Saturday 6 June 2015

Dunedin-Mosgiel Railway Duplication


This set of photos include in a number of cases views of the new line alongside the old. I was originally given to understand that the original line in some areas was lifted up but clearly this would not have been possible in all areas. The centre photo appears to be taken at Wilkie Road where they had a lot of fun with a sewer main that collapsed under the weight of the embankment. So in general I would guess that where a new bridge was needed then the bridge was built complete and the new lines were put onto the bridge, the old line was alongside and was later removed. It was possible at existing bridges in some cases to lift up the bridge, for example Abbots Creek, where the abutments were raised in stages. In general these photos imply that the old line was on the north or west side of the current line almost all of the time and did not cross over to any extent. I will be attempting to incorporate this knowledge with existing documentation to draw in the old line on the maps wherever possible because it does seem reasonably clear for the first time that most of the new construction was alongside rather than part of the work being raising of an existing line as the descriptions I have read are rather ambiguous.