Since I did a bit of Wellington station last month I have shifted my interest to Lower Hutt and various areas to be covered there. One of the first will be the Gracefield Branch and Hutt Workshops and right now I am downloading background aerial photography at high resolution of Lower Hutt and Upper Hutt (and also Porirua City for the NIMT).
Here are a couple of aerial shots of interest in the Lower Hutt area.
Lower Hutt railway station as seen in 1939. The line that passed this station was then the main line from Wellington to Woodville over the Rimutaka Incline. In the lower right corner of this photo the "Hutt Valley" line branching at Petone can be seen as it approaches Ava station. At the time, Waterloo was the terminus of this "branch". The Hutt Valley branch eventually became the main line and the Lower Hutt route was terminated at Melling and has since then only been used by suburban electric units.
Hutt Workshops, also in 1938. The Shops is still a large site although some buildings have been knocked down and small parts of the site converted to residential or commercial subdivisions. The Gracefield Branch now only runs as far as the workshops, Gracefield having closed around 2000.
