Last Train to Waitoa? (4k) (Drone Footage)

On May 6th 2024 KiwiRail ran their potential last train out to the Waitoa Dairy factory hauled by DCs 4467 and 4058. After a recent safety inspection on a bridge outside Morrinsville (Bridge in thumbnail) the bridge was deemed no longer safe for trains due to deterioration and with the bridge being too costly to repair, the decision was made to close the Waitoa branch UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. It is not known if the line will reopen in future. This does not affect Hautapu and the M52 shunt still runs to both Hautapu and Morrinsville still.
This was a very last minute chase so didn't have much time to prepare and get out to Morrinsville but alas I hope what I got was good.
Enjoy!
Special Thanks to the KiwiRail crews for a great final(?) chase on the Waitoa Branch.

[@cathay808]

Some of y'all should really read the description first! Very old unsafe bridge requiring costly repairs, on a single-customer line that has one roundtrip a day, leading to a *temporary* line closure while talks go on about how/who to fund repairs/upgrades... Hardly KiwiRail "closing the line for no reason".

[@ChimmyAnimate]

Finally, Someone said something about this

[@liftrailphotographyinnz3992]

Great video Matt I really need to chase the Hautapu shunt at some stage.

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Thanks. Would be a good idea, too. Keep in mind they're still going out to Morrinsville for the moment.

[@russy8488]

Nice to see the Dc class are still about

[@tonymckeage1028]

Great Video, I remember taking my bosses (dairy farmers) van to Waitoa to pick up so milk powder for calf feed, I assume the Dairy company will continue but the product will be transported to Hamilton via Road, thanks for sharing

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@MervynPartin]

Excellent aerial shots. I was watching the progress of the train and there did not appear to be any swaying of the freight cars (as you might see on some US short lines) so I would say, at first glance, that the track is in very good condition. To abandon a line that is in such good condition, to my way of thinking is poor judgement at the very least. There is also the possibility that the management, be it at government level or KiwiRail level find it a nuisance having to run trains. This happened in Britain with usage surveys deliberately carried out at slack times in order to make the case for passenger line closures. Structural surveys on viaducts were similarly padded with bloated repair costs. If you have heard of the mass closure of British lines under the Beeching Plan, the Minister of Transport at the time was Ernest Marples, of the road building company Marples Ridgeway. Luckily, better managers and government ministers followed and lines that were then saved are now very busy. Regrettably, it was too late to save some. Just something for New Zealanders to consider!

[@dl9786-kr]

From the ground level, there is definitely a heap of swaying. The line is not in good condition (permanently restricted to 25km/h / 15mph) and the bridge that forced the line closure has been restricted to 10km/h (6mph) for some months while the engineers reviewed it... a nearly 140 year old crumbling wooden bridge does not inspire great confidence when I'm travelling over it and looking down at the long drop to the river!

[@MervynPartin]

@@dl9786-kr In that case, I freely accept that I was mistaken. (In my defence, I did say that it was at first glance). They looked pretty steady from the air. I just hate to see lines closed, because once that happens, it is very expensive to re-open if it does at all, and the traffic then goes on the roads.

[@dl9786-kr]

@@MervynPartin No worries at all - just thought I'd chime in. It's... a tricky one - long, old, worn out bridge at the very start of the line that's no longer safe to run, and the branch serves a single factory and sees just one set of wagons a day, if that (empties sent out in the morning, loads brought back in the afternoon, can be a dozen wagons a day in peak dairy season but in winter can be half a dozen every other day). It's also not a confirmed permanent closure at this time - just suspension of trains; and one imagines (I'm just speculating here) ongoing backroom talks with the sole customer around a viable solution. It's winter here right now anyways and there wouldn't have been much traffic until spring/summer anyhow.

[@geoffmackley]

Great video, but, just be aware, re flying over the road, that a few people in New Zealand rail groups group make vexatious complaints to CAA etc based solely on what they think they see in a video posted online. Who would think, train enthusiasts, in a train group, reporting train content....

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Thanks. I kept well above the road (if referring to the shot at the Tatuanui roundabout). There was a little grass patch next to the road I was hovering over. 😀 Have seen some of your posts regarding problems, pretty unfortunate. 😕

[@ethant4531]

nice catch with the dsc!

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Thanks!

[@pat81-n9b]

A big problem is a government hostile towards railways. The cost of repairing that bridge is not even petty cash. The cost of railways is miniscule compared with what has been and is still being spent on the Waikato Expressway. Even after the expressway between Taupiri and Te Rapa having been open for a decade, they are still scratching around north of Lake Rd. Yet the new ferry project was scuttled, now a problem with a bridge, and the ongoing cold war about the funding for Te Huia, are but examples of what leads one to believe that the current government is pointing in all the wrong directions and putting all the cash in the wrong places.

[@morrilawn3630]

nah we already had that in the last government

[@watnw2411]

Trains are not cost efficient they're too slow and unreliable the government is wise to defund rail in nz

[@pat81-n9b]

To claim that trains are not cost efficient is rubbish. If the books were done properly trains would come out on top. The problem is strong lobbying against rail from vested interests.

[@benjaminnigro6074]

Then why is it that so many countries overseas are investing in rail. Also have you forgotten that we signed up to the Kyoto agreement and the Paris accord this will cost NZ billions in the long run unless of course we use rail wisely to cut out carbon emissions !​@@watnw2411

[@mikeandcushlabartlett2968]

Good news looks like the bridge is currently undergoing repairs.

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

@@mikeandcushlabartlett2968 Interesting..

[@smallrails6831]

❤

[@FranktheTank-bk8me]

RIP line to Waitoa 😔💔

[@ABTrainsYT]

Get a petition going to be more pro-rail

[@dgk42]

Having travelled those roads many a time, mostly SH26, it is great to see the road from a new perspective. Sad to hear that the Waitoa train will be out of action for a bit. It's always fun to see a train, albiet a bit slow, travelling those tracks.

[@bnrailfannz8262]

Typical ( KR). The line must have been worth it to have lastest for so long. 12 containers though.... Anyhoo, great video

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Thanks. Was only recently that the bridge was found unsafe for trains due to deterioration.

[@joshuahill6153]

If you added every little line up you would have hundreds to thousands of containers being lost due to closure. Every little thing scales to something huge, which is why many businesses that are worth so much diversify and run every little service as long as there is a need there is an opportunity.

[@bnrailfannz8262]

@@joshuahill6153 Remembering the way the railways were...lots of sidings....KR needs to have a strong customer focus...fight for tonnage even undercut the opposition...like what they've done to KR.....Rant over.

[@Fazmoo]

Why does Kiwirail close branch lines for no reason 😭

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

It isn't for no reason...

[@Fazmoo]

@@KiwiRailSpotter Tbh tho when Kiwirail closes a Branchline someone could just buy the line (Its gonna be a lot of cash) and use it as a heritage line.

[@geoffadams5537]

Because kiwi rail are run by idiots. The same thing happened in the UK in the 1960's when Dr Breaching was chairman of British railways. He left many areas void of rail connections especially in parts of rural wales ,parts of Devon and Cornwall shut down main lines as well as many branchlines

[@geoffadams5537]

Is the waitoa branch the remaining stub of the Thames branch,?

[@KiwiRailSpotter]

Kind of Waitoa is a part of the Old ECMT, which used to go through to Paeroa. At paeroa, there was a junction for the Thames branch, but the ECMT continued east through the Karangahake gorge out to Waihi, then onwards to Tauranga through Katikati. Should be able to find some old maps or photos online.