New Zealand's First Railway Was In Nelson

Mention cotton or railways in Nelson these days, and first thoughts are upon abandonment. But there was a time in Nelson when these two words were synonomous with real progress. Alas, as with more modern times, the railway disappeared and it was the cotton that caused its abandonment. All this took place between the years 1862 and 1865, the years in which New Zealand's first railway ran up the Dun Mountain to bring forth the chrome wealth hidden within it. But the American Civil War and the cessation of cotton supplies to the Lancashire mills destroyed the demand for chrome which had been used as a colouring agent.

The railway, however, was still an achievement, and it was recognised as such on February 3, 1962, when about 200 persons gathered to see a plaque unveiled in Brook Street on the site of the official opening of the railway 100 years earlier. The plaque, erected by the Ministry of Works, was provided by the Nelson Regional Committee of the National Historic Places Trust.

×

 

• 

Mr J. A. Jenkins, committee chairman

×

 

• 

Miss Ethel Blick, whose family occupied land in Brook Street from 1862, performed the unveiling ceremony

×

 

• 

The Nelson regional committee behind the plaque

×

 

• 

A section of the crowd