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The stations at Waikino and Waihi were bustling
with up to 9 trains daily between the two towns.
The trains offered opportunities for residents,
business people, and especially students, who
were now able to travel to schools.
Though underground mining at the Martha Mine
stopped in 1952, the Victoria Battery operated
with a reduced workforce until 1955. After this,
most of the battery buildings were dismantled.
Because of its narrow track width and tight
curves, the Karangahake Gorge rail route was
dismantled in the 1980s, except for the 6km
between Waihi and Waikino. The Waikino
Station closed, but was reopened in 1991.
WAIKINO
O
I regularly drove SH 2 commuting
to Morrinsville, and loved seeing
the Waikino train station at the
eastern edge of the
Karangahake Gorge that
serviced the historic Victoria
Battery complex. I occasionally
saw the old restored locomotive
in action which was quite
exciting, and the cafe would call
to me to pull me into the
carpark. Food and information racks
and a vintage train running into
Waihi. Bikes allowed !
- Charlotte Giblin
D
rive, bike or travel by train (from Waihi)
to the picturesque Waikino Station. Its
carpark is handy to the entrance to the
Victoria Battery ruins and museum located
across SH2 and the river.
This stretch of track and the two stations
comprise the volunteer-run Goldfield Railway,
providing a single return trip daily during the
school term, and three return trips during
holidays. The Waikino Station Cafe offers a
carpark, meals and information; riders can load
their bikes onto train cars for transport to Waihi.
See
www.waihirail.co.nz.Although this is a simple railway station now,
before the railway, heavy equipment and
supplies for mines and their batteries were
transported over tracks with wagons pulled
by huge teams of horses. For instance, a hefty
metal boiler from the A&G Price foundry took
seven days to be moved from Thames to
Waikino (see ‘Wagon Wheels’ story page 38).
The long-awaited train between Karangahake
and Paeroa opened in late 1903, first with coal
deliveries for the goldfields (200 tonnes per
day), transferred to Karangahake by beneath-
train hoppers to horse drawn wagons; in March
1904, a passenger service was established.
What about the quaint Waikino railway station?
Waikino, east, was not connected to Paeroa via
the North Island Rail Network until 1905 after
five years of labourious work excavating the
narrow gauge rail tracks and tunnels through
the gorge’s steep cliffs.
O
Waitekauri
Township, mines and battery are gone,
but enjoy hiking the Morgan Nature Reserve
W
aitekauri, located in the hills behind Waikino, also flourished and had already been
prospected before the Ohinemuri block opened in 1875. Areas were quickly staked
out, claims filed and mining facilities built. Deliveries of equipment were made by horses over
rough tracks from Paeroa and Mackaytown, long before the road to Waikino was built. The
huge waterwheel, seen right, was a recordbreaker.
However, the farmlands now show no obvious sign
of its town, tunnels and batteries. Devoted trampers
however, armed with GPS, are able to view some of the
ruins. Drive up the Old Waitekauri Road, accessible just
east of the Waikino Railway Station off SH25. Nature
lovers and bird watchers may want to enjoy the new
walking track of the 13ha
Morgan Reserve,
which is
open after a 20 year planting restoration effort.
Native birds include the North Island fantail, grey
warbler, pukeko (seen left), silvereye, kereru and
tui. The reserve is filled with kauri, kahikatea, rimu,
tanekaha, totara, ponga, pigeonwood and mamaku.
Photo: Ohinemuri Regional History Journal 3
44
COROMANDEL LIFE 2016 Summer