“Open up the North” was the cry from settlers in the 1860s seeking a better transport link between Northland and Auckland. And, in time, they eventually got it: a railway line between Riverhead and Helensville. It was a project with lots of surprises along the way, and today, long-since overtaken, it’s largely forgotten.
Settlers could see the potential of the North, farming and forestry. But the North Road for horse-drawn coaches was impossible in places – marshes, steep hills, fords and gorges, often impassable in winter 1. Coastal travel by ship could be uncomfortable and subject to the weather.
Better, the Northerners implored, a railway or a canal connecting the Kaipara Harbour with the Waitemata Harbour. 2 After several surveys and costings it was decided a tramway would be best, linking Riverhead on the upper reaches of the Waitemata with Helensville at the head of the Kaipara. This proposal was the result of persistent work by local politician, Allan O’Neill 3 who, since the early 1860s, had envisaged boats from Auckland wharves travelling to Harkins Wharf at Riverhead, the passengers transferring to a tramway for the overland journey to Helensville. There they could take a steamer to Dargaville en route to Whangarei and northern destinations. Freight, could, similarly move in both directions. The North, would, thus, be opened up! O’Neill was so insistent, and spent so much time on the proposal, it was called “O’Neill’s Hobby”. But few people believed in a tramway: they fancied a canal.
The Auckland Provincial Government sponsored a thorough investigation. The results favoured a railway rather than a tramway or a canal. 4 The Kaipara Railway Act was passed in January 1871, 5 giving settlers the North-South link they craved for: construction of a railway line 15 miles long (24 kms) from Riverhead, though Kumeu and Reweti, to Helensville with a gauge of 3-feet-6-inches (which became the New Zealand standard). 6
Surprise Number 1
But on April 26th the Governor startled everyone when he undid all this, with a proclamation disallowing the Act on technical grounds. 7 It was about the surveys. Which of several surveys was best? And should the railway terminal at Riverhead at a wharf sited on Mr Lamb’s land – or at Harkins Point? By the way, the question was asked, did the Provincial Government have enough money to fund the project? Further delays prompted newspapers to speculate that the project had been shelved. 8 The only positive news was that both Maori and settlers had given land, and the right of way, for the railway: in sharp contrast to heavy property costs incurred for the Auckland to Drury line which almost sank that project. 9
Route of the Riverhead to Helensville Railway (red added)
1877 map – Karekare History – Facebook
Surprise Number 2
Then, in June 1871, the Provincial Government astounded everyone when, as if nothing was amiss, it called for tenders for the railway project. 10
New Zealand Herald 17 June 1871
Because the exact terminal had not yet been fixed at Riverhead, tenderers had to quote for a line ending on Harkin’s land (Harkins Point) and, alternatively, in Mr Lamb’s paddock. The Provincial Government wrestled to decide the exact location, despite a survey finding that there was a depth of water off Harkins Point of about 2m, even at low water, sufficient for boats to and from Auckland. 11 In July 1871 Harkins Point was chosen, 12 where a wharf would be constructed 20m out from the cliff-face to service the adjacent railway station. Mr Lamb lost out!
The chosen route to Harkins Point, red added.
Alexander Turnbull Library/Auckland Public Library
The exact route decided, the project was awarded to Matthew Edgar 13 in August for the sum of £42,234, this to pay for the construction works, the rolling stock and ancillaries. Work was to take eighteen months. By January 1872 it was reported that Edgar had placed the order for a locomotive in England. 14 But it was later found that the contact had been cancelled – a replacement order was made much later.
Suprise Number 3
The next development was equally astonishing. Central Government announced it had come to an arrangement with the Provincial Government to fund the project, 15 subject to the site of the two terminals being finalised. As soon as these were determined Edgar signed the contract 14 on the 12th August and some 2 weeks later, on August 31st, numerous dignitaries and scores of locals travelled to Harkins Point at Riverhead to witness the “first sod being turned”, signalling the start of the project to join the headwaters of two harbours with a railway. 17 The “Daily Southern Cross” opined it was “a red-letter day in the annals of Auckland Province”. 18
Surprise Number 4
The project delivered yet another revelation when, in mid-October 1871, Central Government announced it had done a further deal. The Provincial Government had agreed to divert funds from railway construction to, instead, Harbour Board works in Auckland and, in return, Central Government would take over, pay for, and supervise construction of the Kaipara to Riverhead Railway. 19 There was general acceptance of the proposition and works continued under the contract signed by the Provincial Government. The irony was not missed: not only had the contract been finalised after Central Government disallowed the Kaipara Railway Act, but the project was now continuing by the very administration that had set aside the enabling Act!
