105-723: The Marton–New Plymouth line ( MNPL ) is a secondary railway in the North Island of New Zealand that links the Taranaki and Manawatū-Whanganui regions. It branches from the North Island Main Trunk railway (NIMT) at Marton and runs near the South Taranaki Bight of the west coast before turning inland, meeting the Stratford–Okahukura Line (SOL) at Stratford and running to New Plymouth . Construction of
210-408: A crank on a driving axle. Steam locomotives have been phased out in most parts of the world for economical and safety reasons, although many are preserved in working order by heritage railways . Electric locomotives draw power from a stationary source via an overhead wire or third rail . Some also or instead use a battery . In locomotives that are powered by high-voltage alternating current ,
315-586: A dining car . Some lines also provide over-night services with sleeping cars . Some long-haul trains have been given a specific name . Regional trains are medium distance trains that connect cities with outlying, surrounding areas, or provide a regional service, making more stops and having lower speeds. Commuter trains serve suburbs of urban areas, providing a daily commuting service. Airport rail links provide quick access from city centres to airports . High-speed rail are special inter-city trains that operate at much higher speeds than conventional railways,
420-710: A fourth rail system in 1890 on the City and South London Railway , now part of the London Underground Northern line . This was the first major railway to use electric traction . The world's first deep-level electric railway, it runs from the City of London , under the River Thames , to Stockwell in south London. The first practical AC electric locomotive was designed by Charles Brown , then working for Oerlikon , Zürich. In 1891, Brown had demonstrated long-distance power transmission, using three-phase AC , between
525-527: A funicular railway at the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Austria. The line originally used wooden rails and a hemp haulage rope and was operated by human or animal power, through a treadwheel . The line is still operational, although in updated form and is possibly the oldest operational railway. Wagonways (or tramways ) using wooden rails, hauled by horses, started appearing in the 1550s to facilitate
630-488: A hydro-electric plant at Lauffen am Neckar and Frankfurt am Main West, a distance of 280 km (170 mi). Using experience he had gained while working for Jean Heilmann on steam–electric locomotive designs, Brown observed that three-phase motors had a higher power-to-weight ratio than DC motors and, because of the absence of a commutator , were simpler to manufacture and maintain. However, they were much larger than
735-431: A steam engine that provides adhesion. Coal , petroleum , or wood is burned in a firebox , boiling water in the boiler to create pressurized steam. The steam travels through the smokebox before leaving via the chimney or smoke stack. In the process, it powers a piston that transmits power directly through a connecting rod (US: main rod) and a crankpin (US: wristpin) on the driving wheel (US main driver) or to
840-469: A transformer in the locomotive converts the high-voltage low-current power to low-voltage high current used in the traction motors that power the wheels. Modern locomotives may use three-phase AC induction motors or direct current motors. Under certain conditions, electric locomotives are the most powerful traction. They are also the cheapest to run and provide less noise and no local air pollution. However, they require high capital investments both for
945-418: A brief pause in 1942 at the height of fears of a Japanese invasion. Defects with the tunnels caused delays in completion, and the deviation opened on 7 December 1947. On the old route, A class steam locomotives were capable of hauling 175 tons ; on the new deviation they could handle up to 420 tons. The formation of the old route remains for much of its length, and is used as O'Leary Road near Fordell ;
1050-460: A building permit. The LibraryPlus is also a NZ Post agency. Other services include a Tot Time for the under 5s and regular ‘coffee and blog’ meetings for locals to learn about new technologies in a friendly environment. The LibraryPlus also has three APN computers, offering free internet and Skype to the public. The town's main industry is cheese production, with much of Mainland Cheese's speciality range such as feta and camembert being produced in
1155-475: A couple of platform edges at old station sites also remain. By the start of the 21st century the narrow loading gauge in the 70-m long No.4 tunnel south of Kai Iwi was posing limitations on the growth of freight traffic with containers no greater than 2.6 m in height being able to pass through the tunnel. In September 2007 ONTRACK announced plans for a deviation, and in December a contract worth NZ$ 2.8 million
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#17328686632461260-544: A diesel locomotive from the company in 1909. The world's first diesel-powered locomotive was operated in the summer of 1912 on the Winterthur–Romanshorn railway in Switzerland, but was not a commercial success. The locomotive weight was 95 tonnes and the power was 883 kW with a maximum speed of 100 km/h (62 mph). Small numbers of prototype diesel locomotives were produced in a number of countries through
1365-468: A double track plateway, erroneously sometimes cited as world's first public railway, in south London. William Jessop had earlier used a form of all-iron edge rail and flanged wheels successfully for an extension to the Charnwood Forest Canal at Nanpantan , Loughborough, Leicestershire in 1789. In 1790, Jessop and his partner Outram began to manufacture edge rails. Jessop became a partner in
