I don’t know if anyone here is interested in such things as defunct railways in far-flung parts of the world, but I undertook an interesting (to me) project and thought I’d share it with rail fans.
I will put this in several posts to keep each one a manageable size. (I’ve never done a post with photos so I hope this works. Photos run from south to northwest.)
This is the story:
I visited a friend in New Zealand in December and January. As I had lived in New Zealand for 15 years (and plan to return), we have done all the usual tourist things multiple times, so we seek out greater excitement.
In that spirit we went in search of remnants of a railway that ran for nearly 100 years. It is well-documented and much of the ROW remains as a rail trail. It was in service from 1875 to 1962 (or 1965 or 1967. Sources differ.) The place is Lincoln, New Zealand, a rapidly-developing satellite town of Christchurch, home to Lincoln University. The railway had two branches, one from Little River, the other from Southbridge. They met at Lincoln and the line continued to Hornby, thence to Christchurch. What we wanted to find was some evidence of the right-of-way that this station was located along. Physical building remains can be found around some original station stops but we were less interested in those. It’s just that it was hard to picture a rail station ever being in that location.
1.
What got us going was this notation on Apple Maps - “former Lincoln Railway station site”. Say what? There is no physical evidence whatsoever of a station or railway infrastructure in that location, not even a plaque. It is entirely ordinary suburban-type development. But reminded of the old axiom, “nothing vanishes without a trace”, we went in search of remnants of the ROW.
But first we tried to find historic maps and aerial photographs that would help us site the station, tracks, and ROWs, utilising resources such as the photo archives of Lincoln University. However, the very few photos we found showed the site at some distance; they were tantalising but of little use. There are likely other sources that haven’t been posted to the internet. (Some have been found since this writing. )
2.
The railway was built to transport timber, farming supplies, produce, and passengers from the two southern termini, meeting at Lincoln, continuing to Hornby to the northeast, then to Christchurch. Total length of all lines is 47 miles, or 77 kilometers. One set of very sturdy concrete bridge abutments remain at a narrow creek near the station site. The bridge, rebuilt as a footbridge, is maybe 10 to 15 feet long. There are plaques there.
This photo shows the original alignment of the Little River line approaching from the southeast, running alongside what is now Hudsons Road. Different uses and shading are apparent. Farther down the line the embankment still exists and has been converted to a rail trail. (We haven’t yet explored the Southbridge line ROW, to the southwest of the station.)
I will put this in several posts to keep each one a manageable size. (I’ve never done a post with photos so I hope this works. Photos run from south to northwest.)
This is the story:
I visited a friend in New Zealand in December and January. As I had lived in New Zealand for 15 years (and plan to return), we have done all the usual tourist things multiple times, so we seek out greater excitement.
In that spirit we went in search of remnants of a railway that ran for nearly 100 years. It is well-documented and much of the ROW remains as a rail trail. It was in service from 1875 to 1962 (or 1965 or 1967. Sources differ.) The place is Lincoln, New Zealand, a rapidly-developing satellite town of Christchurch, home to Lincoln University. The railway had two branches, one from Little River, the other from Southbridge. They met at Lincoln and the line continued to Hornby, thence to Christchurch. What we wanted to find was some evidence of the right-of-way that this station was located along. Physical building remains can be found around some original station stops but we were less interested in those. It’s just that it was hard to picture a rail station ever being in that location.
1.
What got us going was this notation on Apple Maps - “former Lincoln Railway station site”. Say what? There is no physical evidence whatsoever of a station or railway infrastructure in that location, not even a plaque. It is entirely ordinary suburban-type development. But reminded of the old axiom, “nothing vanishes without a trace”, we went in search of remnants of the ROW.
But first we tried to find historic maps and aerial photographs that would help us site the station, tracks, and ROWs, utilising resources such as the photo archives of Lincoln University. However, the very few photos we found showed the site at some distance; they were tantalising but of little use. There are likely other sources that haven’t been posted to the internet. (Some have been found since this writing. )
2.
The railway was built to transport timber, farming supplies, produce, and passengers from the two southern termini, meeting at Lincoln, continuing to Hornby to the northeast, then to Christchurch. Total length of all lines is 47 miles, or 77 kilometers. One set of very sturdy concrete bridge abutments remain at a narrow creek near the station site. The bridge, rebuilt as a footbridge, is maybe 10 to 15 feet long. There are plaques there.
This photo shows the original alignment of the Little River line approaching from the southeast, running alongside what is now Hudsons Road. Different uses and shading are apparent. Farther down the line the embankment still exists and has been converted to a rail trail. (We haven’t yet explored the Southbridge line ROW, to the southwest of the station.)
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