Operation
Despite being officially designated a branch line, it was little more than an elongated siding. No stations were located on the line and it never carried passengers. Soon after opening, horses substituted for locomotive power as a means of saving money - the animals pulled the wagons up the line, and gravity took the wagons back down the moderate descent to Taonui.
The line was not just used to provide the national railways with sleepers; some private timber companies also offered traffic. However, this traffic was not significant and closing the line was proposed by 1893. Closure came on 14 August 1895 and the rails were gone by February the next year.
Read more about this topic: Taonui Branch
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