Category: Otago Central Railway
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Dunedin-Mosgiel Improvement Works 1907-1914
Few people would know today that more than 100 years ago the railway to the south of Dunedin was very different than it is today. The large embankment as it can be seen in many places, particularly between Dunedin and Caversham, simply did not exist in the original construction works as the railway was built.…
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Otago Central Railway [38B]: Hyde maps updated
The main part of Hyde station yard. There was an engine shed from the time the station opened, until about the 1920s. Hyde had both low and high level loading banks. After the ballast pit siding at Hyde Township closed in 1952, ballast continued to be loaded by truck over the HLLB. The north end…
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Otago Central Railway [58]: Article Part 3
So today I have started working on Part 3 of the article, which will cover the railway from Wingatui to Ranfurly. In order to aid this part and finish some of the detail carried over from other parts, I spent two full days recently at Archives in Dunedin getting as much detail as I could…
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Otago Central Railway [56B]: Wrapping up 2
Well I have just completed a visit to Dunedin which included two full days at Archives New Zealand’s Dunedin branch. The following research materials were copied during my visit: Otago Central chainage charts for 0-25 miles Some parts of the 25-146 miles chainage charts that were blurry on the copy I received from another researcher…
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Otago Central Railway [57C]: Otago Central / Taieri Gorge Railway Unconfirmed Bridge – 18 3/4 Miles
A file in Archives Dunedin dated 1913 refers to a bridge built at 18 3/4 miles which had 8 spans each 13 feet long, a total of 35 yards length. As no other information to corroborate the existence of this bridge has yet been found, it must be marked as hypothetical. It would have been…
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Otago Central Railway [57B]: Otago Central / Taieri Gorge Railway Bridge 9A – 16 miles 23 chains
In 1911 NZR signed a lease agreement with the Taieri County Council for the construction of a stock walk on the east side of Bridge 9 (Taieri River) and the erection of overhead stockbridge Bridge 9A at 75 yards north of Bridge 9 as shown in the left of this map. In 1964 the lease…
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Otago Central Railway [57A]: Otago Central / Taieri Gorge Railway Bridge 15A – 21 miles 15 chains
Bridge 15A at 21 miles 15 chains near Deep Stream in the Taieri Gorge was built in 1913 to bridge a 100 foot washout. In 1935 it was replaced by a new embankment with a concrete retaining wall.
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Otago Central Railway [56A]: Wrapping up
Well the OCR maps are humming along nicely but naturally I am looking forward to wrapping up that part of the project. Right now I am working on tidying up a lot of loose ends as I get ready to write Part 3 of the article series. Three weeks ago I wrote about some areas…
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Otago Central Railway [55]: Poolburn Deviation
Information from a file held in Archives New Zealand’s Wellington office was forwarded to me today. This is just 2 pages referring to the need for a deviation at 102 miles and the approval from the General Manager of Railways for the deviation to be carried out. The date of the approval is 1909, five…
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Seasons Greetings to our readers
Since I have finished Part 2 of my series of articles upon the Otago Central Railway, I now have breathing space to have a break over the holidays. Although stuff will still be happening I won’t be blogging too much for the rest of this year. Nevertheless before too long the Part 3 deadline will…