Locomotives of the Ohai Railway Board

In the 1870s, coal was discovered in Ohai. The mines had their own 2ft gauge railway, where they would take coal from the mines to Ohai. This was where the Ohai State Coal Mines was formed. Coal production boomed in the area in 1925 when a private railway was built from the terminus of the New Zealand Railways Departments Wairio Branchline to Nightcaps to provide more efficient transport of coal, which was operated by the Nightcaps Coal Company, it opened not long after the states railway reached Wairio in 1909. In 1918, a proposal was made to build another line to coal interests around Ohai, and the construction of this line was fiercely opposed by the Nightcaps Coal Company, fearing a loss of business. However, construction was approved in July 1919 with a deviation through Morley Village, considered part of Nightcaps. The first section of the line, including the part serving Morley Village, opened on 1 September 1920. Ohai was reached four years later, and in January 1925 and the Ohai Railway Board was formed. The Nightcaps Coal Company ceased to operate, and they handed over their railway line to the Railways Department, who dismantled it in 1926 as the Ohai Industrial Line was capable of catering for traffic from Nightcaps. The line is one of the few remaining rural branch lines out of many that once existed throughout New Zealand. In 1934, this line was further extended beyond Ohai to Birchwood, but the terminus had reverted to Ohai by the time the line was incorporated into the national rail network on 1 June 1990. The line is now called the Ohai Line, and it is one of the very few survivors of a formerly extensive rural branch line network. In 1990 the ORB was taken over by the New Zealand Railways Corporation, and the line still serves coal trains between Invercargill and Nightcaps.

Locomotives

NZR Steam Locomotives

Key: In service On lease Out of service Preserved Overhaul or repair Scrapped
Original Class and Number Builder Builders number Year built In service[n 1] Withdrawn[n 2] Notes
C 167 Dubs & Co. 801 1875 1915 1950
FA 10 Avonside Engine Co. 1094 1876 1919 1940
FA 157 Yorkshire Engine Co 243 1875 January 29, 1923 1927
FA 251 Dubs & Co. 1366 1880 1939 1954
WAB 794 NZR Hillside Workshops 251 1927 1955 1968 Preserved, Feilding and District Steam Rail Society.
X 442 NZR Addington Workshops 97 1909 1944 1968 Preserved, Feilding and District Steam Rail Society.
X 446 NZR Addington Workshops 101 1909 1946 1959

NZR Diesel Locomotives

Key: In service On lease Out of service Preserved Overhaul or repair Scrapped
Original Class and Number TMS Class and Number ORB Number Builder Builders number Year built In service[n 1] Withdrawn[n 2] Notes
DSA 218 DSA 224 Drewry Car Co. 2416 1953 August 1982 July 1989 Preserved, The Plains Vintage Railway & Historical Museum.
DSA 234 DSA 387 Drewry Car Co. 2432 1953 March 1981 1982 Preserved, Oamaru Steam and Rail Restoration Society.
DJ 1229 DJ 3303 3 Mitsubishi 1536 1967 1988 1990 Preserved, Mainline Steam Heritage Trust.
TR 81 TR 309 Drewry Car Co. 2097 1938 1939 1955 Originally built for the ORB, but later sold to the NZR. Preserved, Ocean Beach Railway.

Industrial Steam Locomotives

Only one industrial steam loco was built and operated for the ORB.

Key: In service On lease Out of service Preserved Overhaul or repair Scrapped
Builder Builders number Name Year built In service Withdrawn Notes
Hawthorn Leslie 3663 Benoni 1927 1927 1950 Rear bogie held by the Bush Tramway Club.[1]

Industrial Diesel Locomotives

All of these locos were originally built for the ORB, but were later either sold to other industrial users, or placed into preservation straight away.

Key: In service On lease Out of service Preserved Overhaul or repair Scrapped
ORB Number Builder Builders number Year built In service Withdrawn Notes
1 Drewry Car Co. 2248 1948 1948 1968 Preserved, Rimutaka Incline Railway Heritage Trust.
2 Drewry Car Co. 2585 1957 1957 1968 Preserved, Rotoura Ngongotaha Railway Trust.
1 Mitsubishi 1475 1967 1967 1990 Preserved, Ocean Beach Railway.[2]
2 Mitsubishi 1476 1967 1967 1990 Preserved, Steam Incorporated.

See also

Ohai Railway Board Heritage Trust
Wairio Branch

References

  1. ↑ "Indust. Steam Locomotives Register". New Zealand Rolling Stock Register. 2 November 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  2. ↑ "Historic Ohai Railway vehicles find new homes". Southland Times. 20 July 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  1. 1 2 In service dates are from when the locomotive first ran for the Ohai Railway Board, not for the NZR.
  2. 1 2 Withdrawnal dates are from when the locomotive was withdrawn by the Ohai Railway Board, not for the NZR.


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