Progress, or Lack of It
In January it was reported all the cuttings were more or less complete: few had eroded since being formed and the rail-bed was being prepared. 20 A few months later the “Daily Southern Cross” said the long summer had favoured the project and “in 3-4 months you’ll be able to ride the length of the railway, all but one bridge was complete”, 21 as were the wharves at Riverhead and Helensville to be used in connection with the railway. Excavations were complete for the stretch around Kumeu.
A few delays followed. A strike by workmen was overcome when Edgar hired more help. Wet weather was blamed for poor progress and so was political inertia (denied) 22 … months went by and it was plain that Matthew Edgar was not going to meet his target of a working railway line “in eighteen months”, by the deadline, September 1873. Edgar’s arrangement had expired, all works ended. 23 It turned out the rails had not been ordered from England by the Government. The Press speculated it was the end of the line, that the money had been wasted, buried in what remained of the earthworks.
“O’Neill’s Hobby” might have become “O’Neill’s Folly”!
“The Auckland Star” said “the Kaipara Railway is destined to continue to the end of the chapter, a standing monument of Government folly. If during the coming summer, the peat moss around and underlying the line would spontaneously combust and burn up the railway, it could hardly be looked upon as otherwise than the natural climax in its dreary history”. 24
Surprise Number 5
But the nay-sayers were wrong. In June 1874 the Government produced another rabbit out of a hat when it announced renewed interest in the railway… and that it would be completed. Tenders were called to finish the work. This was probably prompted by the Government having it confirmed in London that its order for rails had been received and that delivery could be expected in the following February. 25
Seeking tenders to complete the railway – Daily Southern Cross, 4 May 1874
Following which contractor Daniel Fallen signed a contract, worth £12,800, to overhaul the works to date, lay the rails and deliver a working railway within 6 months. 26
What led to this revitalised interest in the project after it had been left to languish so long with the Government giving a variety of excuses for delays?
Surprise Number Six
The Government’s motive to get the railway completed was part of a much bigger project… to link Auckland with the North by rail. There had been political mutterings about this for years, now in mid-1874 the Government was warming to the idea… a new railway was proposed starting at Newmarket Station, through Auckland’s western districts to Kumeu, where it would join the Riverhead to Helensville line, giving a through railway service between Auckland and Helensville. There would be a connection with the Waikato line at Newmarket Station. It was the beginning of a network.27
So, with the new Fallen contract signed the Government had assured itself that the section between Kumeu to Helensville would be completed, ready to link up with the new line from Auckland, a project “on the books” but not yet approved.
Riverhead – Helensville railway (in red, added) and the proposed “extension” linking from Auckland, joining from the South. Karekare History – Facebook
Progress and Completion
Fallen took over from where Edgar left off, gearing up to complete the work.
Fallen advertised for workmen
Auckland Star 27 October 1874
In all, Fallen employed more than a hundred men, many working to lay the 3,000 sleepers, most of which had been obtained by Edgar, and attaching the rails to them. Two tank engines were on site, the “Kaihu”, a Dubs 800 locomotive made by Dubs & Co in Glasgow, Scotland, and a Neilson, also by a Scottish manufacturer, to be formally named during the opening ceremony. Carriages and rolling stock had also arrived. Fallen had not met the contracted deadline, but in October 1875 the project was complete, ready to “open up the North”. 28
A Quiet Opening
Opening day, 28th October 1875, was a quiet affair. The Auckland Star noted that no luncheon was planned in conjunction with the occasion… so “bring your own”, and while “there’s not much along the route to please the tourist’s eye, there is some very fair land in the vicinity of the Kumeu…”, otherwise, “…the line runs through very uninteresting country, commencing with unproductive gum flats, and ending in three or four miles of swamp”. Having dampened the tourist’s appetite, the newspaper observed that the railway was primarily to cater for freight, agriculture produce, gum and timber from the North. 29 On opening day about 100 officials and visitors travelled by boat to Riverhead where, under the direction of Frank Passmore who was General Manager of New Zealand Railways, the locomotive was christened. Schoolgirl Leslie Thompson smashed the customary bottle of champagne, naming the Neilson-made iron horse “Schnapper,” which, together with “Kaihu,” took a crowded train of eight carriages and two trucks over the line to Helensville. (Passmore was in charge, representing the new owners of the railway, having been handed over by the construction team).
