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The railway pages of Patrick Dunford

Nelson Section

If there was a "bridge to nowhere", then the Nelson Railway was the "railway to nowhere". There were grand plans for the line which was to run from the city of Nelson, to Inangahua on the South Island's West Coast. But as is well known, the line was closed in 1955, and though there has been talk of new lines from time to time, these have never come to fruition.

It is not the intention of this author to tell the history of the line, but merely to display some photographs of remains which are visible today. This is not a comprehensive coverage of remnants either; interested parties are strongly encouraged to read "Discovering New Zealand's Ghost Railways" by David Leitch and Brian Scott.

Lois Voller published a book called "Rails to Nowhere" some years ago, now out of print. In 2005, "When Nelson Had A Railway" by Barry O'Donnell was released and is an excellent source of information, although it is not a detailed historical narrative, mainly telling the story in pictures. The earlier book may be found in some library collections and is recommended for historical perspective.

I personally have travelled through this area on a number of occasions, but all of my own photographs that can be seen below were taken on two particular trips in 1989 and 1990. On these occasions I visited both of the line's tunnels, which have walkways through them.

All closed lines deteriorate once the track is gone. Some, unfortunately, do so more rapidly than others. It is astonishing that as late as 1989 there were still buildings and platform remnants to be found in Nelson City itself, but these have since disappeared. Some of the major changes include:

• Annesbrook overbridge demolished 2000

• Various highway improvements between Nelson and Brightwater

• Glenhope - Kawatiri road improvements 2003

The best preserved stretch of railway route these days is likely to be in the Tadmor Valley between Tapawera and Glenhope. This is a back country route of narrow winding unsealed roads through sparsely populated settlements.

The section from Kawatiri west is of considerable interest as it was never officially opened, although trains were able to run as far as Gowanbridge where basic facilities were also provided, and construction works were carried out in a number of places beyond that. Remnants can still be observed between Gowanbridge and Murchison, with "Ghost Railways" documenting them to within a few km of the latter township.

Bridge 55 near Tui 1956	Glenhope station 1989	GTRR rolling stock at Richmond 1989	Hope River south bridge near Kawatiri 1989	Kawatiri station looking south 1989	Kawatiri station site 1989
Nelson station 1956	Nelson station platform 1989	Nelson station site 1989	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990
Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990	Norris Gully Walkway 1990
Norris Gully Walkway 1990	North Hope river bridge piers 1989	Old road bridge Kawatiri 1989	Overbridge at foot of Spooners Saddle (1956?)	Railway formation south of Kawatiri 1989	Richmond yard 1989
Sleepers embedded in road, Nelson 1989	South abutment of Hope River bridge 1989	South Hope River Bridge 1989	South Hope river bridge north abutment & tunnel south portal 1989	Spring Grove railway memorial 1989	Tapawera replica platform & shelter 1990
View of north Hope bridge and north portal of tunnel 1989

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