Brian's place - Ghost Railways

Brian's place

Branxholme

HOME : Trains : Ghost Railways : Branxholme

Some of the images can be clicked on to enlarge. Click here for the South Island map.
I have joined these two locations on one page because, well, I felt like it. And they both start with 'R'.

Please note that all photos are copyright to me (unless otherwise attributed).

The locomotive dump near Branxholme on the Oreti river is the home of quite a few locomotives, dumped at the end of their life to help reduce erosion around an important railway line. Although it isn't ghost railway, I have included it in this section because (a) I am short on time; and (b) I want to!

I had high hopes of seeing something but, like the dump at Omoto, I could see nothing! At least it wasn't as dangerous as Omoto, that's a place to stay away from! I'm full of admiration for the Midland Rail Heritage Trust and the Whitebus Family productions guys for extracting the Ub's and the La from Omoto. Anyway, at Branxholme I was told that there are some things visible under the trees but I couldn't see anything obvious. I didn't fancy the fine from crossing the railway bridge to have a closer look.

This is the railway bridge, I am guessing that the actual dump was in the centre of this picture, the bank just beyond the bridge would need the most protection from erosion. It's quite a pretty area on such a hot summer's day.

This is a closer look at the bank, you can see the work that has gone in to protecting this area. I tried to have a look around but the scrub was quite thick and I didn't fancy trail-blazing through it.

The building hiding in the trees is a local council operation. I'm wondering if one could get permission to have a look around the back yard...?!

The other possibility is that the locos were dumped on the western side. This view is looking down onto the area, but I didn't want to cross the railway bridge to have a good look around. Looking at some of the photos on the 'net of locos being removed, this could be the area. Have a look at Tony Batchelor's site (thanks to Whitebus productions for the link).

Is this the Branxholme loco dump?

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