The Opua Branch or Otiria-Opua Industrial Line, partially still operational as the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway, is a former section of the North Auckland Line in the Northland Region of New Zealand, between Otiria and the Bay of Islands township of Opua. The first section was constructed as a bush tramway in 1868 and converted to a railway in the next decade. Today the railway is partially used by the Bay of Islands Vintage Railway, which runs tourist services between Kawakawa and Taumarere. The line's centrepiece is the section where it runs down along the main street of Kawakawa. Construction A tramway was opened in 1868 to carry coal from mines at Kawakawa to the Taumarere wharf at what is now known as Derrick Landing. The rails were wooden, the track gauge was the international standard gauge , and the wagons were pulled by horses. In 1871, some surplus rails, wagons and two steam locomotives were acquired from a railway project near Auckland and the tramway was upgraded to railway standards. It was purchased by the government in 1876, who had recently established the national gauge as , and re-gauged the line in 1877. In 1876, a settlement with a deepwater port was proposed, and in 1881 plans of a town named "Newport" were published. It became known as Opua and the railway from Kawakawa opened on 7 April 1884. The spur to Taumarere wharf was no longer necessary, as Opua's port was far superior, and it was closed. It was some time before the isolated KawakawaOpua line was connected to the rest of the national rail network. There were questions over its viability, but in 1899 parliament approved a connection with the line that was progressing north from Whangarei. A line 44 kilometres in length was required to link Kawakawa to the Whangarei section's northern railhead in Waiotu, and factors such as poor winter weather and difficulties in accessing the construction due to the relative isolation of the region at the time meant that it was not until 1911 that the rails from each end met. In 1925, the North Auckland Line was finally completed and the WhangāreiOpua section was linked to the national network. Stations The following stations were on the Otiria-Opua section of the North Auckland Line, with the distance in kilometres from Otiria in brackets: Moerewa (3 km) Kawakawa (7 km) Taumarere (10 km) Te