 The PWD owned its own locomotives and rolling stock, some second-hand from the Railways Department, and it operated some small railway lines that were never transferred to the Railways Department.One example is a 6.4 km branch line built in 1928 from near the terminus of the Railways Department's Kurow Branch to a hydro-electric dam project on the Waitaki River.This branch was not solely used to service the dam project; the PWD used its own rolling stock to provide a service for school children who attended school in Kurow, and occasionally special Railways Department trains operated on the line with PWD motive power, including a 1931 sightseeing excursion to view the under-construction dam.