The Main South Line being such a long route, it spawned many branches, which I have been working on for the past couple of weeks. The Catlins Branch on the new Spot coverage has got quite a few improvements as well as making use of “Ghost Railways” to nail down a few useful relics. As the stations have been marked in as well this map is pretty well complete. My attentions have also been turned to the Outram Branch, Dunback/Makareao Branches, Ngapara/Tokarahi Branches and the Kurow Branch. In the case of the latter I found the instructions in “Ghost Railways” so confusing that I resorted to using Google Earth to measure the distances from Pukeuri in order to mark in the stations. Maybe it is just me, or maybe they addressed this issue in the 2nd edition.
Out of all the above I still need to do significant work only on Ngapara/Tokarahi; the other maps are more or less complete. I also had a look at Kaitangata which is done about as well as it needs to be at this stage. Also done is a lot of work on the Roxburgh Branch also taking advantage of Spot coverage and, of course, Street View. The main work to be done there is to mark in the stations and one or two other points of interest. On the other hand, Shag Point and Moeraki are not worth too much bother, being short industrial sidings in actuality. Ditto Port Chalmers which I think I have covered most of already. Fernhill warrants a bit of another look but not Walton Park. Tapanui I have done except for marking in the stations. Even if you don’t know where they are, you can always use the ruler to measure from the distances in the Quail Atlas.
So there’s still plenty enough to do in the South Island etc. One pleasant enough Canterbury branch I did recently was Southbridge, very interesting.
