The Okaihau Branch, sometimes known as the Kaikohe Branch and rarely the Rangiahua Branch, was a branch line railway that joined the North Auckland Line of the national rail network of New Zealand at Otiria. It was the most northerly line in New Zealand and was intended to run all the way to Kaitaia. It opened to Ōkaihau in 1923 and closed in 1987. Construction Proposals for a railway line to Kaitaia and the Far North existed as early as the 1870s, but it was not until 1909 that preliminary surveys were conducted. After the North Auckland Line was linked to and extended over the Opua Branch in 1911, construction progressed in earnest from Otiria towards Kaikohe: initial work had been undertaken in 1910. On 1 May 1914, this section opened. A small amount of further construction took place over the next two years, but World War I meant that no work took place between 1916 and 1919. The resumption of work led to the completion of the line to Ōkaihau on 29 October 1923. Debate raged over what route to follow to Kaitaia. The proposal was to run from Ōkaihau to Rangiahua, near the Hokianga Harbour, and then either through the Maungataniwha Range, about 30 kilometres long with two tunnels; or skirting the range, roughly ten kilometres longer with no tunnels. A 1921 commission did not support work beyond Ōkaihau, but a compromise in 1923 established Rangiahua as the northern terminus and the Public Works Department continued to build northwards, albeit slowly. Due to the Great Depression construction of the line beyond Ōkaihau was abandoned in 1931. The Rangiahua section was essentially complete: the line wound downhill to the settlement and a station yard complete with platform was built, though the station building itself was not erected. Following a change in government in 1935, a 1936 review of the work beyond Ōkaihau was undertaken, and the decision was made not to extend the line to Kaitaia. The steep route to Rangiahua was not seen as being particularly useful and had been plagued by slips. The line was accordingly terminated in Okaihau, which was on the main State Highway north (SH1). During 1938 and World War II the abandoned trackage was salvaged, sometimes by bullock teams, for use elsewhere, especially the Dargaville Branch. Stations The following stations were on the Okaihau Branch, with the distance from Otiria in brackets. The