The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 5 (September 1, 1932)
A Wealth of Gold and Coal
A Wealth of Gold and Coal.
The history of the construction of the Grahamstown-Te Aroha section of the Thames Valley railway does not carry with it a tale of steady progress.
The year 1867 saw the opening up of a rich goldfield at the Thames, and by 1880 nearly five millions sterling had been won from the mines, and a community amounting in numbers to about 12,000 had established itself about the seaport of Grahamstown. This little township had perforce to draw almost all its supplies through Auckland and across the Hauraki Gulf, though a short distance away, by land, were the rich supplies of coal and produce in the Waikato.
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Attending To The Needs Of The Iron Horse
(Rly. Publicity photo.)
The locomotive of the Auckland-Rotorua Limited Express, taking in water at Putaruru
About the year 1872 the people began to consider what could be done to make better contact with the outside world, and the outcome was a railway agitation which resulted in a flying survey being made of a railway route into the Waikato. Though this remained just a paper route for a number of years it was placed on record as a prospective railway, and was the subject of many political interviews. Sir Julius Vogel expressed himself as favourable to the enterprise. It was not until Sir George Grey became a member for the district in 1877 that the movement took a definite course. He advocated the construction of the railway by private enterprise, in terms of the District Railways Act, and steps were taken to interest the local bodies in the scheme. The Government, however, under the administration of Sir George Grey, decided to take over the responsibility for this railway, and constructive work was started, the first sod being turned by Sir George Grey in December, 1878.
The initial work was the reclamation of two station sites on the waterfront at Grahamstown and Shortland.
In 1880 the projected railway came under the review of the Railway Commission of that year. This Commission's remarks on the project were as follows:— “We are of opinion that the good water communication which exists between these two points (Grahamstown and Te Aroha) makes railway communication unnecessary in the present state of the district as regards settlement. It is a matter for regret that the reclamation at Grahamstown and Shortland should have been entered upon before the construction of the railway itself; and we consider that the expensive reclamation of two station sites close together was quite unjustifiable.”