Well good day and here is some stuff from the Main North Line, which is the current ambit of map production. We are currently filling in some small details of Volume 8 which covers the MNL all the way through from Ashley to Picton, and the Nelson Section. Volume 8 is one of those we had planned to complete this year, but work has been set back on those ambitions, and a revised plan will be presented early 2025 for the expected seven years remaining on the project.
Wharanui station at 257.86 km was the railhead for the Main North Line from Picton until the line was completed in 1945. It is still in use as a crossing station, but the turning triangle was removed many years ago.Just north of Wharanui was the bridge over the Ure River. This was originally opened in 1915 as a combined structure used by both road and rail. It was replaced by a new rail-only bridge about 1974, although a new road bridge was also constructed around the same time. A highway deviation to cross the railway via an underpass, eliminating a level crossing just south of the new bridges, was not finished until the 1980s.Continuing north from the Ure River we come to the Tar Barrel Tunnel (No. 21). The tunnel served for 106 years until it was bypassed in 2021 as part of a small deviation of the MNL. The tunnel was by that stage too small for modern trains and had experienced extensive damage from recent earthquakes in North Canterbury, and sharp curves on the approaches were eliminated, addressing another bottleneck to train operation.Mirza Station was a modest rural yard between Wharanui and Ward, 265 km from Christchurch. It closed in 1966, and its name is now a Track Warrant intermediate board.About 1975 this small curve between 267 and 268 km was eased.Ward Station was another rural railway yard at 270.7 km. It was more similar to Wharanui than Mirza, but unlike the former, it is no longer in use today, with just a loading bank left to witness to its historic function. Per the latter it still appears in the railway timetable of the present day as a TWIB. The public station facilities closed in 1986.
