To achieve a cost-effective transport, and because the steep Ngakawau Gorge was not suitable as a route for hauling timber by horses or oxen, the Watson brothers built a forest railway from the sawmill on the north side of the Ngākawau River to Hector.

This had a very steep incline, which fell down to the mill and which was mastered by an 8-horsepower hilltop steam winch similar to a funicular.

The gauge of the tram was chosen at 3 feet 6 inches (1,067 mm) to match that of New Zealand Rail (NZR).

Steep sections of the tram had a raised wooden center rail for braking with a Fell style friction wheel drive.

On 9 September 1928 Robert Watson and another director of the CCWCC, SJ Akinson, died in a car accident at Buller Gorge, on their way home from a business trip to Christchurch.

When the existing logging railway had to be extended from Watson's Mill to the coal mine, the entire route was reconstructed with reduced slopes and larger radii of curvature.

In the period 1866–1914, the West Coast New Zealand timber industry served mainly the domestic market by a number of small local sawmill companies.

The NZR enabled low-cost timber transport and required a lot of sawn beams and boards for sleepers and building products.

In later years, the miners used strikes to put pressure on the mine owners to join the lobby for the completion of the Seddonville road.

[2] p. 49 Today, a 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) hiking trail leads along and along the Ngakawau route over the ruins of Watson's Mill to the former Charming Creek Coal Mine.