The North Island Main Trunk line is completed
- When
- 6 November 1908
- Where
- Manganuioteao · Manganui-o-te-Ao
- Reach
- Several regions
Prime Minister Joseph Ward drove the last spike at Manganuioteao, linking Auckland and Wellington by rail for the first time.
The line had been argued over for nearly forty years, partly because the shortest route ran through the King Country, which the Crown could not simply survey at will. Construction through the volcanic plateau required the Raurimu Spiral, a corkscrew of track that climbs 132 metres in a way that impressed engineers worldwide. From February 1909 express trains covered the distance in eighteen hours. A country whose two main cities had been effectively a sea voyage apart became, for the first time, a single overland market.
Regions affected
Sources
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