The tramway with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) ran from a large saw mill at the end of what is now MacLaren Street in Mangaroa into the Akatarawa Forest crossing the Hutt River at Te Mārua.

There was even a long-term plan to extend the tramway to the North Island Main Trunk Railway at Otaki.

In 1940 the Minister of Scenery Protection and Commissioner of State Forests commented negatively about Tudor Atkinson, a lawyer who had been involved in setting up the May Morn scheme.

His price expectation was based on logging, but public officials believed that the land was only suitable for preservation purposes.

It had a weight of 24 tons in working order and operated at a boiler pressure of 180 pounds per square inch (12 bar).