“Schnapper”, the Neilson-built locomotive – Alexandra Turnbull Library
That inaugural public journey, including stoppages, took an hour and forty minutes to reach Helensville. But, having arrived, there was complete lack of ceremony to declare the line open, nor was there a public free lunch (as predicted). Officials met privately for celebratory drinks, however, and there was a meal, at a price, available at the hotel. The return journey to Riverhead took an hour and ten minutes. 30
The New Railway
Daily Southern Cross 28th October 1875
There was one train each way, daily, weekdays. Almost immediately this timetable was challenged by would-be passengers: it did not suit the ferries from Auckland to Riverhead. 31 Ideally, the steamers had to time their arrival at high water, thus enabling passengers an easy embarkation at the wharf. Given the varying times of high-water and tidal conditions it was claimed the train should be timed to suit. The timetable for the steamboat “Gemini”, when it began servicing Riverhead, illustrates the variable schedule dictated, day by day, by the state of the tide at the Riverhead estuary.
New Zealand Herald November 21,1866
The upper reaches of the Riverhead estuary near Harkins Point are very tidal, only navigable at certain times, as Captain Casey’s schedule set out.
Tidal estuary near Harkins Point, Huapai Golf Club links in the background
Similar disruption for rail passengers at the Helensville terminal also caused delays. The steamer from Helensville to Dargaville would not wait if the train arrived late… the passengers would be left behind, and, depending on the timetables on the Kaipara, travellers might have to wait a whole week until the next boat.
In March 1876 a new locomotive arrived by ship at Helensville, 32 at twenty-eight tons the Fairlie was twice the weight of earlier locos. Made by the Avonside works in Bristol, England, it was a double-header, a tank engine to New Zealand Railways specifications and sometimes referred to as “Albatross”, or, as Auckland Libraries call the engine in a caption to a photograph, “Albertross” (which may have cashed in on the Victoriana of the day).
The Fairlie: locomotive crews said it was just as comfortable driving either way – W. W. Stewart Collection
In May 1877 the timetable was changed so the train left Riverhead mid-afternoon.
Auckland Star 5 May 1877
And New Zealand Railways showed what could be done when it came to Christmas and New Year… the schedule was changed to capture the tourist trade, altered to coordinate with the Auckland ferry, enabling visitors to make the trip from downtown Auckland to Helensville, and return, all in a day. 33
The regular timetable was later made flexible, adjusted to coincide with steamer services. The train stopped at all stations, the minor ones (flag stations) only if requested in good time by advising the Guard.
New Zealand Herald 30 December 1879
Dissatisfaction arose about freight which, entrusted to the railway, went missing, or was delayed, or soiled. It was reported the stewards at Dargaville races on one occasion went without fruit at lunchtime: the boxes had gone missing in transit! And from time to time the railway was closed because of flooding in the unseasonably wet weather. 34 There was also the case, January 1876, of the steamer from Auckland arriving at Riverhead late, its passengers taken ashore in a dinghy because of the low tide, and while this tricky manoeuvre was under way, the time for the train to depart came around, and it was dispatched without the unfortunate travellers. 35 And the story of the woman denied carriage of her bed on the railway until, as a newspaper put it, “common sense was shamed into the stationmaster”. 36 Cartage contractors complained about the lack of all-weather cargo sheds at the termini.
Timber merchants condemned the charges, for example the fee to operate the crane on the wharf at Helensville which was used to transfer timber from the steamers to railway rolling stock. “The crane was only required because of a bungle building the wharf that ended up 18 feet (6m) above the river at high tide, and now the customers are being asked to pay!” the New Zealand Herald reported. 37
But it wasn’t all bad news, as some claimed. Captain Casey capitalised on the railway with his steamers to Riverhead offering a unique day out, the Kopuru Timber Company welcomed a new way to deliver Kauri timber to Auckland… and new businesses, 39 including hotels, sprang up at the termini. The Railway Hotel at Harkins Point, for instance, along with a Post and Telegraph Office and several houses. A brick works, taking advantage of the rail, began at Kumeu. Market gardens showed up near Helensville.
