Māori Occupation of the Southland Plains The Southland Plains were formed when the canoe of Aoraki capsized. Aoraki and his brothers were forced to climb onto the back of it to avoid drowning. This canoe became the South Island (Te Waka o Aoraki). The stern of the waka, being broad and flat, formed the Southland Plains. Throughout generations of occupation, Ngāi Tahu whanui developed a complex series of trails throughout Te Waipounamu connecting kainga with one another and to mahinga kai and other significant tribal resources. These traditional travel routes became the arteries of economic and social life and formed the relationships between people and places. The area was regularly visited and occupied by Waitaha, followed by Kāti Mamoe and Ngāi Tahu, collectively referred to today as Ngāi Tahu Whanui. Tainui Māori knew that waro (coal) had heating properties and used it for cooking. The concept of mining was also familiar to Māori who quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation. Coal Mining in New Zealand New Zealand’s coal mining history dates back to 1849 when the first coal was cut from Saddle Hill, Dunedin. Nineteenth century coal mines were privately owned and operated, with men going underground to dig out the coal with picks and shovels. The industry contributed to many sectors of the economy - from household heating to transport and manufacturing. ‘In the developing colony, early industries, the distribution networks of rail and shipping and households, all relied on coal as their energy source. Entire communities grew up dependent on coal as their economic base…' Between 1900 and 1914 the country’s coal production doubled to 2.25 million tonnes. It is estimated New Zealand still has coal reserves in excess of 15 billion tonnes. Ohai Coal and the railway Coal was discovered at Ohai in the 1870s. The Nightcaps Coal Company was formed in 1880, consolidating various workings in the Ohai area. In 1878 the small farming township of Wairio was chosen as a new rail terminus given its proximity to the government coal reserve. The township evolved from the breakup of the Annandale run around 1880. The government surveyed the land into deferred-payment sections, laid out a villlage and railway, and gave it the name ‘Wairio’: ‘Wai’meaning water and ‘rio’ dried up. The quality land was soon taken up by settlers and Wairio became a busy farming centre with a school, store, blacksmith, hall, hotel and racecourse. The Nightcaps Coal Company acted quickly following the announcement of the government’s proposed line and built a railway extension from their mine to the Wairio terminus to get government trains direct to the mine. In March 1882 the government line to Wairio, with the further extension to the Nightcaps Coal Company mine, was formally opened. Wairio was in the unique position of having twin termini to service two separate railway lines. By 1885 New Zealand Railways had built all the necessary rail structures were built at Wairio, including an administration office and engine shed, a goods shed, and accommodation for railway officials. The formation of the Ohai Railway Board While the transport system remained stagnant for the next twenty years, the coal mining industry did not. More mines opened in the Ohai district and were beset by roads that were ‘unspeakably bad’. With all its resources the Ohai district could not benefit as long as it lacked convenient and quick transport to the markets. The situation became critical in 1912-1913 when a number of coal leases were granted in the Ohai field. Ohai settlers and coal miners banded together to agitate for the government to provide more railway lines in the district. The advent of the First World War, however, saw all government expenditure devoted to the war effort. The light at the end of the tunnel came unexpectedly with the passing of The Local Railways Act in 1914. The Act enabled the creation of Railway Districts and Railway Boards to run the District. A Railway District could be created if a quarter of the ratepayers signed a petition requesting it. Railway Boards could then be formed to borrow the necessary funds and construct private railways. Seizing the opportunity, Ohai ratepayers generated the necessary petition. Overcoming opposition from the Wairio Railway and Coal Company, in May 1916 the Ohai Railway District was proclaimed. This opened the way for the formation of the Ohai Railway Board (ORB) under the 1914 Act. The first members of the Board, elected in August 1916, were three farmers, four runholders and, surprisingly, only one coal owner. The ORB was now in the business of establishing a private railway line to the Ohai coalfields. The Wairio to Ohai Line After its constitution, the ORB set up office at