Granity Narrows is a section of State Highway 6 between Gowanbridge and Owen River. Gowanbridge is the last completed station on the Nelson Section at 67 miles from the origin, Nelson. When the cessation of work was called in January 1931, formation work was being completed up to about 68 1/4 miles along an embankment built alongside the south side of the highway, which still stands today. The highway at the time crossed over the railway just before Granity Creek and continued west on the river bank, but by 1943, when the first available aerial photography of the corridor could be located, it had been relocated to its present position on the north side and a new bridge built across the creek.

The first question is where is Granity Narrows. This isn’t very clear without getting more information from NZTA, but I am going to request that from them, anyway. My assumption at the moment will be this is somewhere near the middle of this map. The second question is whether there are any particular historical remnants in that particular area. At this point we may as well ask the same question for the whole section from Kawatiri to Owen River. Formation works were still quite clear at this point in time as they were mostly still intact and relatively free from overgrowth. The main problem at the present day is the river having undercut the rail formation alongside the road in some areas, plus previous highway works.

For context, NZTA has a current road widening project at Granity Narrows, which they list as part of road improvements planned from Gowanbridge to Owen River, and which is expect to take until May 2027 to complete. More of that later.

We can start by having a look at the first section, from Kawatiri, using 1956 aerial photography in this case, although there is some available from 1949 (which is the earliest for this area). Kawatiri is one chain past the 63 mile peg, so four miles east of Gowanbridge. Most of the corridor to Gowanbridge is covered by 1949 aerial photography.

The first interesting thing is the old overbridge out to the right. Because the railway was going to occupy the road bed, the road was diverted at Kawatiri, and this meant building it up on the bluff above where the road has been reinstated post closure. The overbridge was built to take the road across the railway to join SH63 for motorists heading towards the East Coast. Clearly it was left in place many years afterwards, probably with the assumption the railway might eventually be reopened. Likewise the goods shed was still in place for many years afterwards. The modern day picnic shelter is not, of course. The railway heads off to the west and can be just discerned below road level. Is there anything left of the road diversion up on the bluff above the yard?

Now looking at the four miles to Gowanbridge, here are five captures of this section.

You can see that the country through which the line ran is fairly rugged in places. The first of the images shows quite clearly a place where the river has eaten into the corridor. There are several places where some sort of washout may have taken place. It is possible even to the present day that some minor remnants of the line may still exist in this section, such as small bridges or culverts, as there are more visible examples of these to be found closer to Murchison. However, there are a few places where the formation isn’t especially obvious and may have been washed away or buried even then.

If we come back to the present day then there are some areas where exploration might become somewhat fruitful, since there is a lot of bush area that doesn’t seem to be in use for any particular purpose at the present day and might have some secrets to give up. However, it does seem likely that the river has cut into the first section east of Kawatiri in a major way leaving relatively few areas to be worth exploring.

This area is probably one of the more promising ones although part of it is in production at the present with the rest still in bush. I have marked in where I think a small bridge may have been built towards the upper right. There is a stream bed in this area coming down under a small bridge at the road (Kawatiri Bridge). Here’s a closer view of that area from 1949.

Next to be considered is the area below, which is just east of the Gowan River confluence, so fairly close to Gowanbridge.

As we can see this is all bush. There don’t appear to be any activities going on in this section at casual observation.

The topo map shows there is a stream bed going through this section (roughly the middle of the photo and is called Washout Creek on the road) so there may have been a small bridge or culvert built there.

The last little piece from the Gowan River to Gowanbridge does offer some prospect of extent formation just off the side of the highway.

Next post I’ll take an indepth look at Gowanbridge to Granity Creek.