By June 1878, land at Harkins Point had been surveyed for subdivision and was put up for sale, the proximity of the railway a selling point… “the line of the Kaipara Railway runs through the Township…”.
Auckland Star 13 June 1878
The settlement did not eventuate. Auckland folk were apparently less enthusiastic to live at Riverhead than those of today who have created a new suburb just across the estuary from Harkins Point. Or perhaps potential buyers were aware that the railway might be superseded and would not always be there to serve the new town.
The train, headed by the Fairlie, departs Riverhead, 1876 – J. D. Richardson, Auckland Libraries.
The returns for the first 4 weeks of railway operations in 1876 showed 728 passengers were carried, with parcels, goods and 219 tons of freight, 1 cattle beast, 20 sheep, 3 pigs, 3 bales of wool and 127,900 ft of timber, with total receipts of £265 9s. Id. 40
The Main Line
The Riverhead to Helensville service was left to operate – carrying passengers and freight despite allegations of mismanagement and poor utilisation – while the entire focus on local railway matters shifted to the “extension”, the proposed line from Auckland through Newmarket and on to Kumeu which would join the Helensville line and truly “open up the North”. Debate about the route to be taken through Auckland hinterland, followed by numerous surveys, then the acquisition of land, and funding the project, took years, perhaps deliberately slowed by the Government of the time. Like the earlier project, some despaired; would they ever see the extension? 41
But in May 1877 a contract was signed with contractor Larkins and O’Brien for the first 10 miles of the line from Newmarket: work began immediately. 42 Thus the first section from Newmarket to Glen Eden (Waikomiti or Waikumete) opened on March 29, 1880. It was a gala occasion, race-day at Henderson’s Mill. As the inaugural train progressed West so many passengers thronged the carriages that the loading overtaxed the locomotive. Some carriages were left behind at Avondale, the engine returning to gather them up. But everyone, the New Zealand Herald reported, arrived on course in time for the first race. 43
By July 1881 the new line from Auckland was completed to Kumeu by the contractor Taylor and Danaher, and, the connection having been made with the existing line to Helensville, the first public train made the return journey, from Auckland to Helensville and back, on July 18th. The Auckland Star reporter who took the trip noted the very smooth travel from Auckland to Kumeu, whereupon it was a rough ride “on account of the different rail fixings”. 44 (The fern and clay ballast may also have had an effect). There would be two trains daily in each direction, and it was noted that Kaipara steamer services were altering their schedules to suit the new railway timetable.
Unwanted – the Riverhead to Kumeu Section
That left the short section of rail between Riverhead (Harkins Point), and the junction with the main line at Kumeu. It looked like it might be a spur line, but it wasn’t to be.
One line opens, the other closes – New Zealand Herald 6 July 1881
The section, Riverhead to Kumeu, which had been much planned, over-surveyed, delayed, under-funded and all but abandoned during construction, wasn’t wanted any longer, superfluous now that the main line was complete.
And consequent to the closure of Riverhead station, the steamer schedule to Harkins Point was no longer required to service the railway, though steam boats continued to ply the upper estuary calling at various landings and to Riverhead, these days maintained as an excursion during summer months, terminating at the wharf adjacent to the hotel.
The first Kaipara railway had been talked about since 1860, approved in 1870 and finally opened in 1875. After 15 years in gestation and just 6 years in operation the Riverhead to Kumeu section was no more: in 1881 the rails, etc, were torn up to be used elsewhere.
After the Railway
500 acres (200 hectares) on Harkins Point and surrounds were acquired in 1907 by Auckland City Council from William Jagger so that the Council could take over operating his “sanitary depot”. 45 This facility received Auckland’s sewage, “night soil”, which was transported daily by ship, taken ashore and ploughed under.