1470-437: A large turning radius in its design. While high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Since 1980, rail transport has changed dramatically, but a number of heritage railways continue to operate as part of living history to preserve and maintain old railway lines for services of tourist trains. A train is a connected series of rail vehicles that move along
1575-488: A larger locomotive named Galvani , exhibited at the Royal Scottish Society of Arts Exhibition in 1841. The seven-ton vehicle had two direct-drive reluctance motors , with fixed electromagnets acting on iron bars attached to a wooden cylinder on each axle, and simple commutators . It hauled a load of six tons at four miles per hour (6 kilometers per hour) for a distance of one and a half miles (2.4 kilometres). It
1680-423: A locomotive. This involves one or more powered vehicles being located at the front of the train, providing sufficient tractive force to haul the weight of the full train. This arrangement remains dominant for freight trains and is often used for passenger trains. A push–pull train has the end passenger car equipped with a driver's cab so that the engine driver can remotely control the locomotive. This allows one of
1785-477: A number of trains per hour (tph). Passenger trains can usually be into two types of operation, intercity railway and intracity transit. Whereas intercity railway involve higher speeds, longer routes, and lower frequency (usually scheduled), intracity transit involves lower speeds, shorter routes, and higher frequency (especially during peak hours). Intercity trains are long-haul trains that operate with few stops between cities. Trains typically have amenities such as
1890-650: A piece of circular rail track in Bloomsbury , London, the Catch Me Who Can , but never got beyond the experimental stage with railway locomotives, not least because his engines were too heavy for the cast-iron plateway track then in use. The first commercially successful steam locomotive was Matthew Murray 's rack locomotive Salamanca built for the Middleton Railway in Leeds in 1812. This twin-cylinder locomotive
1995-460: A pivotal role in the development and widespread adoption of the steam locomotive. His designs considerably improved on the work of the earlier pioneers. He built the locomotive Blücher , also a successful flanged -wheel adhesion locomotive. In 1825 he built the locomotive Locomotion for the Stockton and Darlington Railway in the northeast of England, which became the first public steam railway in
2100-439: A revival in recent decades due to road congestion and rising fuel prices, as well as governments investing in rail as a means of reducing CO 2 emissions . Smooth, durable road surfaces have been made for wheeled vehicles since prehistoric times. In some cases, they were narrow and in pairs to support only the wheels. That is, they were wagonways or tracks. Some had grooves or flanges or other mechanical means to keep
2205-724: A single lever to control both engine and generator in a coordinated fashion, and was the prototype for all diesel–electric locomotive control systems. In 1914, world's first functional diesel–electric railcars were produced for the Königlich-Sächsische Staatseisenbahnen ( Royal Saxon State Railways ) by Waggonfabrik Rastatt with electric equipment from Brown, Boveri & Cie and diesel engines from Swiss Sulzer AG . They were classified as DET 1 and DET 2 ( de.wiki ). The first regular used diesel–electric locomotives were switcher (shunter) locomotives . General Electric produced several small switching locomotives in
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#17328686632462310-407: A standard. Following SNCF's successful trials, 50 Hz, now also called industrial frequency was adopted as standard for main-lines across the world. Earliest recorded examples of an internal combustion engine for railway use included a prototype designed by William Dent Priestman . Sir William Thomson examined it in 1888 and described it as a "Priestman oil engine mounted upon a truck which
2415-620: A terminus about one-half mile (800 m) away. A funicular railway was also made at Broseley in Shropshire some time before 1604. This carried coal for James Clifford from his mines down to the River Severn to be loaded onto barges and carried to riverside towns. The Wollaton Wagonway , completed in 1604 by Huntingdon Beaumont , has sometimes erroneously been cited as the earliest British railway. It ran from Strelley to Wollaton near Nottingham . The Middleton Railway in Leeds , which
2520-520: A western boundary to the town itself, flowing through the Presbyterian Church campsite (in the town's northwest) and Taumata Park (the town's main camping area and sports ground - in the western part of the town) and winding itself southwestward to meet the Tasman Sea at Ohawe Beach, near Hāwera . Eltham is also the gateway to Lake Rotokare , a scenic, natural lake surrounded by native bush (to
2625-408: A wheel. This was a large stationary engine , powering cotton mills and a variety of machinery; the state of boiler technology necessitated the use of low-pressure steam acting upon a vacuum in the cylinder, which required a separate condenser and an air pump . Nevertheless, as the construction of boilers improved, Watt investigated the use of high-pressure steam acting directly upon a piston, raising
2730-525: Is 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north, Kaponga 13 km west, and Hāwera is 19 km (12 mi) south. State Highway 3 runs through the town. Eltham is South Taranaki's second largest town. Eltham is known as the cradle of the Taranaki dairy industry (the co-operative system in particular), and for being the one place in New Zealand that manufactured rennet which is important in cheesemaking . It
2835-410: Is a single, self-powered car, and may be electrically propelled or powered by a diesel engine . Multiple units have a driver's cab at each end of the unit, and were developed following the ability to build electric motors and other engines small enough to fit under the coach. There are only a few freight multiple units, most of which are high-speed post trains. Steam locomotives are locomotives with
