Gracefield Branch

StatusOpen to Hutt Workshops (freight only), remainder mothballed

Locale

Termini

Gracefield Branch

The start of the Gracefield Branch, curving off to the left, just south of Woburn station. The double track curving right is the Wairarapa Line.

Overview

Status

Open to Hutt Workshops (freight only), remainder mothballed

Owner

ONTRACK

Locale

Wellington, New Zealand

Termini

Stations

1

Service

Type

Industrial siding

Operator(s)

KiwiRail

History

Opened

1 April 1929

Technical

Line length

1.6 km (0.99 mi)

Number of tracks

1

Character

Industrial

Track gauge

3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm)

Electrification

14 September 1953–1966 (Woburn–Hutt Park)
1966–1982 (Woburn–Gracefield)

Route map

Legend

					Wairarapa Line
				0.00	Woburn Station
					Whites Line
					Wairarapa Line
					Workshops entrance (rail)
					York Street - Awamutu Gr

					Elizabeth Street workshops entrance (road)

				1.62	Hutt Park Station

					Waiwhetu Stream
					Parkside Road
					Ministry of Works siding
					Hutt Park Road
				2.57	Gracefield Freight Terminal
					Gibraltor Board siding
					Ford Motors siding

					Mobil Oil siding
					Caltex Oil siding
					Goods shed

					Europa Oil siding
					Seaview Road
					Oil siding
					Government Stores
					Barnes Street
					Pacific Scrap siding
				3.23	Shell Oil siding

					Oil sidings
					Oil siding
					James Wattie siding

The Gracefield Branch is a 1.6 km long, 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge industrial line from its junction with the Wairarapa Line at Woburn in the Wellington region of New Zealand's North Island to its terminus at the southern end of the Hutt Workshops yard. The line formerly included an additional kilometre of track to Gracefield Freight Terminal, where it connected to a network of industrial sidings in nearby Seaview. Currently its only function is to provide access to the Hutt Workshops.^[1]

The line has been known by several names, including Hutt Park Line (1937), Hutt Industrial Line (1937), Gracefield Branch (1986), Gracefield Industrial Line (2001) and Gracefield Industrial Siding (2006).^[2] Its 1937 name led to confusion with the earlier Hutt Park Railway.

Map

Planning for the Gracefield Branch was included in surveys done for the Hutt Valley Branch line in 1924 and 1925. The line was intended to serve an area of 80 acres (32 ha) that had been purchased for the establishment of new railway workshops to replace those at Petone and an area at Gracefield intended for industrial development.^[3]

The line opened on 1 April 1929^[4] and originally had one station, the terminus at Hutt Park. In 1943 the line was extended into Gracefield and a new terminus established there. Following land reclamation in the 1950s & 1960s, an extensive network of sidings was built at Seaview to serve industrial interests, including the Ford Motor Vehicle Assembly Plant; oil terminals for BP, Caltex, Europa and Shell; Pacific Scrap; and the Ministry of Works.^[5]

Electrification of the Woburn – Hutt Park section commenced in 1953 using the 1.5 kV DC overhead line system, coinciding with the electrification of the Wairarapa Line between Wellington and Taita. The catenary was extended slightly in 1959-60 to allow for EMUs running race trains to Hutt Park to use a workshops siding. A further extension of the catenary was opened in 1964 for goods trains to Gracefield Freight Terminal.^[6] Though there were no electric trains running on the branch from 1983 following the cessation of the workers' trains to the workshops, and the catenary and related electrification infrastructure were removed in 1990.^[7]^[8]

In 1972 a new Freight Depot was opened at Gracefield to relieve pressure on Lower Hutt Station (now Western Hutt) for small consignments.^[9] In 1981 the goods facilities at Lower Hutt Station were closed and the local goods shunts to Lower Hutt ceased. Goods handling was transferred to a new facility at Gracefield.^[10]

Gracefield Yard was closed on 30 April 2002. The industrial sidings at Seaview were lifted at about this time. Track between the Hutt Workshops and Gracefield has not been used since Gracefield Freight Terminal was closed, and is now mothballed.^[1]