Ploughing operations at the Sanitary Depot, Harkins Point – Auckland War Memorial Museum
The Council took over, 46 reckoning it could do a better job than Jagger who had generated many complaints of stench and spillages over the years: Lamb’s grain Mill, later a paper mill in the early 1900s, protested about the stinking neighbours, alleging correct sanitation processes weren’t followed. The Council later converted the land to a stud farm 47 and later again, in part, for a retirement home for the Council’s aging Clydesdales and pensioned-off working horses. 48 Council sold 100 acres (40ha) to the Huapai Golf Club in 1939, 49 and the entire property was disposed of later that year. 50
In 1912 Harkins Point was on the map as the route for the trans-Tasman cable linking Australia and New Zealand. It came ashore near Muriwai on the West Coast, where it was entrenched, across country, for 11 miles (17 km) to Harkins Point. There it again became a submarine cable along the seabed of the Waitemata Harbour until it reached Ponsonby shoreline. 51
Cable-laying near Muriwai Beach – Weekly News, Auckland Libraries
Today
145 years later there’s little evidence that a railway existed on the few miles from Harkins Point to Kumeu… just remnants of an embankment. And there’s the well-named Old Railway Road that traces, more or less, the route of the former railway track.
Otherwise, the old rail-bed has been absorbed by farmland, vineyards, orchards and the Huapai Gold Club where golfers moving between the 12th and the 13th hole cross over the path of the old line. The wharf, built especially to service the railway, was declared unsafe and demolished by the Harbour Board in 1902. 52
That short, but vital, section of the Riverhead to Helensville railway line that truly “opened up the North” by pioneering the valuable link between Auckland and Northland, has now disappeared, largely forgotten.
Footnote
Horse Races
While the Riverhead – Helensville railway is, these days, hardly recalled, even deeper in memory are the race meetings held before, and about the time, the line was being constructed. Research turned up a picnic-style meeting in December 1867 at Ongarahu, towards the sandhills from Reweti. The Superintendent of the Province, John Wiliamson, made the trek by boat and overland to the near-North for a Christmas break, long before the railway. The official party attended a race meeting “a few miles from Ongarahu on the Riverhead Road”. The Daily Southern Cross, in its report, helpfully translated the names of the 5 horses in the first race, probably owned by locals… “Eanara” (Colonel), “Inia” (India), “Kinitea” (Reindeer), “Mawbitiwhiti” (Grasshopper), and “Teretere” (Swift). 53
In April 1868 there was a well-reported 54 race meeting near Mr Deacon’s hotel at Riverhead… this too was before railway construction started, and by all accounts this had been a venue for some years. In 1868 “100 Europeans and 200 Maoris attended. The Europeans were from Auckland, Helensville, and Riverhead, and the natives from Ongarahu, Muriwai and Mahurangi”.
These meetings were some of the first in the district, preceding regular events at Helensville.
By 1872 the railway project was underway: construction gangs had swollen the local population and in March the Irish, and others, could celebrate St Patrick’s Day at the races at Ongarahu, a much more organised affair than the picnic meetings of years before, but likely held in the same paddock described as “a few miles from the village”. 55
Daily Southern Cross 18 March 1872
The feature race was, appropriately, the Navvie’s Purse of £20, a handicap event run over 2 and a half miles (4km) and won by Echo.
It is the only race meeting recorded in connection with the railway project.
Quick Facts: The Riverhead to Helensville (Kaipara) Railway
Railway project approved by Auckland Provincial Government August 1870
Construction began August 1871
Railway Opened October 29 1875
Riverhead to Kumeu section closed July 1881
Length: sixteen miles sixty-seven chains (28kms) (Riverhead to Helensville)
Steepest grade: one-in-thirty-three horizontal
Deepest cutting 22 feet (3m)
Maximum curve radius: five chains
Weight of the rails: 35 pounds
Land cleared for the single-track railway was 12 feet wide (4 m) except through bush and forest where on either side of the track the vegetation is cut to the width of one chain (22m), to guard against any accidents resulting from trees blown down and falling across the line.
Ballast: there was a difficulty procuring stone etc (none was found the length of the railway), so an unusual foundation was formed, a surface of clay with fern underneath, to a combined depth of 1 foot (.3m). This was laid on swampy peat in places: the fern was designed to prevent fires, to stop the sleepers catching alight. (Peat is known for spontaneous combustion).
Sleepers: extra-long to give better support, given this unusual construction method.
