Ellesmere Station
(From a Blog) From Leeston Road turn into Bethels Road on the right. Drive down this road for 1 km to the level crossing site, with the Ellesmere station yard to your left, where an old loading bank can still be seen. The line here was curving round towards the river, following the line of trees. U turn and return 250 metres back along Bethels Road to the intersection of Old Bridge Road North, follow this road for a short distance to view the approach of the railway onto the Selwyn River Bridge. This was also the site of the old road bridge for many years. As the road, now blocked off, took the left turn to go onto the bridge, the railway came right alongside it on the far side. U turn and go back to Bethels Road returning to Leeston Road, turning right to continue south-west. 500 metres after the Selwyn River bridge, you can see Old Bridge Road South to your right. A trip up this road will show you the point where the railway curved away from the bridge to continue southerly as before. The bridge was in the middle of an S bend that left the railway continuing on in a similar direction as that in which it had entered it.
From this view you can still see the outline of the track - see the S-bend - both sides of the river.
The branch today
Remnants of closed railways often diminish and disappear with the passage of time, but some relics of the Southbridge Branch remain. Its formation can be traced for much of the line's length, though it does vanish at some points, at least in part because the flat terrain did not require substantial earthworks in the first place. There are also some bridge and culvert remains to be found along the line's former route, such as a footbridge near Lincoln utilising ex-railway abutments. Doyleston contains some of the most significant remnants, with the station site still in possession of its goods shed, loading bank, and passenger platform. Goods sheds can also be found in Leeston and Springston, with the latter utilised as an engineer's workshop. Ellesmere retains concrete foundation remains, and in Irwell, rails can be found scattered at the station site and embedded in a road near an old factory. Some remnants of the line can be seen today in Southbridge, such as the rail and loading dock inside present day Hamilton Seeds.
At stage 1 there is a power pole the numbers become ABC
A-B= D
B/2= E
EX3= F
EX4= G
Final
S 43° 41.DEF E 172° 22.CAG