Tapanui Branch - Construction

Construction

In the second half of the 19th century, farmers in the region desired a railway connection to enhance the value of their land and provide easier access to markets, and received support from interests in Dunedin, who, in the days before the abolition of provinces in 1876, feared a loss of trade to Invercargill. In 1877, district engineer W. N. Blair proposed a route to Central Otago via Tapanui, but this proved unpopular outside of Tapanui and its immediate surrounds. However, approval was granted for the construction of a branch line in the area and construction began in 1878, leaving the Main South Line at Waipahi, located 50 kilometres west of Balclutha. The first locomotive for the line was delivered on 8 July 1880 and the Public Works Department began operating trains to Tapanui three days later. The official opening ceremony in Tapanui was held on 24 November 1880, though the actual line, at 25.13 kilometres in length, was opened to a settlement just beyond Tapanui named Kelso on 1 December 1880. In this year, it was proposed to build a line westwards to the Waikaia area from Kelso, but the proposals came to nothing and the Waikaia Branch was built from Riversdale on the Waimea Plains Railway instead.

An extension of 7.11 kilometres from Kelso to Heriot was opened on 1 April 1884. The local newspaper, the Tapanui Courier, believed that only a short tunnel and some clay cuttings in the Dunrobin Hills stood in the way of extending the railway line to the Clutha River and then on to Roxburgh. In 1900, the government chose to extend the railway from Heriot to Edievale pending a final decision on the route to Roxburgh, and this ten kilometre extension was opened on 18 February 1905, bringing the branch's total length to 42.3 kilometres. Edievale proved to be the final terminus when the line from Milton via Lawrence was extended to Roxburgh instead.