Longest bridge: 220 feet (68m), across the Kaipara River
Associated buildings: At both termini there was a four-roomed dwelling-house for the stationmaster, together with a goods-shed, and a water-tank holding 3,000 gallons (11,000 l).
Intermediate stations: (northbound) Kumeu, Waimauku, Reweti, Woodhill and Pairoa. Locomotives (1) “Kaihu”, a Dubs 800, (2) “Schnapper” a Nielson #1843, and (3) “Albatross”? a Fairlie double-ended made by Avonside Engine Co., Bristol England.
Rolling stock: included six carriages (1 first-class, 2 composite and 3 second-class) and goods waggons capable of carrying 20 tons.
Railway construction costs, with ancillary buildings, stations etc, plus one locomotive (“Schnapper”) and rolling stock along with wharves at each terminal, about £42,234 (Edgar’s contract) as well as Fellon’s contract £13,000, total some £55,000.
R. C. Carlyon, August 2026
References
1 Daily Southern Cross,15 February 1865
2 Daily Southern Cross, 29 October 1875
3 Daily Southern Cross, 29 October 1875
4 Daily Southern Cross, 29 October 1875
5 Auckland Star, 20 January 1871
6 Railways Act 1871, sect 22
7 Daily Southern Cross, 3 May 1871
8 New Zealand Herald, 14 June 1871
9 Daily Southern Cross, 1 September 1871
10 New Zealand Herald 17 June 1871
11 Daily Southern Cross, 12 July 1871
12 Daily Southern Cross, 6 July 1871
13 Daily Southern Cross, 29 October 1875,
14 Daily Southern Cross, 17 January 1872
15 Daily Southern Cross, 3 August 1872
16 New Zealand Herald, 14 August 1871
17 New Zealand Herald, 6 September 1871
18 Daily Southern Cross, 6 September 1871
19 New Zealand Herald, 16 October 1871
20 New Zealand Herald, 26 January 1872
21 Daily Southern Cross, 18 April 1872
22 Daily Southern Cross, 27 August 1872
23 New Zealand Herald, 16 January 1874
24 Auckland Star, 14 November 1874
25 Daily Southern Cross, 1 May 1874 & Auckland Star, 3 February 1875
26 New Zealand Herald, 23 June 1874
27 Auckland Star, 17 June 1874
28 New Zealand Herald, 16 October 1875
29 Auckland Star, 27 October 1875
30 Daily Southern Cross, 29 October 1875
31Daily Southern Cross, 27 November 1875, Auckland Star, 20 December 1875
32 “In the beginning – the story of the New Zealand Locomotive, 1863-1877”, Gerald Petrie, Locomotive Press, 1996
33 Daily Southern Cross, 25 December 1875
34 New Zealand Herald, 18 January 1876
35 Daily Southern Cross, 18 January 1876
36 New Zealand Herald, 13 January 1876
37 New Zealand Herald, 16 May 1876
38 Auckland Star, 8 November 1876
39 New Zealand Herald, 25 January 1876
40 Daily Southern Cross, 14 February 1876
41 Daily Southern Cross, 23 September 1876
42 New Zealand Herald, 5 June 1877
43 New Zealand Herald, 30 March 1880
44 Auckland Star, 18 July 1881
45 New Zealand Herald, 30 April 1907
46 New Zealand Herald, 10 May 1907
47 Auckland Star, 29 October 1920
48 Sun (Auckland), 13 May 1929
49 New Zealand Herald, 31 March 1939
50 Auckland Star, 27 October 1939
51 Auckland Star, 1 November 1912
52 Auckland Star, 23 July 1902
53 Daily Southern Cross, 30 December 1867
54 Daily Southern Cross, 14 April 1868
55 Daily Southern Cross, 16 March 1872
Huapai Golf Club website, accessed August 2026
“In the beginning – the story of the New Zealand Locomotive, 1863-1877”, Gerald Petrie, Locomotive Press, 1996
Papers Past, National Library of New Zealand, accessed on-line August 2026
“The Kaipara Line: commemorating the 125th anniversary of the opening of the Riverhead-Helensville rail link on October 29, 1875” – Peter Reaves, Rodney Community Tourist & Development Trust 2000
“The NZR Steam Locomotive” Sean Millar, NZ Railway and Locomotive Society
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