Stop, Look, Listen for... TRAINS!! (Southland) Traditional Cache
southlandicebergs: This cache always was in a dubious place where the hidey spot was on rusty steel. It has been here a while. I may eventually create a new one on the same theme further up the Fortrose railway line on a new train waiting shelter.
Stop, Look, Listen for... TRAINS!! (Southland)
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Size: 
(micro)
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Invercargill Tokanui railway branch line.
The line was built to access timber resources south-east of Invercargill and to open up the region to farming development, replacing an earlier bush tramway that had run in the area in the 1870s. Work commenced in March 1883 and the first section opened by 2 July 1886 to Waimatua, followed by Mokotua on 16 January 1888. The opening to Mokotua was marked by the operation of a special train from Invercargill hauled by a steam locomotive of the 1874 J class.
The next extension, into the lower Mataura River area, was ten kilometres long and not constructed immediately as there was some debate over whether the Wyndham Branch should be extended south from Glenham instead. Ultimately, the Wyndham Branch proposal was rejected and the line beyond Mokotua to Gorge Road was opened on 1 March 1895, and when a bridge over the Mataura River was completed, a further eleven kilometre extension to Waimahaka was opened on 18 June 1899. A connection with the Catlins River Branch was proposed and a further thirteen kilometres was added to the branch when it opened to Tokanui on 20 December 1911, making it 54.42 kilometres in total length. Although a connection with the Catlins River Branch appears logical on a map, the rugged country beyond Tokanui discouraged further extension, and the 'promise' to connect the two branches may have merely been an electoral ploy. A ten kilometre route to Marinui was surveyed, but no further work was done and Tokanui remained the line's terminus.
Due to rising costs and better roads the line became obsolete so had to close. The line's new closure date was 31 March 1966 when a special excursion had a final run and also to collect several wagons. But the trip to collect them was unsuccessful so the final date was a week later. Since then the tracks have all been ripped up.
Through the southern suburbs of Invercargill, the former line cuts diagonally across the grid pattern of the streets and creates a green belt of parks and playgrounds through the city. Embankments, cuttings, and evidence of level crossings used by the railway can be found at various points along its length, though due to the passage of time, remnants have diminished or been wholly destroyed, either by natural conditions or in the name of development. At the site of the yard in Waimahaka, the old goods shed has been refurbished, and the station platform and loading bank are also still visible. Another one of the branch's goods sheds survives, in dilapidated condition in Tokanui, where it is owned by a transport company who have used the former yard area for their own business.
Friends of mine who had a farm in Jacks Hill Road used to catch the train (it went up a valley across their farm) to Invercargill Saturday mornings and caught it home again jumping offat their farm as the train slowly moved up the incline.
The cache is in a differnt place to the first one placed in February 2012 which vanished in the wind/caught a train/gargeners tidy.
The cache located just above ground level is a nagnetic nano so bring own pen.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
sraprf whapgvba
Treasures
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