In my last few posts I have talked about the PNGL mapping I am working on. I have just about completed downloading the base aerial photography, and are working on mosaics for almost every station on the line. This is Volume 5 of the 12 volume map series and the PNGL and its branches is the entire content for it.

I have also been working on Volume 12 with Otago Central Railway and Kingston Branch (and its branches) maps being developed which will be the entire content of Volume 12. This of course particularly the Otago Central has been a key focus for the past couple of years.

The intention for 2019 is to complete both of these volumes more or less simultaneously which is going to be the majority of the work on the whole maps project. These two volumes when complete will add to the existing Volume 7 which was completed a year or two ago which is for the Nelson region. 

I will also republish all diagrams for all existing lines in 2019 but there is not expected to be any other volumes progressed substantially in 2019. The diagrams will be available only as images, as PDFs are only produced for completed map volumes in their entirety. But with the images being hosted on Google Photos, it will be possible to download a complete set and use them offline. All of the map resources will be accessible from the WordPress site. At the moment not much is listed there but I will get onto it over time. Each line will have its own sub page with historical and current information about the lines / routes as well as linking to the maps covering that line.

Beyond 2019 there is currently increasing competition for my time from other interests and therefore it is difficult to predict how much work will be done on other areas of the maps or other priorities other than those listed above. The maps project will always be an interest but I expect that my current record time commitment which involves work almost every day of the week at present, will change over time to having less time available to produce. So I’m not confident the maps will continue at the same pace as they have in the last two years, beyond next year.

As I alluded to previously, Volume 12 and Volume 5 have got special treatment compared to other volumes, in being given a higher priority and having greater use of historical resources in production of the maps. Due to the lower priorities I don’t expect the same treatment for the other map volumes. Every map will have base aerial photography based maps and diagrams produced, but there won’t be the same level of historical imagery and station detail to be found in other volumes.