Dun Mountain "rail trail" opened

A photo from 1862 at the Wairoa saddle: in its early phase the line clearly had a bush tram role as well at its intended mining role. (Dunite was actually named by Austrian geologist, Ferdinand von Hochstetter in 1859 after Dun Mountain, which in turn was given its name because of the dun colour of the underlying ultramafic rocks.) The structure on the right was a stables for the horses, changes of horse team were involved at different places.

As those who have our books know, the railway built on Dun Mountain not far south of Nelson in the early 1860s was one of two rail lines which today has a plaque claiming it to be the first railway in NZ.  The Dun Mountain line didn't use locomotives, however, it was a "gravity fed" operation and empty wagons were pulled back up by horses, so strictly it is a bit hard to compare it with the first powered railway, that of Ferrymead in Christchurch.

Anyway, it has been possible to walk over some of the old Dun Mountain roadbed for quite some time, and according to this stuff story, since last Saturday 38 km is now available as a good condition cycleway: something to do over the summer.