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with the aid of several tunnels. There is a private, narrow-gauge line - complete with tunnel - in the
Orongorongo ranges that is used to access and service water reticulation infrastructure, but it has never been open to the public apart from occasional excursions AFAIK. There was a tunnel started in the 1930s between Wainuiomata and Gracefield (the Hutt Valley portal of which can still be seen at the end of Tunnel Grove), but that was only intended to carry a two-lane road (much like the Mt. Victoria Tunnel in Wellington) and now carries a water main. Any information beyond that on this subject is news to me.
957:
lived on the Gold Coast, and let me tell you, if the ex-mayor's tramway was built, it must be invisible). Hopefully things will really kick into gear once
Auckland's electrification is in full swing and the question of what to do with the DMUs becomes more immediate. Any services beyond the electrified zones would probably be capably handled by the SA/SD sets (I don't think anyone wants to be riding in those DMUs all the way from Pukekohe and hopefully Helensville anyway), and they've only just been refurbished so they've got life left in them. Here's hoping for the best for Christchurch and Dunedin. -
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So I suppose it just beats
Christchurch for losing suburban trains first, though if that Burnham train was gone by 1967, it may just get the title of first service cancelled. Also, I have heard some mutterings about returning commuter trains to Christchurch, possibly with rolling stock displaced from Auckland by electrification. Do you know anything about this, or is it just railfan wishful thinking? -
901:. Unfortunately, I seem to have mislaid any references, but I know all the info in there came from good sources of one kind or another. I wish I could actually find the 1963 and 1975 reports - the 1975 subway sounds particularly interesting. I'm not familiar with the Wairarapa Line proposal though (probably because it was short-lived!), but when/if I make the article, it'd be good if you could add it.
80:
557:(as the Woolston - Ferrymead section was known after the tunnel opened), its operation as the first electrified suburban line in the country, being one of the first suburban lines in the country to lose its passenger services, etc. I am not opposed to such an article (if you believe there is sufficient information to warrant it), with appropriate links to it in the Main South Line article.
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Rangiora, though there are no plans at this time for it to move beyond the proposal stage. I suppose if passenger services were to be reintroduced to
Christchurch, utilising the ex-Perth DMUs from Auckland would be a logical choice, as the electrification of the Auckland network is supposed to be operational ~2010. --
730:, so I couldn't do that. Speaking of proposals, I don't suppose you (or anybody else following this Talk page) have anything on Wainuiomata Railway Proposals? I have a draft for such an article on my computer, but I'm not that happy with it at the moment and if you've got anything, it'd probably be of use.
956:
Huh, I've even got the rail transport in
Christchurch article on my watchlist and I'd somehow overlooked the section about recent developments. Things don't sound terribly promising though, and the last time I heard a politician elected on promises of public transport, precisely nothing happened (I
926:
The info regarding MSL double-tracking in
Christchurch and the trains to Ashburton is unfamiliar to me. I mainly know about the services around Dunedin, i.e. the 1906-14 double-tracking project, the reversion to single track after the end of the Mosgiel subbies in 1982, and the services run to Port
781:
about an early (and short-lived) proposal from a local farmer for the
Wairarapa Line to pass, in part, through the Wainuiomata valley and a later proposal in the 1920s at the time replacements for the Rimutaka Incline were being considered for a new route to the Wairarapa to pass through Wainuiomata
747:
Thanks for the suburban services info. It's a shame the info is often so sketchy. I would consider the aforementioned
Invercargill-Bluff train cancelled in 1967 to be a commuter service - in 1950, it was more intensive than the Wairarapa Connection is today, with 7 trains each way (8 on Fridays).
