After the North Auckland Line was linked to and extended over the Opua Branch in 1911, construction progressed in earnest from Otiria towards Kaikohe: initial work had been undertaken in 1910.

Following a change in government in 1935, a 1936 review of the work beyond Ōkaihau was undertaken, and the decision was made not to extend the line to Kaitaia.

Notes: Although Kaikohe has become established as the service centre of the Far North, it failed to generate much rail traffic in the early years of the line.

Minimal services were offered, and although losses increased up to 1930, fortunes had somewhat improved by 1940, and by 1950 there was sufficient traffic to justify six trains each way a week.

Folk singer Peter Cape wrote and sang his song The Okaihau Express in the 1950s about the Ōkaihau train, which consisted of a steam engine, a carriage and a guards van.

[5] Passengers had to use the mixed trains, with significantly older rolling stock on a slower schedule, and demand slipped.

In 1977, a relaxation of road transport laws led to a decline in freight traffic on the line and forestry proposals that would have required a railway service failed to eventuate.

After the line's closure, the New Zealand Railways Corporation retained ownership over the trackbed in the hopes that forestry proposals would come to fruition, and some rails were still in place during the 1990s.