Blenheim Riverside Railway - History

History

The railway was founded in 1985 by the Marlborough Historical Society, and two years later track-laying commenced. In 1988 motor trolleys started running to Chinaman's Creek Crossing. Four carriages were built in 1989/90 with parts from the Lake Grassmere salt collection railway, and the A & G Price locomotive was restored and put into service. Also in 1989 the line was finished to Fulton Station from Chinaman's Creek Crossing, reaching the 4.5 km mark. The railway officially opened on Labour Weekend 1990. The first station resembled a lemonade stall, and the platform was only sleepers laid next to the track. In 1995 Beaver Station (now Brayshaw Station) was constructed, with an extension of track from the workshop requiring a cutting and embankment with a steep gradient. Previously, the railway was seen to have a negative impact on the park. By 1997 the locomotive "Murray" was restored to operational condition. In 2005 the track was extended to the current terminus at Riverside Park. Over the years the workshops have been enlarged, and concrete sleepers made by the volunteer members have been used to replace the wooden ones first used on the line. In September 2010 the Society celebrated its 25th anniversary.

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