Sunday, March 27, 2011

More from Pleasant Point Railway, and the Little River Rail Trail


More images courtesy of Bryan Blanchard. The commentaries are from his emails.

Above: Tr 18, a 1936 Diesel Shunter, was original had a petrol motor in it & in 1956 a GM diesel motor fitted and a Allison Torque Converter; and Ab 699 (1922), an ex-NZ Railway locomotive. Tr 18 was originally used by NZ Railway at Methven or Rakaia till the branch line was closed on 31/7/1976 and we purchased it of NZ Railways.


Above: Our Ubw wood wagon & Ab 699. Ab 699 was a North Island steam Locomotive working out of Palmerston North and Frankton, Hamilton till later in its life was shipped to the South Island. Christchurch was its home base. Has worked on the Fairlie branch Line.


Above: Tr 18 & Ab 699.


Above and all below: Little River branch line ran from Hornby, west of Christchurch railway station - opened in 1886 & closed 1/7/1962.

This is as far as the line ran on this section & now set up out side the old railway station & goods shed as a reminder that the branch line ran to here these waggons.  A bike rail trail is now operating on part of the old
railway line formation.





2 comments:

  1. ahhh Little River :) one of my fave places to stop on the way to Akaroa. In the 1980's nearly bought "Jasmine Cottage" in Cooptown which borders with Little River.

    Some of my very distant relatives lived there - William Jonas STEVENSON aged 21, a distant cousin was visiting cousins in 1906 drowned in the nearby Lake Forsyth as he was eeling.

    I love theold antique shop there ..it used to be the movie theatre... everything is so...cobwebby and on top of itself..well was last i was there. Got a cool picture of a bird ... dead...on the inside of a disused door - obviously had been there for yonks. Years back in the 1980's my [now] ex husband and I were chatting to the [then] owner...it transpired that he had been to England and worked alongside my ex husbands uncle who lived in England and who we had never met!

    Lovely little church and cemetery...St Andrew's there. [Must upload more of my older pics of that church to Flickr].

    Cheers
    Sandy

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  2. I had a feeling that for someone, somewhere, Bryan's photos of Little River would spark fond memories! Cheers for the links, Sandy.

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