History
See also: Ferrymead Railway, Lyttelton rail tunnel, and Main South LinePart of the Lyttelton Line was originally operated as New Zealand’s first public railway, connecting the city of Christchurch to a wharf at Ferrymead. Because of the inaccessibility of the harbour at Lyttelton, shipping traffic berthed at the Ferrymead wharf from which people and supplies were transported to Christchurch by train. Following the opening of the Lyttelton rail tunnel on 9 December 1867, the portion of the line from the main line to the wharf reverted to branch line status, but quickly lost its traffic to the line through to Lyttelton and became a siding after July 1868.
As with other railway lines then under construction by the Canterbury Provincial Council, the line and the tunnel were constructed to accommodate 5 ft 3 in (1,600 mm) Irish gauge rolling stock at the behest of contractors Holmes & Richardson of Melbourne, as this was the gauge they were already working with in Victoria. The line remained this way until, following the abolition of provincial government in New Zealand and the establishment of a new uniform national track gauge, the line was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge by April 1876. Double-tracking of the line was completed as far as Heathcote in 1878. Though NZR considered duplicating the Lyttelton tunnel in 1914, this never went ahead.
Read more about this topic: Lyttelton Line
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