Sunday, February 20, 2011

Waikanae railway 1886


A photo on display in the Waikanae museum taken after the Wellington and Manawatu Railway had been opened in November 1886.  There was no State Highway in those days.

At yesterday's opening ceremony for the electrification to Waikanae, the local MP, Nathan Guy, a great grandson of the Chairman of that railway, produced a silver spike which he said was a replica of the spike used to mark the opening of the W&MR at Otaihanga, and which was then hammered into a sample section of track on the platform.  Otaihanga is only a short distance south of Waikanae, and where the large Southward car museum is now.

For more information on this and other New Zealand railways, see our books.

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