Otautau. Their first task was the difficult compensation negotiations with the Wairio Railway and Coal Company for the tramway they had built in 1914 from Moretown to the Wairio terminus. In June 1917 almost £20,000 was paid to the Company, leaving the ORB coffers dry. In 1918 the Board started planning the third permanent line from Wairio. It would leave the government line at Wairio, and then continue north along the valley to Ohai. To finance the line, members of the Board obtained a bank overdraft providing their personal backing. It was to be the only railway line built under the Local Railways Act 1914. Ignoring opposition from the Nightcaps Coal Company to the proposed route, tenders for earthworks were called for in March 1919. A contract was signed with William Baird, Invercargill, in July. On 1 September 1920 the line was opened for coal traffic with Tinkers seven kilometres past Wairio. The line was busy. In February 1922 an average of 53 loaded wagons left Wairio daily for the markets. In September 1922 the Board accepted a tender from Messrs Hoare & Co, Kaitangata, to extend the line from Tinkers to Ohai. In December 1924, the line was completed. The total cost of construction was £203,000. The Board were extremely proud of their efforts: 'The Enterprise and courage and vision by the promotors of this railway are beyond all praise. They stepped in and carried through a scheme of national importance….In any future comprehensive history of Southland and her rise to power and wealth, the Ohai Railway Board must always receive distinguished notice for the good work of pioneering it has done, in opening up to the Dominion the largest undeveloped coal measures in its boundaries…' The ORB also claimed that no other public work ‘of whatever magnitude will be a greater factor or have an influence in and upon the development and welfare of the country’. Wairio Station Yard New Zealand Railways and the ORB were distinct entities. Although they shared the yard each body had its own facilities. The layout of the Wairio Station yard and its structures were constantly in flux. New buildings were constructed but many more were reused from another yard. The ORB’s first effort was a weighbridge and office built in 1919. The 1920s saw a construction boom. Several cottages were added, including one for a typist in 1928. In 1922 a ‘two roomed iron house’ was shifted to Wairio for use as a tool house. In April 1923 the construction of a new engine shed began. It was in use by September. It accommodated two FA engines and included a coal loading crane and sand dryer. In August 1924 the ORB accepted D.C. Sutherland’s tender of £468 for a new Wairio office, designed by the Engineer, in connection with the newly purchased weighbridge. The office was complete in November 1924 and found ‘convenient and comfortable’. It contained a weighbridge room, clerk’s room and manager’s room. Although the line was built to serve the coal mines, from 1924 the ORB also operated a passenger service. This made it almost unique in the history of private lines in New Zealand. The Wellington & Manawatu Railway Company offered passenger services, as did the Dun Mountain Railway, although it was more akin to a tramway and only ran between 1861 and 1872. Generally speaking private lines were advocated by the community to serve as passenger transport or by private companies to get access to markets. The ORB purchased a clerestory-roofed passenger car for the service – it was nicknamed the ‘Red Terror’. The 1924 ORB rules included passenger fares, although it has been written that as the only independent railway in New Zealand to run at a profit all passenger services were run free of charge. By 1926 only children under the age of three were free. The ORB also ran a freight service, carrying the likes of milk and cream, parcels, newspapers, bicycles, dogs (9d each) and corpses (15/-each). The passenger service ran for 40 years, replaced with buses in 1975. In February 1925 the tool house was shifted next to the Guard’s room and the ground formerly occupied by the 1919 offices was used for siding alterations. By the end of 1925 alterations and extensions at the yard by way of sidings and loops had been completed. The problem of traffic congestion was relived for a time. In 1927 the ORB agreed to the Engineer’s proposal that the old engine shed be extended 10 feet. In August Ramsay and Gaines tender of £96 was accepted. In October 1927 the ORB made the landmark decision to move the Board’s office to Wairio. The building was designed by the Chief Engineer to the Board, F. Williams, and in November 1927 a request for tenders was issued. The Board accepted the cheapest tender, for £764, from James Wilson, Ohai. The specifications showed the