Waitāwheta Gorge Tramway

With their rights to log the kauri forest of the Waitāwheta Valley due to expire in five years, the Kauri Timber Company (KTC) sat down in 1908 to work out how to extract the valuable timber from such challenging topography. 

The tram route was first marked out in April 1909 by Robert Nisbet, a top KTC bush contractor. The tramway required major, and costly, work on bridges and rock cuttings. Despite their faith in Nisbet, the KTC directors were alarmed at the prospect of building a bush tramway far more expensive than any other in New Zealand to date. 

The financial risk for the company led the KTC directors to seek further advice on feasibility. They engaged prominent Thames based engineer, Ernest Feltus Adams (1865-1957). Adams had achieved a solid reputation as a practical engineer. He was known for relishing the challenge of difficult terrain and was considered the leading engineer in the Coromandel district. 

Adams was asked to move quickly during May 1909 to produce a proper engineering survey of the tram route. Based on this, Adams then estimated the tramway would cost £5,000 and would take six months to build.

The KTC directors accepted the advice of manager John Robb, that the record cost to build the tramway would be offset by the high value of the Waitāwheta kauri. Therefore, construction began just as winter arrived in June 1909. 

Again, because of cost and risk, the KTC sought specialist supervision for the construction of the tramway. They needed someone who could keep tight rein on the budget and make decisions on the spot when things were not going to plan. This person was David Castles, a trusted kauri contractor. Castles was renowned for his dogged determination in the face of difficulties, qualities essential for this work.

Bridges

The gorge route required five large wooden trestle bridges over the Waitāwheta River. These bridges had to be able to withstand the heavy floods that swept through the gorge. Two were on a steep grade, adding to the design complications. It is likely that these bridges were designed by Adams.

The gorge bridges were built of heavy kauri beams. These square-sawn six-meter-long beams weighed half a tonne each. It is likely these beams were shaped by squaring axe from logs felled close to the site, or sawn by hand in sawpits. These skills were dying out, but they were still practiced by kauri bush workers. With precision, the craftsmen then moved the heavy beams into position without any cranes, fitting them together with joints so exact that you could not force a pocket knife into them. 

Cuttings

While the bridges were being built, work proceeded on the major rock cuttings required in the gorge section. A specialised workforce was needed for this risky work. Experienced gold miners from Waihi hand-drilled, blasted and excavated the hard ignimbrite (volcanic) rock into cuttings of dimensions usually created for railways. A hazard of this work was rockfalls from the less stable upper edges of the cutting. Extreme vigilance was needed. 

Tramway

Once the gorge section was completed, a further 1.5km of tram was needed upstream for the bush camps and steam winches to be set up. At the same time an existing 8km of tram downstream of the gorge was upgraded to take heavy kauri logs. This 12km bush tram allowed logs to be delivered to a railway siding in the Karangahake gorge. 

The first logs were transported along the tramway in mid-October 1910. KTC manager, John Robb reported that the new section of tramway (3.5km) had cost £12,567 to construct and equip. KTC paid an additional £2,000 for the right to use the existing section of tramway. To put these costs into perspective, at that time a bushman might earn £150 for a year’s work. However, for KTC the expense was justified because kauri was starting to get scarce, therefore higher prices would be paid for the remaining bush. 

The KTC continued logging in the Waitāwheta Valley until 1915, having removed some 40,000 cubic metres of timber.

Waitāwheta Gorge Tramway and power transmission

At the same time as the tramway was being constructed, another feat was underway in the valley. New Zealand's first long distance power transmission line over rugged terrain was being built to bring electricity from the Horahora hydro-electric power station, on the Waikato River, to power the gold mines at Waihi. The Waitāwheta tramway was used to transport all the materials for the section of transmission line between Mt Te Aroha and Waikino (near Waihi). 

More Information

References

Furkert, F. W. Early New Zealand Engineers. Wellington: Reed, 1953.

Lawn, C.A. The Pioneer Land Surveyors of New Zealand: Part IV, Biographical Notes, 2005, pp.295-96 (www.surveyors.org.nz, 750KB)

Mahoney, Paul. ‘Waitāwheta History,’ unpublished manuscript, 2010.

Swarbrick, Nancy. 'Logging native forests - The timber industry, 1840–1920', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, updated 2 March 2009. www.TeAra.govt.nz 

Access 

The Waitāwheta Tramway is managed by the Department of Conservation as part of the Kaimai Heritage Trail, at the north end of the Kaimai Mamaku Forest Park. Go to www.doc.govt.nz

Walking the 7.5 km Waitāwheta tramway track takes 8 hours return.

Page last updated 09 October 2019