Wednesday 11 October 2017

Otago Central Railway [37]: Rock and Pillar

Work on the OCR maps in general has been going pretty slowly of late, as have a lot of other things. I hope to get back up to speed pretty soon because I have to do some more article writing over the next few weeks.

Rock and Pillar is the second station up from Middlemarch on what is now the Rail Trail. It is located at the intersection of State Highway 87 and Ngapuna Road. As with Ngapuna, the latter road passing directly in front of the station was in fact SH87 until at least 1978.



 Maps of Rock and Pillar, the lower one overlaid over current aerial photography from Linz.
 Streetview image of Rock and Pillar from the south.
Streetview image of Rock and Pillar from the north. The carpark and other structures have been added by the Rail Trail trust. The points off the main line to the loop and siding were just beyond the little red hut.
This streetview is similar to the photo on page 77 of "Over the Garden Wall" 3rd edition. As the 1966 aerial shows, Rock and Pillar had a single house just behind the station platform. The station closed in 1981 and all buildings and other structures were removed, leaving virtually no trace today.

Like many of the red sheds on the trail, "Moynihan's Hut" may not be original, or in an original location. It is situated about 1.2 km north of Moynihans Lane near bridge 42 and the 46 mile peg, between Ngapuna and Rock and Pillar (approx 73.6 km).