New Zealand Railways by Robin Bromby

Author:Robin Bromby [Bromby, Robin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General Fiction
Publisher: Chris O'Byrne
Published: 2014-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

Kb 968 waits on the main line while Ja 1266 moves into the loop at Winchester in South Canterbury. In 1939 NZR built six heavy 4-8-4 Kb locomotives to work on the Midland line, mainly on the section beyond Springfield where the track climbs into the foothills of the Southern Alps. On the day of this photograph, however, the Kb is working the Main South line on 27 February 1969, a balmy summer afternoon and in the final year of the Kb’s life. After that, the Ja class had only two more years to go. Then this water vat would be demolished and eventually the four-wheel wagon would be phased out. (Wilson Lythgoe)

The hardest work was building the line northwards of Sawyers Bay on what was until then the Dunedin-Port Chalmers line. The section between there and Waitati remains one of the most breathtaking on the New Zealand system as the trains edge their way up the gradient from Otago Harbour, through the 1,408 metre Mihiwhaka tunnel and then past the now closed little stations of The Gums, Osborne and Cliffs, always with panoramic views of the coastline and Pacific Ocean.

Little by little the gaps were closing. The line reached Oamaru in February 1877 and the following year there was through running to Dunedin. In the other direction, Dunedin-Balclutha running was possible once the 437-metre steel bridge over the Clutha River was finished. All that remained was the 34 km gap between Clinton and Balclutha, that being closed with the driving of the last spike in January 1879. The link between the South Island’s three main towns was now complete: travellers from the North Island could step off the overnight ferry from Wellington once it berthed at Lyttelton and then make their way by rail to Christchurch, Dunedin or Invercargill.

However, it was not until 1 November 1904 that a one-train through service was established between Christchurch and Invercargill. From 1904 the Christchurch-Invercargill service took 14hr 40min. In 1949 the Limited expresses were introduced on the run for three days a week (the standard expresses ran the other days, and stopping at the smaller stations) reducing the journey to 11hr 20min.

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