2940-399: Is dominant. Electro-diesel locomotives are built to run as diesel–electric on unelectrified sections and as electric locomotives on electrified sections. Alternative methods of motive power include magnetic levitation , horse-drawn, cable , gravity, pneumatics and gas turbine . A passenger train stops at stations where passengers may embark and disembark. The oversight of the train is
3045-673: Is used for about 8% of passenger and freight transport globally, thanks to its energy efficiency and potentially high speed . Rolling stock on rails generally encounters lower frictional resistance than rubber-tyred road vehicles, allowing rail cars to be coupled into longer trains . Power is usually provided by diesel or electrical locomotives . While railway transport is capital-intensive and less flexible than road transport, it can carry heavy loads of passengers and cargo with greater energy efficiency and safety. Precursors of railways driven by human or animal power have existed since antiquity, but modern rail transport began with
3150-550: Is worked on a temporary line of rails to show the adaptation of a petroleum engine for locomotive purposes." In 1894, a 20 hp (15 kW) two axle machine built by Priestman Brothers was used on the Hull Docks . In 1906, Rudolf Diesel , Adolf Klose and the steam and diesel engine manufacturer Gebrüder Sulzer founded Diesel-Sulzer-Klose GmbH to manufacture diesel-powered locomotives. Sulzer had been manufacturing diesel engines since 1898. The Prussian State Railways ordered
3255-607: The 2013 census , and an increase of 36 people (1.9%) since the 2006 census . There were 801 households, comprising 984 males and 951 females, giving a sex ratio of 1.03 males per female. The median age was 39.7 years (compared with 37.4 years nationally), with 423 people (21.9%) aged under 15 years, 315 (16.3%) aged 15 to 29, 870 (45.0%) aged 30 to 64, and 321 (16.6%) aged 65 or older. Ethnicities were 79.4% European/ Pākehā , 30.2% Māori , 3.4% Pacific peoples , 3.7% Asian , and 1.9% other ethnicities. People may identify with more than one ethnicity. The percentage of people born overseas
Marton–New Plymouth line - Misplaced Pages Continue
3360-530: The Rangitikei District , but this plan was abandoned in 1872 and surveys for a railway undertaken in 1873. Contracts were awarded the next year for construction, but mass sickness caused work to slow in 1875 and the collapse of a girder during the construction of a bridge over the Whanganui River in 1876 compounded the delays. The line from Wanganui to Aramoho opened on 21 January 1878; this became
3465-686: The SOL in 1933 saw the introduction of the New Plymouth Night Express between Auckland and New Plymouth, using the MNPL between New Plymouth and Stratford. It ran thrice weekly, with extra trains at peak periods. In 1938, the RM class Standard railcars entered service and they operated an evening service between Wellington and Palmerston North to complement the Express. In a test run, one of these railcars completed
3570-665: The United Kingdom , South Korea , Scandinavia, Belgium and the Netherlands. The construction of many of these lines has resulted in the dramatic decline of short-haul flights and automotive traffic between connected cities, such as the London–Paris–Brussels corridor, Madrid–Barcelona, Milan–Rome–Naples, as well as many other major lines. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates
3675-587: The Waitara Branch began on 21 August 1873, with the line finished on 14 October 1875. The next year, construction began on the MNPL south from Sentry Hill after John Brogden and Sons were awarded the contract for the first section in January. Until 1908, the Waitara line was the through route to New Plymouth with the MNPL branching at Sentry Hill, but in that year the junction was moved slightly south to Lepperton and
3780-510: The Wanganui Branch and the reopened Castlecliff Branch . Passing loops are at Ruatangata (near Turakina ), Whanganui , Kai Iwi , Waitotara and Patea . The mothballing of the SOL in 2010 now means all northbound freight must transition through Marton. Steam locomotives were the primary motive power on the MNPL until the early 1960s. Tank locomotives were prevalent until the 1920s. At
3885-533: The Wanganui Branch , with Aramoho the junction station on the MNPL. The first section of what became the MNPL opened on 17 May 1877, with a rugged line through the valleys of the Whangaehu River and Turakina River to Turakina . The route had been chosen due to its cheapness to construct, but its alignment and torturous grades attracted criticism from the day it opened. The next section, through easier terrain, opened to Marton on 4 February 1878. The remainder of
3990-414: The overhead lines and the supporting infrastructure, as well as the generating station that is needed to produce electricity. Accordingly, electric traction is used on urban systems, lines with high traffic and for high-speed rail. Diesel locomotives use a diesel engine as the prime mover . The energy transmission may be either diesel–electric , diesel-mechanical or diesel–hydraulic but diesel–electric
4095-458: The puddling process in 1784. In 1783 Cort also patented the rolling process , which was 15 times faster at consolidating and shaping iron than hammering. These processes greatly lowered the cost of producing iron and rails. The next important development in iron production was hot blast developed by James Beaumont Neilson (patented 1828), which considerably reduced the amount of coke (fuel) or charcoal needed to produce pig iron. Wrought iron
4200-418: The rotary phase converter , enabling electric locomotives to use three-phase motors whilst supplied via a single overhead wire, carrying the simple industrial frequency (50 Hz) single phase AC of the high-voltage national networks. An important contribution to the wider adoption of AC traction came from SNCF of France after World War II. The company conducted trials at AC 50 Hz, and established it as
