Wickliffe Street Siding - Return of a ghost railway

Whites Aviation Photo of the Dunedin tank farms along Wickliffe and Fryatt Street taken on the 31st of March 1955. Photo courtesy of the National Library. A link to the photo can be found here.

New Zealand Railways once had an extensive network of sidings that transported goods to and from the industrial area in Dunedin's harbour basin.

The sidings along Wickliffe and Fryatt Streets served the Shell depot on Wickliffe Street, and the container yard, Caltex depot, bituman siding, wharf, cool store and New Zealand Cement Holdings on Fryatt Street.

Over time the private siding traffic dried up until only the container yard was still served by shunts. This traffic came to an end in the late 2000's.

DSC 2462 shunts the container yard on Fryatt Street. 7 September 2008. Photo by Geoffery White. A link to Geoffery's Flickr page can be found here.

The siding was later disconnected from the rest of the network near the ANZAC Avenue over bridge and was left to slowly rust away.

In mid November, I heard talk of the Wickliffe siding being rebuilt and track being relaid. Being curious, I decided to pay the old siding a visit.

Map of the Wickliff Street Siding.

Speculation is rife amongst the railfan community about what is happening with the siding. Some say it will be used for log trains running from a new inland log port on the Taieri, while others say it is getting rebuilt with government funding because a new section of the Aka Otakou - The Otago Vine cycle and walking trail that links Port Chalmers with Portobello around Otago Harbour crosses the old siding. Either way it is good to see some siding track being relaid.

On my visit work was definitely underway on the relaying and refurbishment of the siding.

Repurposed track relaid alongside the Main South Line. Dunedin Railway Station can be seen in the distance. 18/11/2023.

The siding track running alongside the old NZR permanent way workshop. 18/11/2023.

 

The siding track diverging from the Main South Line to run along Wickcliff Street. 18/11/2023.

The location of the new crossing with the Te Aka Otakou - The Otago Vine cycle and walking trail. The popular Emersons Brewery can be seen in the upper left of the photo. 18/11/2023.

The Wickliffe Street Siding crosses the entrance to the Z Energy Fuel Terminal. 18/11/2023.

Looking east along the siding and the points at the western end of the short loop. 18/11/2023.

Looking west along the siding and the points at the eastern end of the short loop. 18/11/2023.

The location of the current crossing with the Te Aka Otakou - The Otago Vine cycle and walking trail. A new section of the trail is being built alongside the far end of the fuel terminal and the Main South Line. 18/11/2023.

Looking east from the Te Aka Otakou Trail crossing, the siding turns to the left as it begins to run parallel with Fryatt Street. 18/11/2023.

As the siding curves to the left it crosses the entrance and exit to a waste transfer station. The track to the right was the beginning of the siding that followed Fryatt Street to the south. 18/11/2023.

The remains of the former siding along Fryatt Street. 18/11/2023.

The former end of the Wickliffe Siding along Fryatt Street. 18/11/2023.

And the possible end of the new siding beside the Fryatt Street Log Terminal. 18/11/23.

With my photos taken, I left Wickliff Street behind hoping that trains will shortly return to the siding.

And that's about it.