building was to have concrete foundations with weather board walls, painted white. The roof was specified as No.26 gauge corrugated iron. It included a Board Room, passage, two offices (manager’s and typist’s), and men’s and women’s conveniences. The architraves were red pine; the doors ‘for offices and conveniences’ were imported oregon, the window frames were totara. The Board Room entrance double doors were to swing either way with top glass panels obscured. Tiled fire surrounds were provided for both offices. The fire place in the Board Room was clinkor brickwork. All woodwork was to be oiled. The wall lining was tongue and groove. The strong room was to be constructed in concrete. Furniture, including the six foot Board table and leather bucket chairs, was ordered from William Smith & Co. Ltd. They also supplied the linoleum for the offices and conveniences, as well as the carpet for the Boardroom – ‘Talbot Wilton & of real good quality’. In early 1928 the Board offices were completed. In 1929 a new engine shed, capable of housing and servicing two engines, was built next to the 1923 shed. The work was supervised by James Wilson with the work done by ‘the Board’s men’. It was built wholly of iron. Railway rails, set in concrete, were used for the uprights. The Depression and Beyond Over the years there were calls for the government to take over the line but it was always shown that it was a ‘very efficient undertaking and nothing could be gained by incorporating the railway into the N.Z.R. system’. Figures showed a spectacular growth in coal traffic. In 1919 the ORB’s lines, carried 17,463 tons of coal; in 1939 207,020 tonnes; in 1944 it peaked at 285,861 tons. The ORB’s construction programme during the 1930s was largely constrained to the opening of the Birchwood extension in 1934. The line was now 19 kilometres in length. By this time both the other lines had closed as the mines they served had been worked out. During the Depression the ORB donated to a number of local causes. For example, in 1933 donations were made to the Nightcaps Ambulance, the Ohai Plunket Society, the Nightcaps Public Library, the Nightcaps Unemployment Relief Committee, the Nightcaps Poultry Society, and the Wairio Unemployment Relief Committee. In 1941 a goods shed was moved from Nightcaps yard to Wairio to serve as a locomotive repair shed. A lean-to was added to it for a machine and work shed. In 1942 electricity was installed at a cost of around £117. By 1946 the engine shed and workshops required extension to meet the requirements of ‘stabling, servicing and repairing when the X 446 Locomotive and 204 H.P. Diesel Locomotive’ were delivered. W.J. Sym, a Christchurch consulting engineer, prepared specifications for the extension of the workshop. In February 1947 J. Matheson was hired with the contract set at £410. In the meantime it was necessary to enlarge the existing engine shed to provide housing and servicing facilities for two steam engines and a diesel. Matheson prepared the plan, using the timber from the boxing and forms used in the workshop extension to extend the engine shed. The necessary iron was found by using up what was on site and dismantling the annex to the engine shed which would no longer be required when the shed was extended. Also in May 1947 it was decided to build a new sand dryer. A dryer had been obtained from Hillside workshops and the new dryer would be housed in concrete close to the engine shed. Matheson included this building in his plans for the engine shed extension. In 1956 a diesel locomotive was employed on the line – the age of steam was over. It made three round trips between Wairio and Ohai every day. In 1964 five trips were being made daily. In 1976 the ORB celebrated their 50th anniversary. The only local private railway in New Zealand, they employed twelve people, handled 200,000 tonnes of coal a year, and were debt-free with assets of more than $1 million dollars. In November 1989 the functions of the ORB were taken over by the Southland District Council. The ORB had the distinction of being in operation for 75 years. In 1992 the Board assets were sold to NZ Rail. From 2000 the Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust ran a Museum from the buildings. Unfortunately the Trust eventually disbanded and the Museum closed. While the buildings remain unused, the Wairio Branch line is still in active use carting coal from Ohai. It is the last sole remaining branch line in Southland and one of only a few such lines remaining. It is certainly the longest running private line in New Zealand.