4305-532: The 1880s, railway electrification began with tramways and rapid transit systems. Starting in the 1940s, steam locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives . The first high-speed railway system was introduced in Japan in 1964, and high-speed rail lines now connect many cities in Europe , East Asia , and the eastern United States . Following some decline due to competition from cars and airplanes, rail transport has had
Marton–New Plymouth line - Misplaced Pages Continue
4410-510: The 1930s (the famous " 44-tonner " switcher was introduced in 1940) Westinghouse Electric and Baldwin collaborated to build switching locomotives starting in 1929. In 1929, the Canadian National Railways became the first North American railway to use diesels in mainline service with two units, 9000 and 9001, from Westinghouse. Although steam and diesel services reaching speeds up to 200 km/h (120 mph) were started before
4515-500: The 1960s in Europe, they were not very successful. The first electrified high-speed rail Tōkaidō Shinkansen was introduced in 1964 between Tokyo and Osaka in Japan. Since then high-speed rail transport, functioning at speeds up to and above 300 km/h (190 mph), has been built in Japan, Spain, France , Germany, Italy, the People's Republic of China, Taiwan (Republic of China),
4620-460: The 40 km Burgdorf–Thun line , Switzerland. Italian railways were the first in the world to introduce electric traction for the entire length of a main line rather than a short section. The 106 km Valtellina line was opened on 4 September 1902, designed by Kandó and a team from the Ganz works. The electrical system was three-phase at 3 kV 15 Hz. In 1918, Kandó invented and developed
4725-544: The Bridge Street factory. Other cheese products such as the processed cheese used in many burgers are produced at the company's Collingwood Street site, formerly occupied by the Taranaki Co-operative Dairy Company's milk powder plant, but now extensively remodelled. Cheese has been used as a central symbol of the town, and to reinforce this view, the town's water supply tank was painted to represent
4830-522: The Butterley Company in 1790. The first public edgeway (thus also first public railway) built was Lake Lock Rail Road in 1796. Although the primary purpose of the line was to carry coal, it also carried passengers. These two systems of constructing iron railways, the "L" plate-rail and the smooth edge-rail, continued to exist side by side until well into the early 19th century. The flanged wheel and edge-rail eventually proved its superiority and became
4935-511: The DC motors of the time and could not be mounted in underfloor bogies : they could only be carried within locomotive bodies. In 1894, Hungarian engineer Kálmán Kandó developed a new type 3-phase asynchronous electric drive motors and generators for electric locomotives. Kandó's early 1894 designs were first applied in a short three-phase AC tramway in Évian-les-Bains (France), which was constructed between 1896 and 1898. In 1896, Oerlikon installed
5040-412: The MNPL became the through route. The first portion of the line south opened on 30 November 1877 to Inglewood , followed by an extension to Stratford on 17 December 1879. Short stages of the line were opened over the next two years, including to Eltham on 7 February 1881. On 1 August 1881 the first train from New Plymouth reached Hawera, carrying 300 passengers, although the line was not handed over to
5145-415: The MNPL in this era. After World War II, K and K locomotives were introduced, the most powerful steam power used on the line. and from the mid-1950s a variety of railcars were introduced for the passenger services. In the early 1960s D class diesel locomotives began taking over most freight duties, with steam locomotive workings ceasing in 1966. When introduced in 1972, the D class were not common on
5250-479: The MNPL largely owing to the need to strengthen bridges to accommodate their weight. As the DA class were phased out in the 1980s, DX class locomotives became frequently used on the line. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the dominant locomotive classes at the time ( DC , DFT , DX) operated on the line, usually in multiple and with a DX class unit usually present on all services due to the power advantage they have when climbing
5355-429: The MNPL. Motive power on the line regularly consists of pairs of DLs or DFs or mixed with other motive power subject to availability. Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport ) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks , which usually consist of two parallel steel rails . Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport , next to road transport . It
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#17328686632465460-609: The Manawatu and Hawkes Bay (via a facility at Oringi and rail from there) to the Fonterra plant and empty milk tankers and containerised products on the return trip through most of the year. Other services include regular services along the Kapuni Branch for urea, and with the opening of an inland port facility in Wanganui in 2010 by Open Dairy a daily service exists to/from Palmerston North via
5565-833: The NIMT by the introduction of the Silver Fern railcars. The Blue Streaks were introduced to the Wellington to New Plymouth morning service. The evening service, which by then ran solely on Fridays and Sundays, had been the final domain of the Standard railcars, but they too were replaced by the 88-seaters after the last run of an 88-seater on the morning service on 17 December 1972. The 88-seaters were ageing and plagued by reliability problems, and on 30 July 1977 all passenger trains between Wellington and New Plymouth were cancelled, thus ending passenger service between Marton and Stratford. The railcars replacing
