Addington salesyards station - 1881- Stage 1
This will take you to a place on the walking/cycleway that follows the railway line. there are a number of ways to get to this point access from Deans Ave, Lester lane or what appears to still be known as Blenheim Rd off lowe Street. If you need to cross the track please use the official crossing point and as the sign indicates look for trains.
A = the speed trains are able to use from this point in to town A0
Somewhere around here the Addington Salesyard station opened in 1881 and was closed sometime before 1984. Very little can be found about this station but I’m guessing it would have been mostly used to receiving and dispatch stock from the sales. Another station lost in time but part of the Addington busy railway hub. A little further back towards Christchurch central there was the Addington station. When you think about the number of station and the workshops just in Canterbury it’s amazing to see how many the railway employed.
1983 – Start of deregulation of "distance limits" on trucking companies opens railways to road-based competition. Rail employs 21,000 workers
1986 – Labour government makes railways a state-owned enterprise. In six years the workforce is cut from 21,000 to 5000, while productivity of the land-based workforce is lifted 300 per cent.
The water tower - 1883 - stage 2
The Addington Water Tower is registered with Heritage New Zealand as a Category I heritage building, registration number 5390.
B = A+E+C.
C= Number of steps to the door of the tower.
D = A+E.
E = How many times does the No. 1 appear on all plaques on the tower.
Addington Railway Workshops 1877 to 1990
Addington Railway Workshops were opened in 1877-8 to overhaul and construct railway equipment, and to assemble locomotives being imported from England. In 1889, the workshops were responsible for building the first locomotive to be built by NZR, W 192 and continued to build locomotives up to the early 1920s. As well as railway work, Addington also undertook contract work such as the manufacture of gold dredge components; during the First World War, the workshops produced military equipment including aeroplane components.
During the 1920s, Addington was re-geared to manufacture and overhaul rolling stock, although it continued to carry out limited overhauls on steam locomotives and the EC and EO class electric locomotives. Limited locomotive construction resumed in 1962 with the construction of the DSC class centre-cab shunting locomotives. Addington also assembled the Mitsubishi DSA and DSB class diesel-hydraulic shunting locomotives in 1967-8 and four of the five Toshiba DSJ class centre-cab shunters in 1984.
Due to the rationalisation of the New Zealand Railways Corporation following deregulation in 1987, Addington Workshops closed on 14 December 1990. The site was cleared with the exception of the former water down; due to changes in freight handling the Main North Linewas realigned across the former works entrance, while a new Christchurch Railway Station was opened on this site along the realigned stretch of track on 5 April 1993, replacing the former Christchurch railway station on Moorhouse Avenue in central Christchurch.
The remainder of the site was sold to Ngāi Tahu for redevelopment as a shopping centre, named Tower Junction after the former workshops water tower.
The Third CHCH Railway Station 1993 - Final
You will see the newest CHCH railway Station behind the Tower.
Addington Show Grounds - 1885
This platform was located just to the south of the final for rail passengers to get to and from the Show and the Addington Races. So not a station as such but still a piece of railway history for Christchurch lost in time. No date can be found for when the platform closed and there is no sign of it any more.
Final can be found at
S43 32.AAB Check sum = 17
E172 36.CDE Check Sum = 12
From The Lyttelton Times 8 November 1888