Mangapehi[1] (or Mangapeehi)[2] was a flag station on the North Island Main Trunk line, in the Waitomo District of New Zealand. It was 5.89 km (3.66 mi) north of Poro-O-Tarao and 5.15 km (3.20 mi) south of Kopaki.[3]

Mangapehi railway station
Mangapehi station in 2018
General information
Location	New Zealand
Coordinates	38.516878°S 175.307722°E / -38.516878; 175.307722
Elevation	285 m (935 ft)
Line(s)	North Island Main Trunk
Distance	Wellington 449.47 km (279.29 mi)
History
Opened	1 April 1901
Closed	Passenger after Sep 1980 Goods 31 March 1987
Rebuilt	8 January 1950
Electrified	June 1988
Services
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station Kopaki Line open, station closed   North Island Main Trunk KiwiRail   Poro-O-Tarao Line open, station closed

Ellis & Burnand had a sawmill at Mangapehi from 1901[4] until 1968.[5]

Station move

In 1950 the station was moved almost a kilometre north, away from the sawmill,[6][7] at a cost of £13,405.[8] In that year it had 23,636 passengers, 4 staff and railed 148,093 board feet (349.46 m³) of timber and 28,633 sheep and pigs, earning £3,256 from passengers and £85,473 from freight.[9]

Tramway

A tramway was built into the bush to the east by Ellis and Burnand, initially with 11 mi (18 km) in 1903,[10] and extended further in 1904.[11] By 1909 it was over 14 mi (23 km), which had cost an average of over £1,000 per mile.[12] At 15 mi (24 km) it was slightly longer in 1922.[13] and by 1939 there were over 26 mi (42 km) of tramway[14] and 58 km (36 mi) when trucks took over in the 1950s.[5]

Gradients were up to 1 in 15, requiring the use of geared Climax locos from 1905,[15] which replaced horses[16] on wooden rails.[5] It also linked the station to the coal mines at Maniaiti / Benneydale.[6] The 1904 Climax is now in the Tokomaru Steam Engine Museum,[17] after ending service in 1954 and being briefly joined by another E & B Climax from their Manunui tramway.[18]

Coal from the Mangapehi mine used the line between 1936 and 1952.[5]

Gallery

• 
  Mangapehi railway station and Ellis and Burnand sawmill before 1930
• 
  "Climax" locomotive at Mangapehi, in 1920 on Ellis & Burnand tramway.
• 
  Mangapehi railway station and settlement in 1920

References

External links

• 1928 photo of derailment a mile south of the station
• Video of steam train at Mangapehi in 2008