The Kingston Branch was a major railway line in Southland, New Zealand. It formed part of New Zealand's national rail network for over a century: construction began in 1864, Kingston was reached in 1878, and it closed in 1979. For much of its life, it was considered a secondary main line rather than a branch line, and in its earlier years, it was sometimes known as the "Great Northern Railway". Today, the southern portion now forms a part of the Wairio Branch and the northernmost 14 kilometres was used by the Kingston Flyer.
Construction
The Kingston Branch was built to be a main line north from Invercargill to improve communications through the Southland region, and to provide a link to the Central Otago gold fields. The provincial government of Southland was not very wealthy, and for this reason, a proposal claiming that the railway would be cheaper if built with wooden rails was accepted. A 12-kilometre line between Invercargill and Makarewa was opened on 18 October 1864, and the unsuitability of the wooden tracks became obvious quickly. Unlike most railway lines in New Zealand, this route was built to the international standard gauge of , and in June 1866 the decision was made to convert to iron rails. This conversion was performed at the same time as the line was extended to Winton and it opened on 22 February 1871. This proved to be the farthest extent of the gauge in Southland, and further lines were built to the nationally accepted narrow gauge of . The first portion of the Kingston Branch built to the new gauge was from Winton to Caroline, which opened on 20 October 1875, two months before the rest of the line to Invercargill was converted to the new gauge, on 20 December. The locomotives and rolling stock were now surplus and sold to the government of New South Wales in Australia, but the ship on which they were carried was wrecked in Westland and thus the trains never made it to Australia.
Beyond Caroline, construction was swift. The railway opened to Lumsden on 7 February 1876 and then Lowther on 15 January 1877, Athol on 20 January 1878, and finally Kingston on 10 July 1878, some 140 kilometres from Invercargill. In February 1879, a steamboat connection on Lake Wakatipu was established, from Kingston to Queenstown.
Stations
The following stations were on the Kingston Branch (in brackets is the distance from Invercargill):
Grasmere (3 km) Waikiwi (4 km) Lorneville (7 km) Linds Bridge (10 km) Makarewa (12 km) Ryal Bush (15 km) Wilson's Crossing (18 km) Lochiel (23 km) Thomsons (26 km) Gap Road (29 km) Winton (30 km) Lady Barkly (35 km) Limehills (37 km) Ords (39 km) Centre Bush (41 km) Pukearuhe (45 km) Kauana (46 km) Benmore (51 km) Dipton (58 km) Caroline (66 km) Josephville (72 km) Lumsden (79 km) Lowther (89 km) Five Rivers (93 km) Eyre Creek (98 km) Parawa (105 km) Athol (110 km) Nokomai (118 km) Garston (120 km) Fairlight (126 km) Kingston (140 km)
Junctions
Three stations on the Kingston Branch were junctions with other lines:
Makarewa: Tuatapere (Orawia) Branch (along which was the junction with the Wairio Branch) Winton: Hedgehope (Browns) Branch Lumsden: Waimea Plains Railway to the Main South Line in Gore Mossburn Branch
Operation
In the early days of the line, trains operated six days a week, with a return service to Kingston and another in the afternoon as far as Lumsden. When the Waimea Plains Railway opened, it was privately owned and competed with the Kingston Branch, and this, along with the effects of the Long Depression, meant services were reduced to operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays only for three years. In 1883, the daily trains were back, and when the Waimea Plains Railway was purchased and incorporated into the national network, services were further re-organised. Besides the daily "mixed" services that carried both passengers and freight, five passenger expresses a week ran from Kingston: two used the whole line to Invercargill, while three left it in Lumsden to travel through the Waimea Plains. These passenger services were the first "Kingston Flyer".