Dereliction in the Deep South

Am_Fet writes:

Every now and then I stumble across a picture in a book that really flicks on the old thinking light bulb. Sometimes its enough to even get the research juices flowing, and after an afternoon (or so) I've nutted out the kernel for a small module.



The subject of todays post is MacLennan on the old Catlins Branch running in a roughly southward direction from Blaclutha. It was built to access the massive stands of native forest in the area, but the ruggedness of the area asked some serious questions of the surveyours and builders. The family connection is that my Great Grandfather on my mothers side had a farm in the Chaslands area and worked on the construction of the line with his own gang to supplement the farms income.

It was reading the book by A.R Tyrell on the line that my interest was piqued by the construction of the line from Owaka to MacLennan; a seriously hairy piece of railway with steep grades and the sharpest curve in the South Island. In fact, on an earlier holiday weekend through the area I can remember being startled (seriously!) by winding the way up an incredibly steep hill to find the Caberfeidh (Cab-er-fay)railway station at the top of it....how did the railway get so high??

Anyway, I went looking in Google Earth (as always) to see what could be seen...and the formation of the line in this area is very well preserved. I suggest you have a look if you can, search on either "Caberfeidh" or "MacLennan" and follow the line as it winded down the hill.



MacLennan station itself is situated on a curve and is similar in makeup to Waihao Forks, including being situated beside a major bridge over a river; a loop, goods sheed road and a scissors crossover feeding the stockyards are all there(although the original plan shown here just has a plain crossover, it was replaced quite early on).



Built as depicted in the photo supplied by my good friend Euan at the top of this post, MacLennan would make a neat visual diorama of "station within landscape", and the fact that it wasnt closed until 1971 means that those lovely Dj's made an appearance as well. Populate it with a handfull of wagons ranging from La's, Lc's, Kp's up to J's and H's, and it would be enough to keep someone happy and occupied for a few years....longer if it is then made part of a larger layout.

Next week I will post a layout suggestion (based on this basic premise) for a folding layout using foam as the main ingedient (just like KiwiBonds).