The Cambridge Branch (officially named the Hautapu Branch since 2011) is a rural railway line in the Waikato, New Zealand. The line stretches from Ruakura Junction for to the settlement of Hautapu, having previously continued another to the township of Cambridge. It had five stations along its length, at Newstead, Matangi (Tamahere), Bruntwood (Fencourt), Hautapu and the terminus at Cambridge.

Passenger service on the line ceased on 9 September 1946, although during the 1950 British Empire Games at Auckland three passenger trains took 1,500 people to the rowing events held on the nearby Lake Karapiro on 7 February. There were occasional excursions, such as those celebrating the centennial in 1984. In 1999, the line was truncated to the dairy factory at Hautapu. In 2020 reopening of the branch to passengers was put forward as part of a scheme to help the area recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The cost was estimated at up to $150m, including relaying tracks to Cambridge.

History In the late 1870s the need for a railway line to the flourishing town of Cambridge had been noted and a Cambridge Railway Committee formed, after the Government had rejected 'Breakell's Line', an earlier name for the Cambridge Branch, which had been surveyed in 1879. The committee had a line from Rukuhia surveyed in 1880, which would have bridged the Waikato at the Narrows. Preliminary surveying for the current branch was conducted in 1881.

The line starts at Ruakura Junction on the East Coast Main Trunk, where the first sod was turned in the line's construction on 6 May 1882.

A kilometre (0.6 mi) south of the Newstead Station a five span timber bridge was needed to cross the Mangaonua Stream, and a contract to lay the permanent way over the full distance was let on 21 February 1884 at the price of £5,455.

On the morning of 1 October 1884 the line was inspected and passed ready for traffic. On 6 October a special train brought the new station master and his family along with other members of the staff to Cambridge and two days later the line was open for traffic.

Cambridge railway yard

The Cambridge railway yard was located on a tract of land between Queen Street and Lake Te Ko-utu (from which water for the station was pumped) and crossed at its entrance by Lake Street.

Railway infrastructure originally included a Class 3 station, or a special station building (a 7 March 1884 contract was let to J.J. O'Brien to build it for £5,455.15s), stationmaster's house, urinals, goods shed ( x , with a loading bank, from 1920 a verandah over the cart doors and in 1924 a extension and a small office for a clerk) and, from 1914, a crane, a locomotive shed and stockyards (extended and improved in 1891, 1914, 1928, 1945, 1955 and 1959). The rail yard consisted of main line, crossing loop, four sidings, goods shed siding, backshunt, turntable and locomotive depot, stockyard and private sidings. In 1899 a drop pit was added in the engine shed, to assist with bogie springs on the newer engines, and a turntable was moved from Ellerslie to Cambridge. The locomotive depot closed on 9 December 1929 and in 1930 the shed was moved to Frankton Junction as a store. Plans were made to remove the turntable in 1964, but it remained and was occasionally used until the early 1970s when it was dismantled and filled in. In 1972 the goods yard was sealed.

Cambridge yard was protected by both 'Home' and 'Distant' semaphore signals controlled via levers located at the station building. Four NZR built railway staff houses were also located on Queen Street bordering the railyards.

During the 1940s construction of the Karapiro Dam and Hydro scheme ( east of Cambridge) necessitated the construction of a new siding and Public Works building in the yard site. Heavy materials, machinery, steel and cement used in the construction of the dam were railed direct to Cambridge and then transported further by truck to Karapiro. This new siding left the Main just within the Home Signal boundary and passed along the outer limits parallel to the yard to the large Public Works warehouse.

Various private sidings were also used for the carriage of sawn timber, wood and wool products by local industries.In 1937 a loading bank for horses to and from Cambridge Racing Club was built, northeast of Taylor Street.

The station yard employed a mixture of 'Wynn-Williams' spring-loaded points, lockable switch points, ground-throw turnouts and also had trap-points/de-railers located on and protecting both the Public Works Siding, Crossing Loop and Number One Siding.

The old station building was sold and broken up in 1973 and an overhead crane was erected in its place to handle container traffic from Weddell Crown Aotearoa freezing works in Leamington. With the removal of the station building administration was subsequently moved and conducted from an office added to the Goods Shed. As a result, both the 'Home' and 'Distant' signals were fixed in the stop position. In the late 1970s following the removal of the stockyards the stockyard site was used for the washing and drying of N.Z.R tarpaulins on purpose built drying racks.

As shown in the table and graph, passenger traffic peaked in 1922, after a more frequent bus started running in 1920 –