Well I have been pushing ahead to put in the milepegs but I have not started adding stuff in the Old Clyde yard yet. But I will probably do a bit of that today.
Today's puzzle is the NZED Siding mentioned in Dangerfield & Emerson 3rd edition page 109 listed at 214.69 km and active from 1968 to 1978. I have depicted that location on the map as below.
However I have been unable to find out any more about the siding and having to travel to Dunedin to research it further is not feasible for me to carry out.
Since all aerial photography I can access at present fails to show any sign of the siding at this location then essentially I have reached the limit of my knowledge on this topic.
The 1979 aerial photo showing the new Clyde yard and highway under construction does show this area but no obvious detail. The siding closed the previous year so may well have been removed by this time.
Continuing my comments from yesterday about the new highway taking the rail corridor between Youngs Lane and the extension of Sunderland Street between the old and new highways, the visible rail corridor at the NZED Siding location does seem to have been very wide for whatever reason and it would seem likely the highway just took the existing corridor. The 1979 photo when the highway was under construction shows intact shelter belts along the southern edge so it's possible no extra land was needed.
In the above photo we can see the boundary of houses parallel to the track on the south side, this boundary is probably the actual edge of the rail corridor at that time and it lines up with the edge of the highway corridor. However, the rail corridor has all been built in from Sunderland St Extension until the location of the turntable is reached, in a public reserve. Between there and the main station site, and west of the main station site, the corridor has been partly built on. Part of the short stretch of corridor from the old station to the dam is however still accessible in public or road reserve. However changes in roading and the earthworks around the dam site have destroyed any traces of the short stretch below the dam at the start of the gorge.