5670-632: The New Plymouth Night Express had ceased to operate the Auckland- Taumarunui section since 1971, and when they were withdrawn after 11 February 1978, a diesel -hauled carriage train was introduced on the New Plymouth to Stratford and Taumarunui run. It ran for the last time on 21 January 1983 and was the last regular passenger train to operate on any part of the MNPL. Since this time, the only passenger services have been excursions. In
5775-505: The Public Works Department to prioritise the section's approval, fearing that its construction was in jeopardy and any failure to link the two railheads would be considerably detrimental to both the profitability of the existing railway network and to the wider economy. The final section was subsequently granted approval and it was not until 23 March 1885 that construction was finished and the through line from Marton to New Plymouth
5880-461: The Railways Department decided to construct a deviation. In 1937 construction began on a new 16-km route to replace 23 km of the original route. It included significant tunnelling work and had a ruling gradient of 1 in 70 rather than 1 in 35. The old route also had "severe" curves of 5 chain (100m) radius. Due to the project's importance, work continued throughout World War II , with only
5985-597: The Railways Department from the Public Works Department until 20 October 1881. The final section of approximately 16 kilometres from Hawera to Manutahi passed through rugged country and required viaducts over the Tangahoe and Manawapou Rivers . Due to wet weather, surveying took longer than expected, and in 1882, contracts had still not been let despite the imminent completion of the southern portion to Manutahi. The Wellington Chamber of Commerce applied pressure on
6090-627: The Westmere Bank. The peak season milk trains, for instance, were usually hauled by a pair of DX units owing to the weight of these services. The DL class locomotives have been used on MNPL services following their introduction to the lower North Island in 2011. With the withdrawal of the DC class and the relocation of the DX and relevant subclasses to the South Island, the DL class is the dominant locomotive class on
6195-430: The duty of a guard/train manager/conductor . Passenger trains are part of public transport and often make up the stem of the service, with buses feeding to stations. Passenger trains provide long-distance intercity travel, daily commuter trips, or local urban transit services, operating with a diversity of vehicles, operating speeds, right-of-way requirements, and service frequency. Service frequencies are often expressed as
6300-431: The early years of the line, freight was primarily local and the railway served as a link between ports and their hinterland. Long-distance freight progressively developed over the course of the 20th century, aided by the decline of coastal shipping and the need to carry freight to ports in other regions. Freight services using the full length of the line fell as low as a single service each weekday, with services to and from
6405-453: The east of the town), and to the man-made Lake Rotorangi . Eltham covers 3.43 km (1.32 sq mi) and had an estimated population of 2,140 as of June 2024, with a population density of 624 people per km . Before the 2023 census, Eltham had a smaller boundary, covering 3.41 km (1.32 sq mi). Using that boundary, Eltham had a population of 1,935 at the 2018 New Zealand census , an increase of 81 people (4.4%) since
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#17328686632466510-402: The end of the 19th century, because they were cleaner compared to steam-driven trams which caused smoke in city streets. In 1784 James Watt , a Scottish inventor and mechanical engineer, patented a design for a steam locomotive . Watt had improved the steam engine of Thomas Newcomen , hitherto used to pump water out of mines, and developed a reciprocating engine in 1769 capable of powering
6615-467: The end of the 19th century, improving the quality of steel and further reducing costs. Thus steel completely replaced the use of iron in rails, becoming standard for all railways. The first passenger horsecar or tram , Swansea and Mumbles Railway , was opened between Swansea and Mumbles in Wales in 1807. Horses remained the preferable mode for tram transport even after the arrival of steam engines until
6720-515: The engine by one power stroke. The transmission system employed a large flywheel to even out the action of the piston rod. On 21 February 1804, the world's first steam-powered railway journey took place when Trevithick's unnamed steam locomotive hauled a train along the tramway of the Penydarren ironworks, near Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales . Trevithick later demonstrated a locomotive operating upon
6825-470: The era of great expansion of railways that began in the late 1860s. Steel rails lasted several times longer than iron. Steel rails made heavier locomotives possible, allowing for longer trains and improving the productivity of railroads. The Bessemer process introduced nitrogen into the steel, which caused the steel to become brittle with age. The open hearth furnace began to replace the Bessemer process near
6930-640: The express began operating daily; in 1908, with the incorporation of the WMR into the NZR, the service was run by a single government operator; and from 1909, the steamer connections ceased as direct expresses between Wellington and Auckland began operating on the newly opened NIMT. In 1926, the Taranaki Flyer passenger train was introduced between Wanganui and Palmerston North, replacing one mixed train. Two additional mixed trains ran south from New Plymouth daily. The opening of
7035-515: The first commercial example of the system on the Lugano Tramway . Each 30-tonne locomotive had two 110 kW (150 hp) motors run by three-phase 750 V 40 Hz fed from double overhead lines. Three-phase motors run at a constant speed and provide regenerative braking , and are well suited to steeply graded routes, and the first main-line three-phase locomotives were supplied by Brown (by then in partnership with Walter Boveri ) in 1899 on