Setting Wairio is a tiny town in rural Southland, with a population of 942 recorded in the 2013 census. Surrounded by green fields and rolling hills, the picturesque site does not contain any coal mining scars. On one side of the street are a pub, Wairio’s public hall, and eight houses edge the western side of the street. The most imposing element of the small township is a community of buildings which line the eastern side of the street – the Ohai Railway Board’s network of structures. The only extant building dating to the 1880s rail period is the cottage. The remaining structures date to the twentieth century. Engine Shed Entering from the south, there is a corrugated iron engine shed erected in 1929. The smoke stacks are covered in the soot of the steam engines it serviced. On the outside of the engine shed to the north is a small corrugated iron structure which appears to have been a cloakroom for the engineers. On the eastern elevation is a flat roofed lean-to with rails. Presumably locos could be housed here. This is likely the remains of the ORB’s 1923 engine shed. Inside are two open pits, enabling mechanics to go underneath engines to service them. Over one pit is what appears to be a pre-1900 passenger carriage. It is painted in the royal blue of the ORB. The engine shed is lined with original work benches and pieces of railway detritus lie around. Pigeons roost in the exposed rafters. Two large doors, enabling loco access into the shed, open to the north. Attached to the eastern elevation of the shed is a narrow corrugated shed with rails. Presumably locos could be housed here. Water Tower and Sand Dryer From the outer doors of the engine shed lies the rail line, covered by undergrowth but still discernible. It leads to the north and the station’s water tower and sand dryer dating to 1947. It is a rectangular concrete structure with openings on the lower floor. Water for the engines was held on top. On the bottom were two storage rooms for sand. Sand was carried on top of the train and if the wheels were losing traction on an uphill climb sand could be diverted down to the wheels to provide extra traction. Box Van Following the overgrown rail line north from the water tower, lies a ventilated box van. Around 7,000 of these vans were built between 1933 and 1945 for the carriage of general merchandise. It no longer has wheels and is uncovered. Engine Shed/Goods Shed The van lies beside another engine shed. The origins of the shed are unknown but it began life as a goods shed. In 1941 it was shifted from the Nightcaps station yard to Wairio to serve as a loco repair workshop. The Nightcaps station was established in 1882 so the shed could be nineteenth century in origin. Built of corrugated iron the goods loading doors can still be seen in the structure. Once at Wairio a high entry door was cut into the south elevation to allow loco access. In 1946 the Board decided to extend the engine shed. The extension was much longer and higher that others on site. It was built of shuttered concrete. On top of the concrete walls is an asbestos wall lining. The boxing was then broken up and the timbers reused in the roof. The interior of the engine shed extension is well preserved. There is a small office in the corner of the shed and a series of lockers for the engineers on the eastern elevation. This shed houses a modern diesel locomotive, possibly dating to the 1960s. It also houses New Zealand’s earliest remaining ballast plough van, with the ORB logo on the side. The plough blade under the van spread out the ballast on rail tracks. It could also have been used as a guard’s van. Iron Storage Shed Lying further north, next to the engine shed extension is a corrugated iron storage shed. It is the ‘two roomed iron house’ shifted to Wairio for use as a tool house in 1922. It is one of the earliest buildings onsite. It is lined with horizontal wooden boards and includes extensive shelving. ORB’s Office and Board Room North from the storage shed is the ORB’s office and Board Room erected 1927-1928. It replaced earlier offices, when the ORB decided to move to Wairio. It is a wooden structure with a porch entry way to the administration office. The weighbridge office and manager’s room sits at the rear. The Board Room is the north end. On the window facing the street is the original 1916 ‘Ohai Railway Board’ sign etched onto the glass. Through the front door is a small foyer off which there are two rooms. One is the manager’s office, with washroom. The other is the clerk’s office (or administration office) - including a fireplace and counter -, behind which is the weigh station office. Outside the window of this office is the weigh bridge where the engine would stop and the weigh station would calculate the weight of the load. This room also has several original storage cupboards. To the left of the administration area is the Board Room. It includes a large table which is not