Small container. Logbook only. BYOP.
The Fernhill Branch is probably one of the least known ghost railways in the Otago area, probably because it closed almost 85 years ago and was only a short 2.75 kilometre line. However, it is surprising how much can still be seen of it. Railway engineering can be remarkably long-lived if it manages to avoid obliteration by earthworks, demolition or vandalism!
This cache is at the road entrance to the old Abbotsford railway station. The line from Dunedin to Abbotsford was opened in July 1874 and extended beyond almost immediately. The Abbotsford station would be a busy one on the line south of Dunedin for many decades. Suburban passenger trains between Dunedin and Mosgiel ended in December 1982 and the station began its decline from then although when the cache owner worked for NZR in the late 1980s it was still possible to request the Southerner passenger train (Invercargill-Christchurch/Christchurch-Invercargill) to stop at Abbotsford. In later years, after NZR and its successor companies no longer had a use for the station, a coal merchant operated out of the station buildings. Today, the buildings are gone and the site is rapidly being reclaimed by vegetation.
The Fernhill line left the main line just past the Abbotsford station. It is not possible to make out the exact location without entering the rail corridor and we will NOT be doing that! It is both dangerous and illegal. Fortunately we can get a good idea of the line of the railbed from the point where it crossed North Taieri Road as the railbed is still very obvious there. That is the next cache in this series.
Muggle warning: a house overlooks the cache site. Take care.
Sources:
New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas, 4th edition, John Yonge, 1993
Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways, Leitch and Scott, 1995