Rail has played a critical role in New Zealand’s transport system connecting people and places and helping grow our economy by delivering goods around the country and to and from our ports, connecting exporters with the world.
From the 1860s onwards, rail engineers designed a rail network that could operate across swamps and rivers, rugged mountains and dense forests, progressively connecting otherwise isolated communities and industries to the world.
ABOVE: Group at Timaru for the the turning of the first sod on the top of the cliff off Le Crens Terrace for the Timaru-Temuka section of the South Island Main Truck Railway, (on the Christchurch-Timaru line). Mrs Cain holds the spade. Captain Henry Cain, the mayor of Timaru, stands alongside. Photographed by Mr Price 4 October 1871. Newspapers reported that there ‘was a large crowd present and the day was generally observed as a holiday’. First sod and ‘last spike’ ceremonies, celebrating the commencement and completion of railway projects, were major social and community events in the later 19th century. National Library 1/2-020116-F Learn more here and an account was in the Timaru Herald here
Timaru became an industrial centre processing products from South Canterbury farms and rail and sail networks were critical for export. In the above photo the Mayoress of Timaru, Mrs Cain, turns the 'first sod' of the Temuka-Timaru railway at a ceremony on 4 October 1871. By 1879 this railway was one of the great achievements of the Vogel rail-building programme would stretch all the way from Christchurch to Invercargill. Construction of the Fairlie branch (also known as the Eversley Branch) began in 1874. It closed in 1968, but a portion remains open in Pleasant Point as the Pleasant Point Museum and Railway. 1878 the first express trains Christchurch-Dunedin covered 370km in 11 hours. By 1880, New Zealand Railways (NZR) was operating more than 1,900km of track, and carrying almost three million passengers and 830,000 tons of freight a year.
"To give an idea of the work m the railway at Timaru, we have only to state that before the site of the railway station was brought to the required level, a very large quantity of the cliff had to be excavated, the depth in some places being thirty feet ; and where excavation was not necessary the site was reclaimed from the sea. For the purpose of reclamation, a protective wall was built along the edge of the sea. This is 378 feet long, 24 feet in height on the slope, and constructed of 15 inch stone pitching in cement." - read papers past here
One of the first engine's to vist Timaru: Learm more here
Timaru being reached in February 1876 during the Construction of "The Great South Railway". Christchurch to Dunedin were finally joined Finally Joined on the 7th September 1878. "Washington" and "Josephine" opened the Railwayon the first "through" express train with the Colonial Governor of New Zealand. While the Governor and some of his party repair for a ten minute visit to the Grosvenor Hotel for champagne "to wash down the dust which had become rather thick in the carriages", others partake of a tour of the town on the many carriages provided for this purpose. But upon returning to the station "some who indulged in this amusement", are taken aback to find that our train has departed without them! These included the Mayors of Ashburton, Hokitika and Greymouth. The Commissioner of Railways [ie, the General Manager] for the South Island, Mr W. Conyers, having determined to keep to the set timetable, had allowed only a 30 minute stop instead of the 45 minutes expected; "The feelings of the disappointed ones may be better imagined than described". Departure from Timaru took place at twenty minutes to eleven, accompanied by another artillery salute and an even larger crowd of spectators "cheering with hearty goodwill". - http://the-lothians.blogspot.com/2016/04/
Canterbury Railways: Full Steam Ahead The Provincial Railways of Canterbury, 1863-76, read a thesis by Alastair Adrian Cross here
Timaru Railway Station. Radcliffe, Frederick George, 1863-1923 : New Zealand post card negatives. Ref: 1/2-006877-G. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23012525
Queen Elizabeth II poses on the observation platform of her royal car at Timaru on 25 January 1954. In the background stand the mayor and other local officials.poses on the observation platform of her royal car at Timaru on 25 January 1954. In the background stand the mayor and other local officials. - nzhistory.govt.nz/queen-elizabeth-at-timaru