NZ Folksong * The T. T. Line

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It may be more meaningful to sing this as The TTT Line.
It took totara and matai from the Taupo Totara Timber Company's
mill, north of Lake Taupo, to the NZR rail network at Putaruru.

C There's many a F shack along the C T.T. Am track,
Where the C workers rest from toil G7
From C working through the F night on the C rhyo-Am-lite,
Or shoveling twenty G7 thousand yards of soil. C
   
   With F axe and C pick, where the G7 bush was C thick,
   In F gullies where the C sun can't G7 shine,
   We C drove the F tracks by the C strength of our Am backs,
   When we built the G7 T.T. C line.

How we cursed the flies as we laid the ties
In blazing summer heat.
With ice on the rails in the winter gales,
We struggled hard to keep our feet.

   The gullies were filled with the blasted hills,
   The bridges built with timber from the trees,
   And at night in the camp, by a kero lamp,
   We did as we damned well pleased!


You may go and stand where the line once ran,
And listen for the sound
Of the dynamite and the camps at night,
And the laborers who broke the ground.

   Platelayers, riveters and firemen, 
   Blacksmiths, loggers, cooks and engineers - 
   If you listen, then you'll hear the sounds again,
   Over more than eighty years.

The TTT Line

The TTT Line, or Mokai Tramway, was 82 km of light railway constructed across open country in 18 months for the Taupo Totara Timber Company to connect their mill at Mokai, 23 km NW of Taupo, with the NZR rail network at Putaruru. It was used by the TTT from 1903 to 1944.

"The Corkscrew" lifting the line from the Waikato River valley up into the hills behind Taupo was an engineering triumph.

The northern section, from Putaruru to Kinleith Mill south of Tokoroa, was later rebuilt for heavier rail traffic, and is still being used.

The Ongaroto Bridge

The Waikato River formed the major barrier. Initially, a two span girder bridge was considered to span the 60 m wide river. This plan was abandoned because the river’s high flows made it difficult to set a central pier in place. An arch bridge with a truss through it was built instead. It was the longest single span wooden bridge in the Southern Hemisphere. But the 'green' (sap-filled) totara timber that was used started rotting and it was replaced in 1930 by a steel truss bridge with central pier.

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Webpage put onto folksong.org.nz website Sept 2021