Wellington Coal Company's branch railway on the south bank of the Waimangaroa River by to Conns Creek, and constructed the Denniston Incline, and the roperoads from the mines to the top of the incline. To raise additional capital to develop the mines further, the Westport Colliery Company was reformed into the Westport Coal Company in 1881. The company also operated mines in other places on the West Coast, including Millerton, and by 1905, the company was by far the largest coal producer in New Zealand. The Westport Coal Company's mines and the Denniston Incline were taken over by the New Zealand State Mines Department in 1948. Denniston incline The Denniston Incline began operation in April 1880. It was a self-acting ropeway that used gravity to lower 12.5 ton gross laden weight New Zealand Railways' coal wagons one at a time from Brakehead, at Denniston, at the top to Conns Creek below. Each descending wagon hauled an empty one up the incline by means of wire ropes, each wagon attached to its own rope and brake drum. The two drums were mounted beside each other on a common shaft, and the wire rope wound in opposite directions on each drum. So while one drum was letting the rope out and lowering a full wagon down the incline, the other drum was winding its rope in and pulling an empty wagon up the incline. Hydraulic pistons slowed the rotation of the winding drums to control the speed of the wagons. The Denniston Incline was actually two inclines. The higher of the two began at Brakehead, and descended steeply to the appropriately named Middle Brake. Here wagons were disconnected from the first incline's rope, and placed on the rope of the second incline for a more gentle descent to Conns Creek, where the accumulated wagons would then be marshalled into trains before being taken to Westport. The drum from Middle Brake is now on display at Westport's Coaltown Museum. The upper part of each incline had essentially two sets of railway tracks side by side (three rails, with the inner rail shared by both tracks), while below the midsection of each incline (where wagons passed each other) the two sets of track were 'interwoven'. Each side of the inclines alternately had wagons ascending and descending – otherwise the ropes would get crossed over. (An image of a full wagon descending the upper part