I have a lot of articles to post since I have just finished drawing the maps all the way from Glenhope through to Tapawera. So there will be a few posted over the next few days, whilst I expect the weekend will see the Tapawera to Nelson section of the maps completed, which is a good step forward. The main change in recent years over Kawatiri to Glenhope is a major highway realignment in the early 2000s, about 15-17 years ago. The work has encroached onto railway formation in many places. I haven't attempted to document where this might have occurred, only really documenting here where the rail formation is likely to remain undisturbed.
This aerial starts at Kawatiri and shows just on the left the Kawatiri yard. These days the first bridge and tunnel east of Kawatiri are part of a walkway. The walkway bridge is built on the original abutments and piers, however what is somewhat misleadingly represented as bridge above is actually the embankment on the west side of the bridge that must have been washed out in a flood. You actually get onto the bridge with a set of steps up to it because of the missing embankment. The other feature of this photo is the cartographical representation of the river which along with the highway realignment shows that the river was diverted in order to ease the highway curve. This brought the speed of it up to 65 km/h.
Showing the level crossing where the railway went to the north side of the highway, it remains there the rest of the way to Glenhope. Logically considering that overbridges were being constructed in various other places at the time, this crossing should have been an overbridge. However there is no documentation to show there was any overbridge here at this time.
And here out to the right is probably the other location where some rail formation remains undisturbed.
Coming into Glenhope.
