Port Chalmers Branch
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The Port Chalmers Branch was the first railway line built in Otago, New Zealand, and linked the region's major city of Dunedin with the port in Port Chalmers. The line is still operational today.
[edit] Construction and operation
Built by the Dunedin and Port Chalmers Railway Company Limited, the line was approved by and constructed under the auspices of the Otago Provincial Council, not the national government. However, it was built to the recently adopted national gauge of 1067 mm (3 feet 6 inches), and it was the first line in the country with that gauge to open, on 1 January 1873. The first locomotive to run on the line was the E class Josephine, a double Fairlie steam locomotive, whose local popularity ensured she was retained beyond her retirement from service on the railways in 1917 and is preserved today in the Otago Settlers Museum in Dunedin.
Much of the Port Chalmers line is now part of the Main South Line from Christchurch to Dunedin. When the first section of the main line north opened in December 1877 a junction was established at Sawyers Bay. The section from Dunedin to Sawyers Bay became part of the Main South Line, while the remaining two kilometres to Port Chalmers became the Port Chalmers Branch. In 1880 the line was vested in the newly established New Zealand Railways Department, and the private company dissolved.
Suburban passenger services were run from Dunedin on the line for over 100 years, but ceased at the end of 1979. Occasional passenger services are operated by the Taieri Gorge Railway to meet cruise ships and carry tourists through the scenic Taieri Gorge. The main reason for the line's continued existence is freight to and from the port, and as the shipping industry has changed, so has the traffic on the line. It has evolved from nineteenth century imports of supplies and exports of produce from local farms and businesses from rural Otago into today's long-distance containerised freight. The line remains an important link in New Zealand's transport infrastructure.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- Churchman, Geoffrey B., and Hurst, Tony; The Railways Of New Zealand: A Journey Through History, HarperCollins Publishers (New Zealand), 1991 reprint
- Heath, Eric, and Stott, Bob; Classic Steam Locomotives Of New Zealand, Grantham House, 1993
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