7140-644: The first tar-sealed roads in New Zealand. The two main watercourses which run through Eltham itself are the Mangawharawhara Stream , and the Waingongoro River . The Mangawharawhara Stream runs to the east of the Main Trunk railway line, flows under the central business district via a culvert, and on past Eltham School and the Eltham Golf Club to the south of the town. The Waingongoro River forms
7245-473: The highest possible radius. All these features are dramatically different from freight operations, thus justifying exclusive high-speed rail lines if it is economically feasible. Eltham, New Zealand Eltham is a small inland town in South Taranaki , New Zealand, located 50 kilometres (31 mi) south of the city of New Plymouth and southeast of the volcanic cone of Mount Taranaki . Stratford
7350-658: The invention of the steam locomotive in the United Kingdom at the beginning of the 19th century. The first passenger railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway , opened in 1825. The quick spread of railways throughout Europe and North America, following the 1830 opening of the first intercity connection in England, was a key component of the Industrial Revolution . The adoption of rail transport lowered shipping costs compared to water transport, leading to "national markets" in which prices varied less from city to city. In
7455-509: The journey in 6.5 hours. However, difficulties on the 1 in 35 grades of the original Turakina route and Westmere Bank meant that the railcars had to have different gears installed, reducing their top speed from 120 km/h to 105 km/h. Increasing competition from road and air led to a decline in passengers after World War II. The New Plymouth Express and Taranaki Flyer ran for the last time on 31 October 1955 and were replaced by Standard and 88-seater railcars. The New Plymouth Night Express
7560-1218: The limit being regarded at 200 to 350 kilometres per hour (120 to 220 mph). High-speed trains are used mostly for long-haul service and most systems are in Western Europe and East Asia. Magnetic levitation trains such as the Shanghai maglev train use under-riding magnets which attract themselves upward towards the underside of a guideway and this line has achieved somewhat higher peak speeds in day-to-day operation than conventional high-speed railways, although only over short distances. Due to their heightened speeds, route alignments for high-speed rail tend to have broader curves than conventional railways, but may have steeper grades that are more easily climbed by trains with large kinetic energy. High kinetic energy translates to higher horsepower-to-ton ratios (e.g. 20 horsepower per short ton or 16 kilowatts per tonne); this allows trains to accelerate and maintain higher speeds and negotiate steep grades as momentum builds up and recovered in downgrades (reducing cut and fill and tunnelling requirements). Since lateral forces act on curves, curvatures are designed with
7665-530: The line was completed in 1885, and along with the SOL it provided an alternate route to the NIMT with the SOL's completion in 1933 until the latter was mothballed in 2010. In its early days, the North Island's first regional express, the New Plymouth Express ran on the line, but it has been freight-only since the cancellation of passenger services on the line in 1977. Construction of the line commenced in
7770-408: The line's ruling gradient. From Kai Iwi, Waitotara was reached on 20 September 1880, Waverley on 23 March 1881, and Manutahi via Patea on 28 August 1883. From this point, construction proceeded to complete the small gap between the southern and northern sections. Like the southern end, the first portion of the northern section was built as part of a different railway. Construction of what became
7875-429: The locomotive-hauled train's drawbacks to be removed, since the locomotive need not be moved to the front of the train each time the train changes direction. A railroad car is a vehicle used for the haulage of either passengers or freight. A multiple unit has powered wheels throughout the whole train. These are used for rapid transit and tram systems, as well as many both short- and long-haul passenger trains. A railcar
7980-560: The main portion of the B&;O to the new line to New York through a series of tunnels around the edges of Baltimore's downtown. Electricity quickly became the power supply of choice for subways, abetted by the Sprague's invention of multiple-unit train control in 1897. By the early 1900s most street railways were electrified. The London Underground , the world's oldest underground railway, opened in 1863, and it began operating electric services using
8085-538: The mid-1870s from both the southern and northern ends. The line was completed when the two ends met between Hāwera and Manutahi in 1885. The southern portion of the line was conceived as part of the Foxton and Wanganui Railway, which was intended to link the two ports of Foxton and Wanganui with hinterland settlements such as Marton and New Plymouth , and form the first portion of a trunk route between Wellington and Taranaki. A tramway had originally been considered for
8190-433: The mid-1920s. The Soviet Union operated three experimental units of different designs since late 1925, though only one of them (the E el-2 ) proved technically viable. A significant breakthrough occurred in 1914, when Hermann Lemp , a General Electric electrical engineer, developed and patented a reliable direct current electrical control system (subsequent improvements were also patented by Lemp). Lemp's design used
