What we found out is that apparently this short tunnel is called the Okaihau or Kaikohe branch - it was a branch line railway that that joined the Auckland rail line of the National Rail Network of NZ and Otira.
It was the most northerly line in NZ and was intended to run all the way to Kaitaia - it opened in 1923 and closed in 1987. The work started in 1910, opened in 1914 and finished in 1923 after the end of the first world war.
The great depression in the 1930s proved to the downfall and the continuation of the line was abandoned in 1930. After the line closed the NZ Railways Corporation retained ownership of the trackbed in hope that forestry proposals would happen but in the 1990s most of the rails were removed. It is still owned the the crown.
More information here.
12 comments:
Love finding old railways like that, we have lots and a couple not far from where I live
Interesting bit of history. Sometimes you win and sometimes you win.
Looks a bit spooky - a ghost from the past, but apparently not quite abandoned!
The tunnel is now an almost 100 year old grafitti gallery ☺ fascinating find Amy.. enjoy your two day break .✨
It reminds me a bit of a tunnel down in Niagara Falls.
Creative find and lovely photos!
Happy Day to you,
A ShutterBug Explores
What a nice discovery and an interesting history.
Such an interesting history for such a humble tunnel.
Lovely art tunnel.
In the UK many abandoned rail lines have been turned into walking or cycling paths.
Fraaie beelden van deze oude tunnel, ik hou wel van deze situaties.
Groet Kees.
A tunnel that went nowhere! Isn't it great to be able to look stuff up from the comforts of home.. (we are so old that we remember when you couldn't do that... we'd wonder about stuff and think we'd go to the Library but then never get around to it)... now we can do it as we travel or at the latest as soon as we get home to our IPADs!
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