Malvern districts. But the politicians and merchants of Christchurch were wary of Kaiapoi and her port prospering at their expense and vetoed the idea.

Bitter public lobbying surrounded the decision to build the line through Rangiora instead of Woodend, but eventually Rangiora was chosen.

The railway crossed the Waimakariri in 1872 and was opened to Kaiapoi on April 29 and Rangiora on November 6.  The official party aboard the train, which included the provincial Superintentendent, William Rolleston, and members of the Provincial and City  Councils, were treated to a luncheon at the Mechanics’ Institute. 

But Rangiora’s celebrations, when the line reached their town six months later, far outshone the Kaiapoi welcome. A public holiday was proclaimed on November 6, 1872, and all the townspeople gathered for the train’s arrival. There was a procession with bands, two great food marquees, dancing and races for the children.

But the western districts were still isolated, and there was much lobbying for branch lines, especially to connect the coastal route with the booming timber mills of the Oxford area. Dray loads were taking up to two days to reach Kaiapoi from Oxford’s Harewood Forest.

A plan for an Oxford-Rangiora branch line had already been approved, and the Eyre settlers asked why it could not pass through their district. They attempted to draw the proposed Rangiora-Oxford line further their way, agitating for a line which would pass through the centre of the Waimakariri-Ashley area with its junction at Flaxton. This, they argued, would satisfy everybody and open up the thousands of acres of lightly-grazed country on both banks of the Eyre.

But Rangiora refused to give in, maintaining that the most heavily populated areas should be first served.

For some reason, possibly because they thought there may be enough money for two lines, the Eyre settlers abandoned their idea of a central line and substituted a plan for one which would include stations at Ohoka, Mandeville, and West Eyreton. This direct challenge to Rangiora was followed by a spate of hostile meetings and a bitter struggle between the Rangiora businessmen and farmers, led by Henry Blackett, and the Eyre settlers, led by John  Peacock and John Brown.

In one incident, Messrs Peacock and Brown were holding a meeting at Mandeville in July 1871, when Henry Blackett arrived with a band of his supporters, and was soon contesting every point. Tempers became frayed, and in the middle of the uproar the Rangiora men started moving resolutions in favour of their line. While this was going on coach loads of Rangiora supporters were still galloping around the country looking for the hall, but they were not needed, because the meeting had already been abandoned.

Another meeting was called quietly at West Eyreton to rally support from Cust and Oxford. But Blackett heard of it, gathered his supporters, hired every coach available in the town and set out for West Eyreton. Seeing the cavalcade approaching through the moonlit summer night, the conveners of the meeting stopped proceedings, locked the schoolroom and dispersed. Not to be thwarted, Blackett's men climbed through the windows, reopened the meeting and passed resolutions by the light of their carriage lamps. A rider was despatched to Christchurch, and the people read in the newspapers next day that a West Eyreton meeting had decided by an overwhelming majority that the Rangiora-Oxford line would best suit the requirements of the northern districts.

These obstructive tactics may have been to Eyre's advantage, for the Government listened attentively to its case as presented by John Peacock, who at that time was Member of Parliment for Lyttelton. A resurvey of the routes was made in May 1872, after which it was decided to construct two lines, 10km apart, although  the line would initially end at West Eyreton, rather than carrying on all the way to Oxford.

The first train left West Eyreton for Kaiapoi on December 27, 1875. On February 1, 1878, the West Eyreton-Oxford section finally opened.

Ohoka benefited economically and socially from the advent of the railway. The train in the area became nicknamed the Ohoka Punt. Due to the swampy nature of the land, the train gave the appearance that it was riding on water, sending spray out both sides as it traveled across the area.

By 1895, by which time fires had destroyed most of the Harewood Forest milling ande motorised transport had made its debut, traffic was light.

A 1930 Royal Commission recommended that the Eyreton branch close unless the settlers themselves raised the necessary funds to maintain it. This did not happen and on February 9, 1931, the branch was closed to passenger services and the connecting link between Bennetts Junction and Horrelville was also closed.

By 1950, the Kaiapoi to West Eyreton branch was losing money, with only two goods trains operating each way weekly. The flourmill at Wetheral (Evans Mill) generated some traffic for the line, but wagons that were delivered on a Thursday had to wait until the following Tuesday to be loaded. The Horrelville-Wetherell section was closed on May 26, 1954.

A 5km spur off the main line carried on serving Evans Mill until the early 1960s. The mill was closed in 1978 and demolished in 1980.

Little remains today of the line. On Mill Road, a siding to Isaac Wilson’s flourmill was built in 1876 (Wilson’s Siding), and is marked now by a Historic Places Trust plaque.

Sources:

Churchman, Geoffrey B. The railways of New Zealand : a journey through history
Hawkins, D. N. Beyond the Waimakariri
Leitch, David and Scott, Brian. Exploring New Zealand’s Ghost Railways