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In one of my most on-brand moments to date, this morning I woke from a dream in which I was making a Twitter thread about my favourite railway bridges in New Zealand.
To prove you can achieve your dreams (so long as they are Extremely Online dreams), HERE IS THAT THREAD. 1/10
To prove you can achieve your dreams (so long as they are Extremely Online dreams), HERE IS THAT THREAD. 1/10
2/ The bridges over Canterbury's braided Rakaia River are pretty cool. At over 1.75km long, they are the longest road and rail bridges in NZ. Rail is at right in this 1959 photo; these bridges opened in 1939, replacing a combined road/rail bridge from 1873. Pic: @NLNZ WA-49562-F
3/ New Zealand had a few rad double-decker road/rail bridges, like the Awatere bridge near Seddon, Marlborough. It opened in 1902, with rail on top and a single-lane road on the bottom. Rail still uses it; a new bridge for the state highway opened in 2007. Pic: Marlborough Online
4/ Here's the opposite of the Awatere bridge: a former road/rail bridge that today only survives for road. It's the Waimakariri Gorge bridge between Oxford and Sheffield, opened in 1884 and last used by trains in 1930. This pic (Selwyn Library) shows a picnic train in Nov 1902.
5/ You might remember I did a thread on the line between Oxford and Sheffield back in August, which contains more pics of the Waimakariri Gorge... https://twitter.com/DrDreHistorian/status/1290882964348256257
6/ A lesser-known bridge of which I'm quite fond is that over the Waingongoro River in Taranaki, on the branch to Kāpuni. Brick arches are not common on New Zealand's railways. This pic from Andrew Surgenor shows a passenger excursion in October 1985. https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellingtontrolleybuses/48377668281/in/pool-89289735@N00
7/ Absolutely one of the best bushwalks I've done in New Zealand in recent years was to the site of the old and new Hāpuawhenua viaducts in the central North Island. Here are some of my pics from October 2018.
8/ I can't make this thread and not include a photo of the highest railway bridge in New Zealand, can I? This is the mighty Mohaka viaduct, 95 metres high on the line between Napier and Wairoa. I'm yet to see it in person so here's a Wikipedia pic.
9/ From a huge bridge to a tiny one! Surely the railway bridge I've crossed the most in NZ is on the ride-on railway at Marine Gardens, Raumati Beach. I spent hours here as a kid. Pics by me, 2007; the curved bridge (at right in the second pic) didn't exist when I was little.
Right, that's enough thread-making for a lark. I'm going to end with a photo from driving over the Taramakau road/rail bridge between Hokitika and Greymouth in November 2013. I'm afraid you can't enjoy this experience any more—a new road bridge opened in July 2018. 10/end