447:
Where do we consider the Main South Line as beginning? My main source for NZ's railway history, The
Railways Of New Zealand: A Journey Through History by Churchman and Hurst, creates a distinction between the Main Trunk and the Lyttelton Branch, but I see a Knowledge editor has changed this article
867:
article. Recently elected
Christchurch mayor Bob Parker has promised (or at least claimed) to be an advocate for rail to become part of the Christchurch public transport network. I understand that Environment Canterbury has at least drawn up a proposal for passenger services between Rolleston and
721:
OK, that sounds great. I think I have enough to do a decent Cape Foulwind Branch article and I'll probably do it in the next day or so. I've thought about doing the Nelson Section for a while as I have sources too, but I'm honestly a bit overwhelmed by the volume of information. I certainly
640:
held on until April 1973, and Dunedin's disappeared over 1979-82. The last Invercargill-Bluff service was in 1967, but whether that constituted a commuter service may be open to debate. I am admittedly not very familiar with Christchurch's former commuter system; were other routes cancelled
611:, and the books you mention aren't available in my university's library. I was thinking of starting the article in the next few days, but maybe I'll hold off until I have more sources. It's just that we've almost finished the entire South Island. The only other articles left to go are the
836:
I do recall reading somewhere that the Main South Line out of Christchurch was double-tracked at least through Templeton for the benefit of suburban passenger workings and that when the passenger trains were withdrawn from this part of the line that it reverted to single-track.
658:
I have access to/own source material that I was planning to use to write articles for the Nelson Section and Nelson Railway Proposals as time permits, and could - if need be - write the other two articles you mention as I also own or have access to source material for them
583:
For some reason, I thought I had a couple of sources that referred to the "Lyttelton Branch". I just checked them and they indeed refer to the "Lyttelton Line". So any suggestion of titling the page "Lyttelton Branch" should be dropped. I've amended
489:
Well, it's been over a year since I made the above comment, and I'd like to resolve the matter. There's plenty of info on the Christchurch-Lyttelton section and I am unsure of what to do. I see two options, of which I favour the first:
841:
mentions that in the 1940s there were daily passenger trains between Christchurch and Ashburton. There may be some additional information on Christchurch services in the CRS, NZRLS or other local archives that I could check on some
527:
I am not in favour of such an article being titled "Lyttelton Branch", as that is not a term I recall seeing in any published sources. If there is to be a separate article for this part of the line, it should probably be titled
448:
to state the line commences in Lyttelton. I'm not sure whether to write a separate article on the Lyttelton Branch (its history, electrification, de-electrification, etc.), or whether I should include that here. Thoughts? -
474:). It was originally part of the Lyttelton-Christchurch-Rakaia broad-gauge section operated by the Canterbury Provincial Council which was known at the time as the Canterbury Great Southern Railway. --
553:, and it is important in its own right for several reasons, including: being part of the first public railway in the country, having the first railway tunnel in the country, its connection with the
680:
its remaining suburban passenger services in the 1970s. Earlier cancelled passenger services from Christchurch plied routes to the various rural branch lines in Canterbury, including
72:
807:, Invercargill was the first city to lose its suburban passenger services when the Bluff-Invercargill services were withdrawn in 1967. On this point you are quite correct that the
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Chalmers and Palmerston. Now Dunedin Railway Station, there's a place that deserves much more use than it gets. I'll have to get my hands on a copy of
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1. A separate article detailing the line's construction, (de-)electrification, and suburban train operations. I'm not sure whether it should be at
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is great, much better than what I was going to do. And I have very little of substance on Nelson Railway Proposals, just the blurb in
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As you point out, this section of the Main South Line has been given the prominence of a separate section in
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I unfortunately don't have much in the way of source material - only the five or so paragraphs in
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on Knowledge. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join
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I'll make some calls, see if I can track down copies of those two reports you mentioned. --
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is probably the clearest and most concise title and, like you mention, fits with precedent.
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If you are planning to write such an article, I can recommend a couple of good sources;
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If it helps any, the last passenger service between Christchurch and Lyttelton ran on
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in the Lines template, as the only knowledge I have on the subject was a mention in
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articles on the North Island Main Trunk and Wairarapa Line respectively.
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There is some information on future plans for Christchurch rail in my
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first to lose commuter services? Wellington hasn't lost any; the
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on Knowledge. If you would like to participate, you can visit the
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Also, you raise an interesting point. Was Lyttelton in fact
133:, an attempt to build a comprehensive and detailed guide to
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begins at Lyttelton and terminates at Invercargill (ref.
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To be honest, I was a little intrigued when I first saw
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I just put what I know about Wainuiomata proposals on
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