Operation
The line was very important for its first 12 years. Northbound freight and passengers from Wellington came up the west coast via ship and transferred to the railway in Foxton, and the town was served by express trains. When the WMR's line opened, traffic to Foxton dropped so markedly that services were slashed to run on alternate days, though daily trains were later restored. Passenger ships between Wellington and Foxton disappeared overnight. Most freight also used the new line, but the government railways did not wish to utilise a competitor's service and continued to ship railway coal in via Foxton. The flax trade in the region also continued to use Foxton as a harbour and provided traffic for the line.
In 1903 a mixed train ran daily between Foxton and Palmerston North, and it was augmented by a passenger train to and from Palmerston North three times a week. In 1913, the passenger train operated six days a week. However, freight services were in decline: with the acquisition of the WMR in 1908, the Railways Department ceased shipping coal via Foxton. The wharf's condition was deteriorating and by 1916, only one shipping company, with two steamers, used Foxton, and when the company's main shed burnt down in 1922 it ceased to operate. Local interests continued to try to generate shipping traffic but met with little success and only a small amount of traffic was generated for the railway. In 1942, all shipping via Foxton ceased.
In 1932, passenger services were withdrawn and the locomotive depot closed, with the only trains being a daily goods service from Palmerston North. During World War II, troop trains ran as the Manawatu Mounted Rifles established a camp on Foxton's racecourse, but after the war traffic continued to decline. Only three trains ran a week in 1952; in comparison, road freight services to the town were thriving. A mere 5,500 tonnes per annum were railed off the branch to other destinations, while 13,000 tonnes of freight came onto the line. The traffic outwards was mostly woolpacks and root crops, while lumber, lime, manure and coal were the primary traffic inwards. Closure was inevitable, but the line survived until the end of the 1950s. A farewell passenger excursion ran on 17 July 1959, and the last freight train operated a few days later. Formal closure was on 27 July.
Read more about this topic: Foxton Branch
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