RAILWAY RELICS

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1934, Page 9

RAILWAY RELICS

FIRST NEW ZEALAND LINE. BROAD GAUGE WHEELS SOLD. An interesting relic of the early days of the province of Canterbury has been placed on board the Koyo Maru at Lyttelton, bound for .Japan. Among the scrap iron loaded on to this boat was a pair of wheels of the _ original 4ft 6in gauge railway in operation between Lyttelton and Christchurch. It is understood that these wheels were unearthed at the back of the Lyttelton stores of the Shaw, Savill and Albion Company. The inscription, still plain visible: reads:— “1865. Lloyd’s, Foster .and Company, Engineers, Wednesbury.” As the railway line from Christchurch to Ferrymead, now known as Heathcote, was officially opened on December 1, 1863, it appears that these wheels must have belonged to additional stock purchased very shortly after the railway was put into operation. The first two engines for the line were lightered from Lyttelton by Mr. William Johnstone, one arriving on May 3, 1863. Four years after the construction of the Christchurch to Ferrymead line, the first in New Zealand, the tunnel was completed, direct communication being' established between Christchurch and Lyttelton by the opening of the tunnel on December 9, 1867,