page_title: Taupo railway proposals
section_title: Mokai Tramway
hierarchical_section_title: Taupo railway proposals / Proposed routes / Mokai Tramway
caption_attribution_description: English: View of railway track belonging to the Taupo Totara Timber Company, showing the "corkscrew" with five different levels of track. Photograph taken by Albert Percy Godber in February 1923.
context_page_description: There have been a number of proposals to build a Taupo Line as a branch railway linking the township of Taupo in the central North Island of New Zealand to New Zealand's rail network. One proposal proceeded as far as the construction stage before being stopped.
context_section_description: In 1903 the Taupo Totara Timber Company (TTT Co) constructed the 82 km Mokai Tramway to link their milling centre at Mokai with the New Zealand Government Railways line (NZR) at Putaruru. The line was built over the former Lichfield Branch line, which was originally built by the Thames Valley and Rotorua Railway Company to be part of the line to Rotorua. The TTT Co line then went onwards south of Lichfield through what are now Tokoroa and Kinleith and crossed the Waikato River at Ongaroto.
  In general the TTT Co line was constructed to a fairly high standard for a bush tramway, with 1 in 30 grades and 30 metre radius curves. This reflected the company's ultimate intention to sell the line to NZR.
  In 1911 the TTT Co put forward a proposal to extend their line from Mokai into Taupo township via Oruanui. The station, and terminus of the line, was to be on Spa Road where Taupo-Nui-a-Tia College now stands. This would have required another bridge across the Waikato River.
  The proposal was quickly endorsed and praised by many in Taupo, and to support the extension the Taupo District Railway League was formed with powers to support the scheme and ensure it succeeded. The TTT Co proposed running the railway as a private trust-owned company.
  However, considerable objection was made to this proposal by the people of Rotorua, in particular the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce. They believed that any railway to Taupo should be from the railhead at Rotorua, running south via Waiotapu. The Rotorua Chamber of Commerce lodged a complaint to Parliament regarding the proposal. The Taupo District Railway League consequently lodged a complaint to the Member of Parliament for the district, Mr MacDonald, protesting the opposition being made by the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce.
  As time passed the proposal for the TTT Co scheme was eventually shelved, largely due to the outbreak of World War I and due to the considerable objections being made by the Rotorua Chamber of Commerce. The line would have required considerable improvements to bring it up to NZR standard as it was only built to carry timber and it consequently had very tight curves, narrow cuttings and light rails. It was not a fast railway line at all and the passengers that the TTT Co trains carried were noted to be able to climb off the train and walk alongside the train as it slowly crawled along.
  The TTT Co line eventually closed on 26 October 1944. However the Government saw that the line had greater potential and in September 1946 acquired the first 29 km between Putaruru and Kinleith. This section of line opened again on 9 June 1947 under the control of the Public Works Department using steam locomotives purchased from the TTT Co.
  Around the same time plans were being made for a large pulp and paper mill to be constructed at Kinleith. The line with its sharp curves, steep grades and light rails, needed to be significantly upgraded to enable heavy traffic. Reconstruction of the line began in 1949, reducing grades from 1 in 44 to 1 in 70 and curves from 201 metre radius to 322 metre radius. The rebuilt line was handed over to NZR on 12 June 1950.
  Around this time there was a proposal to rebuild the line and extend it to Taupo. Nothing further was heard of this proposal after the 1949 election. This proposal has been brought up many times since.
caption: Railway line of the Taupo Totara Timber Company showing "the corkscrew", with five different levels
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