8295-412: The noise they made on the tracks. There are many references to their use in central Europe in the 16th century. Such a transport system was later used by German miners at Caldbeck , Cumbria , England, perhaps from the 1560s. A wagonway was built at Prescot , near Liverpool , sometime around 1600, possibly as early as 1594. Owned by Philip Layton, the line carried coal from a pit near Prescot Hall to
8400-664: The north routed via the SOL and then the NIMT. Three daily services transported products along the Hāwera–New Plymouth section from the Fonterra factory at Whareroa until Fonterra elected to shift its container traffic to the Ports of Auckland and Tauranga. Nowadays the line sees two-weekday freight services between Palmerston North (departing 2350 and 0355) and New Plymouth (departing 1530 and 1815) and up to three daily return services between Palmerston North and Whareroa, carrying milk from
8505-513: The possibility of a smaller engine that might be used to power a vehicle. Following his patent, Watt's employee William Murdoch produced a working model of a self-propelled steam carriage in that year. The first full-scale working railway steam locomotive was built in the United Kingdom in 1804 by Richard Trevithick , a British engineer born in Cornwall . This used high-pressure steam to drive
8610-493: The route of the Foxton and Wanganui Railway became the NIMT from Marton through Palmerston North to Longburn and the Foxton Branch from Longburn to Foxton. With the completion of the line south of Wanganui, attention was focused on the line to the north. The section from Aramoho to Kai Iwi , including the Westmere Bank, opened on 28 June 1879. The Westmere Bank's grade is 1 in 35 (with a peak grade of 1 in 28) and it remains
8715-441: The standard for railways. Cast iron used in rails proved unsatisfactory because it was brittle and broke under heavy loads. The wrought iron invented by John Birkinshaw in 1820 replaced cast iron. Wrought iron, usually simply referred to as "iron", was a ductile material that could undergo considerable deformation before breaking, making it more suitable for iron rails. But iron was expensive to produce until Henry Cort patented
8820-439: The start of the 20th century, W class locomotives were based in Wanganui, W and W locomotives from Palmerston North were used on the line, and M and double Fairlie E class locomotives were based in New Plymouth. Tender locomotives only gained precedence in the 1920s with the introduction of the A class , though W locomotives continued to assist over the difficult grades out of Aramoho. W class tanks were also used on
8925-470: The time, was Liverpool and Manchester Railway , built in 1830. Steam power continued to be the dominant power system in railways around the world for more than a century. The first known electric locomotive was built in 1837 by chemist Robert Davidson of Aberdeen in Scotland, and it was powered by galvanic cells (batteries). Thus it was also the earliest battery-electric locomotive. Davidson later built
9030-411: The town had a population of 25. Eltham was declared a borough in 1901, and became part of South Taranaki District with the local body amalgamations of 1989 . High Street (which runs through the centre of town - as part of State Highway 3 connecting Stratford , Ngaere , Normanby and Hāwera ) and Bridge Street (which heads westward towards Kaponga and joins State Highway 45 near Ōpunake ), were
9135-536: The track. Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate locomotive or from individual motors in self-propelled multiple units. Most trains carry a revenue load, although non-revenue cars exist for the railway's own use, such as for maintenance-of-way purposes. The engine driver (engineer in North America) controls the locomotive or other power cars, although people movers and some rapid transits are under automatic control. Traditionally, trains are pulled using
9240-466: The transport of ore tubs to and from mines and soon became popular in Europe. Such an operation was illustrated in Germany in 1556 by Georgius Agricola in his work De re metallica . This line used "Hund" carts with unflanged wheels running on wooden planks and a vertical pin on the truck fitting into the gap between the planks to keep it going the right way. The miners called the wagons Hunde ("dogs") from
9345-609: The wheels on track. For example, evidence indicates that a 6 to 8.5 km long Diolkos paved trackway transported boats across the Isthmus of Corinth in Greece from around 600 BC. The Diolkos was in use for over 650 years, until at least the 1st century AD. Paved trackways were also later built in Roman Egypt . In 1515, Cardinal Matthäus Lang wrote a description of the Reisszug ,
9450-601: The world in 1825, although it used both horse power and steam power on different runs. In 1829, he built the locomotive Rocket , which entered in and won the Rainhill Trials . This success led to Stephenson establishing his company as the pre-eminent builder of steam locomotives for railways in Great Britain and Ireland, the United States, and much of Europe. The first public railway which used only steam locomotives, all
9555-659: Was $ 24,400, compared with $ 31,800 nationally. 111 people (7.3%) earned over $ 70,000 compared to 17.2% nationally. The employment status of those at least 15 was that 684 (45.2%) people were employed full-time, 189 (12.5%) were part-time, and 90 (6.0%) were unemployed. Eltham and the surrounding community enjoys a full library and council service (coming under the aegis of the South Taranaki District Council , based in Hāwera ). Services provided include being able to register your dog, pay your rates or inquire about obtaining
9660-465: Was 8.4, compared with 27.1% nationally. Although some people chose not to answer the census's question about religious affiliation, 53.5% had no religion, 30.1% were Christian , 2.2% had Māori religious beliefs , 0.2% were Hindu , 0.9% were Muslim , 0.3% were Buddhist and 2.8% had other religions. Of those at least 15 years old, 102 (6.7%) people had a bachelor's or higher degree, and 510 (33.7%) people had no formal qualifications. The median income