Operations

References

1 2 Castle, David (18 September 2007). "Woburn & Gracefield". Wellington: Hutt Valley Signals. Retrieved 8 November 2008. On 30 April 2002 the Gracefield Yard was closed and since then the yard and the Seaview sidings have been lifted. The branch is now a glorified siding, serving the Hutt Workshops.
↑ Castle, David (18 September 2007). "Woburn & Gracefield". Wellington: Hutt Valley Signals. Retrieved 8 November 2008. The line to Gracefield has had at least five names - Hutt Park Line, Hutt Industrial Line (both in the 1937 WTT), Gracefield Branch (1986), Gracefield Industrial Line (2001) and Gracefield Industrial Siding (2006).
↑ Cameron, Walter Norman (1976). A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas. Wellington: New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. ISBN 0-908573-00-6.
↑ Churchman & Hurst 2001, p. 154.
↑ Hoy, D.G. (1970). "Appendix D: Diagrams". Rails Out Of The Capital: Suburban Railways, Wellington. Wellington: The New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society. pp. 114–115.
↑ "Short Extension of Electrification". New Zealand Railway Observer. 21 (100). New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society: 81. Winter 1964. ISSN 0028-8624.
↑ Churchman, Geoffrey B. (1995). "Wellington – Upper Hutt 1955". Railway Electrification in Australia and New Zealand. Wellington: IPL Books. p. 34. ISBN 0-908876-79-3. Also electrified in 1953 was the Gracefield Industrial Branch from Woburn as far as a platform for the Hutt Park racecourse (1.6km) to which the EMU services were run on race days. ... The overhead on the branch was unused from 1983, but it was not dismantled until 1990.
↑ Bromby, Robin (2003). "Branch Lines – North Island". Rails That Built A Nation: An Encyclopedia of New Zealand Railways. Wellington: Grantham House Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 1-86934-080-9. The 1.6 km section of line from Woburn to Hutt Park station was electrified in 1953, with the electrification extended to Gracefield in 1964.
↑ Bromby, Robin. "Branch Lines – North Island". Rails That Built A Nation: An Encyclopedia of New Zealand Railways. p. 70. In late 1972, a new Gracefield depot was opened to handle small lots and parcels, relieving the pressure on Lower Hutt station. The new depot was able to handle 20 wagons at a time.
↑ Bromby, Robin (2003). "Branch Lines – North Island". Rails That Built A Nation: An Encyclopedia of New Zealand Railways. Wellington: Grantham House Publishing. p. 74. ISBN 1-86934-080-9.
↑ Churchman, Geoffrey B. "Wellington – Upper Hutt 1955". Railway Electrification in Australia and New Zealand. p. 34. Electric locomotives did haul workshop staff trains until December 1982, when they ceased.
↑ Churchman, Geoffrey B. "Wellington – Upper Hutt 1955". Railway Electrification in Australia and New Zealand. p. 34. In 1966 the wires were extended as far as the freight terminal (3km from the junction). This was to enable goods trains to and from Wellington to be worked the whole way by electrics, rather than have a diesel take over the train for the Woburn – Gracefield section, although such goods workings were rare if they ever took place at all.
↑ Castle, David (30 December 2005). "Q2 Gracefield Shunt". Hutt Valley Signals. Retrieved 10 October 2008.
↑ Castle, David (30 December 2005). "Repaired Red Car Leaves Hutt". Hutt Valley Signals. Retrieved 10 October 2008.

Bibliography

Churchman, Geoffrey B; Hurst, Tony (2001) [1990, 1991]. The Railways of New Zealand: A Journey through History (Second ed.). Transpress New Zealand. ISBN 0-908876-20-3.
Hermann, Bruce J; North Island Branch Lines pp 72, 73 (2007, New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society, Wellington) ISBN 978-0-908573-83-7

Gracefield Branch

Operations

References

Bibliography

External links

Related Articles