the original – this is now at Tiwai Point. Five of the six original leather bucket chairs were recently located by KiwiRail and are now in the room. At the northern end of the room is a large safe which housed the records of the Board. This may be a later addition, as the original specifications place the strong room in the typist’s office. Cottage Adjacent to Board Room’s north elevation is a small two-roomed weather board cottage. Its architecture indicates nineteenth century construction. After Wairio terminus was opened in 1882, cottages were built for the accommodation of railway officials. This cottage is likely the only remaining structure dating to this period of the yard’s history. It has small-paned windows and beaded weatherboards. The chimney is on the exterior. A small lean-to is attached to the southern elevation. Inside there is one large room, with fireplace, and a small cell like room, possibly bedroom. Given the ongoing changes in the layout of the yard and associated buildings, it is likely the cottage is not on its original site. Further north is an old Country Women’s Institute (CWI) hall which was moved on to site by the former Ohai Museum Board. It has been purchased by the Waimea Plains Rail Heritage Trust and is not part of this assessment. Comparative Analysis of Private Railways in New Zealand Although there were any number of little bush lines and tramways, only 23 private lines were established in New Zealand - ‘most were unsuccessful’ - and only one line was constructed under the 1914 Local Railways Act. Private lines were built by private companies, such as coal companies, but also by local government bodies. The Southland provincial government, for example, was an early rail pioneer. In October 1864 it completed a 12 kilometre railway between Invercargill and Makarewa. In an effort to save money, the line was built of thick wooden rails. Unfortunately, these became slippery in wet weather and were crushed by the locomotives. In dry weather sparks set the tracks alight. Nothing of the enterprise remains. A number of private lines were built in the 1870s. Some were solely passenger services, such as the 1877 Waimate Branch. Other lines were built solely to get coal or timber to the main trunk lines. Dun Mountain Railway Comparable to the ORB’s operations was the first private line, the Dun Mountain Railway. Opened in 1862, its purpose was to carry ore to markets, but the government also required the company to provide a passenger service as well. As the carriages were pulled by horses, however, it has been described as more akin to a tramway. Rail historians Churchman and Hurst argued it has assumed ‘a significance out of proportion to its intrinsic value’. Nothing remains of the Dun Mountain Railway. Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company Like the Wairio to Ohai line, the Kaitangata Railway and Coal Company was built to get coal to the main trunk lines. In 1876 the Company built a short line to link their coal mine with the South Island Main Trunk line. Its sole purpose was to benefit the Kaitangata Coal Company and it did not offer a passenger service. The railway was taken over by the Mines Department in 1956. While the line was in operation slightly longer than the ORB’s, none of the supporting rail structures survive. Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) The Railways Construction and Land Act 1881 offered generous land grants to private rail companies. The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company is regarded as the most successful private line built under the 1881 Act. It was established by local investors and, although it struggled financially at first, went on to become a financial success. At the end of 1886 the line was officially opened. It helped open the Kāpiti Coast, Horowhenua and Manawatū to settlement and was certainly the most innovative and progressive of services as it was based on rules and procedures developed in the United States of America. In 1908 the government compulsorily acquired the line and the company closed after 27 years in business. Over time the original line and bridges have been modified or replaced. Only some of the WMR’s tunnels remain as original structures. Conclusion Few rail lines were built by communities and only one under the 1914 Local Railway Act - Wairio to Ohai. The most successful is said to be the Wellington and Manawatu Railway running between 1885 and 1908. At 85 miles long the WMR was a much more ambitious business concern, yet the Ohai Railway Board’s line ran for many more years and is recognised as the most financially successful of all private lines established in New Zealand. It also, perhaps uniquely, combined passenger services and coal transportation.