After looking at aerial photos for the Midland Line dating back to the 1940s we decided to cover as many closed stations as possible between Rolleston and Otira. Consequently there will be a map of almost every station along that section of the main line, and on the Whitecliffs Branch; in other words the following stations: Sandy Knolls, Aylesbury, Kirwee, Darfield, Hawkins, Homebush, Coalgate, Glentunnel, Whitecliffs, Racecourse Hill, Sheffield, Annat, Springfield, Kowai Bush, Staircase, Avoca, Cass, Cora Lynn, Arthurs Pass and Otira.
So there are a small number of omissions that are not worth the effort to map, but these are generally very small stations that are hard to pick up on the 1940s aerial photos and of which later sharper coverage may not be available at all.
We will not be mapping any station beyond Otira at this time. When Retrolens finally releases West Coast material we may pick up on a few of the bigger stations but not all the small ones, evemn though good aerial photos are available for many of the ones mentioned yesterday. Our interest in Canterbury is basically due to the overall NZRM project being based here and means more Comprehensive level detail will be marked on the maps for Canterbury than for some other areas.
