Otago Central Railway [38A]: Hyde

 Hyde from the 1966 aerial photo of the area.

 Hyde. The only structures remaining are the station building, platform and loading bank. The yard was purchased privately from NZR when the line closed and therefore remains more or less as it was except for the buildings that have been removed.

A long and deep cutting at 83 km, a few km south of Hyde. One of the most substantial cuttings on the rail trail.

Looking across Bridge 50 crossing Five Mile Creek. This is the most substantial bridge between Hyde and Middlemarch with a length of 52 metres and a height of 12 metres. Note the original style handrail on the right.

The north end of Hyde.

Hyde from the south. The rail trail at the time followed the access road at the west side of the yard, with an extension to cross over a backshunt as seen in the bottom of the picture and join the trail to the south. With the purchase of the Hyde station and yard by the rail trail trust the trail has been altered to pass next to the station.

Looking around the big curve just south of Hyde with the station building middle distance.

 One of two pipe crossings near Hyde.

"Straw Cutting", where the Hyde rail disaster took place in 1943.

Hyde accident memorial, 500 metres south of the actual location.

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).

Otago Central Railway [36A]: Ngapuna 2

When I did my post on Ngapuna I forgot to put in the aerial photo of the site. This was taken in 1966.

The main road in front of the station, Ngapuna Road, was actually State Highway 87 until at least 1978. The supposedly isolated location of Ngapuna today wasn't accurately reflected at the time it was open, because it was next to what was then the main road.