9765-507: Was a soft material that contained slag or dross . The softness and dross tended to make iron rails distort and delaminate and they lasted less than 10 years. Sometimes they lasted as little as one year under high traffic. All these developments in the production of iron eventually led to the replacement of composite wood/iron rails with superior all-iron rails. The introduction of the Bessemer process , enabling steel to be made inexpensively, led to
9870-585: Was accomplished by the distribution of weight between a number of wheels. Puffing Billy is now on display in the Science Museum in London, and is the oldest locomotive in existence. In 1814, George Stephenson , inspired by the early locomotives of Trevithick, Murray and Hedley, persuaded the manager of the Killingworth colliery where he worked to allow him to build a steam-powered machine. Stephenson played
9975-509: Was also the first place to export butter to England. European settlement began in Eltham in the 1870s, with blocks of densely forested land being taken up mainly to the north of Mountain Road. A profusion of sawmilling companies cleared the district which, when grassed, proved ideal for dairy farming. In 1884, the year Eltham was declared a town district, settlers, mainly from England, arrived there and
10080-509: Was built by Siemens. The tram ran on 180 volts DC, which was supplied by running rails. In 1891 the track was equipped with an overhead wire and the line was extended to Berlin-Lichterfelde West station . The Volk's Electric Railway opened in 1883 in Brighton , England. The railway is still operational, thus making it the oldest operational electric railway in the world. Also in 1883, Mödling and Hinterbrühl Tram opened near Vienna in Austria. It
10185-687: Was built in 1758, later became the world's oldest operational railway (other than funiculars), albeit now in an upgraded form. In 1764, the first railway in the Americas was built in Lewiston, New York . In the late 1760s, the Coalbrookdale Company began to fix plates of cast iron to the upper surface of the wooden rails. This allowed a variation of gauge to be used. At first only balloon loops could be used for turning, but later, movable points were taken into use that allowed for switching. A system
10290-535: Was introduced in which unflanged wheels ran on L-shaped metal plates, which came to be known as plateways . John Curr , a Sheffield colliery manager, invented this flanged rail in 1787, though the exact date of this is disputed. The plate rail was taken up by Benjamin Outram for wagonways serving his canals, manufacturing them at his Butterley ironworks . In 1803, William Jessop opened the Surrey Iron Railway ,
10395-590: Was introduced, jointly operated by the WMR and NZR. However, upon its introduction in December, its timetable was the subject of protests. The service stopped at only the larger towns, prompting indignation from residents of smaller towns who felt that the line's wayside traffic was being sacrificed so that through passengers could save an hour's travel time. Local traffic was primarily catered for by slow mixed trains . The Express initially operated twice weekly, with connections to Onehunga in Auckland by steamer. In 1901
10500-527: Was let to Hurlstone Earth Moving for a 992-m deviation to eliminate the tunnel, with trains now able to carry 2.9 m high cube containers. The deviation also eliminated a time-consuming permanent speed restriction of 15 km/h in the area. Not long after the completion of the Wellington–Manawatu Line by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) on 3 November 1886, the New Plymouth Express
10605-479: Was light enough to not break the edge-rails track and solved the problem of adhesion by a cog-wheel using teeth cast on the side of one of the rails. Thus it was also the first rack railway . This was followed in 1813 by the locomotive Puffing Billy built by Christopher Blackett and William Hedley for the Wylam Colliery Railway, the first successful locomotive running by adhesion only. This
10710-462: Was open for revenue service. Manawapou viaduct was swept away by a flood on 2 March 1966. A 169 ft (52 m) temporary trestle viaduct replaced it on 6 April. A permanent viaduct opened in November 1969. The criticism of the difficult Turakina route south from Wanganui voiced at the opening of the line progressively increased over the years. By the mid-1930s it had become a severe bottleneck and
10815-514: Was similarly replaced by 88-seater railcars the next year. The railcar substitute for the Taranaki Flyer ran for the last time on 7 February 1959, but the other services survived into the 1970s. From 1968, the sole services operated by the Standard railcars were those on the MNPL and SOL; they were finally displaced from these services in late 1972. The 88-seater railcars were replaced by " Blue Streak " refurbished 88-seater railcars, displaced from
10920-742: Was tested on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway in September of the following year, but the limited power from batteries prevented its general use. It was destroyed by railway workers, who saw it as a threat to their job security. By the middle of the nineteenth century most european countries had military uses for railways. Werner von Siemens demonstrated an electric railway in 1879 in Berlin. The world's first electric tram line, Gross-Lichterfelde Tramway , opened in Lichterfelde near Berlin , Germany, in 1881. It
11025-609: Was the first tram line in the world in regular service powered from an overhead line. Five years later, in the U.S. electric trolleys were pioneered in 1888 on the Richmond Union Passenger Railway , using equipment designed by Frank J. Sprague . The first use of electrification on a main line was on a four-mile section of the Baltimore Belt Line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) in 1895 connecting
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