NZHistory, New Zealand history online - seddonville

Train crossing Chasm Creek bridge, 1903

Photographer Henry Winkelmann captured this 'mixed train' (featuring both freight and passenger carriages) crossing Chasm Creek bridge in 1903. The locomotive is an F class (possibly F 166).

Auckland Museum
Reference: 2358
Photographer: Henry Winkelmann, 1903

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Westport-Cardiff coal train

A fully laden coal train about to leave Seddonville for Westport. The holding bins used to load the coal can be seen in the background. This photograph was used by the Westport-Cardiff Coal Company in an advertising feature published in 1898. The locomotive is an Fa class (slightly modified, and temporarily called Fb), which was slightly larger than the C class.

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: P. Murray Collection 1/2-146481
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

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Trains on the Seddonville line

One of the first Seddonville coal trains, probably photographed on a narrow section of the lower Mokihinui gorge. The locomotive is a C class, the smallest used on this line.

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: 146479-1/2
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

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Going to school by train

Pupils from Seddonville attending high school in Westport travelled by train in 1945. John Pascoe, who took the photo, noted that they sometimes spent up to six hours a day travelling. The following year passenger traffic was stopped on the Seddonville line, and after that local pupils travelled to Buller High School by bus.

Alexander Turnbull Library
Reference: ¼-001336-F
Photographer: John Pascoe
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the Library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image

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Train on Chasm Creek bridge, 1968

Headed by Ww571, a freight train carrying timber and coal crosses Chasm Creek bridge in December 1968. This was one of the last journeys on this route by Ww571, which is now preserved at the Silver Stream rail heritage museum in Wellington's Hutt Valley.

Photograph by Graeme McClare, 1968

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Harry Holland memorial library

Veteran labour politician Harry Holland represented West Coast electorates that included Seddonville from 1918 until his death in 1933. He was an avid reader, so it is appropriate that he is commemorated by a library.

Surprisingly, there is no memorial to Seddon in Seddonville – or perhaps the name itself is the most enduring memorial.

Photograph by Simon Nathan

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Chasm Creek walkway

Part of the old railway line west of Seddonville has been converted into a short walkway, which crosses the historic Chasm Creek bridge.

Photograph by Simon Nathan

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Rogers coal mine

Many of the private mines in the Seddonville area reworked areas where coal had been left in the ground by earlier mines. About 1984 Rogers mine opened a small opencast on the west bank of Chasm Creek in an area previously worked by Seddonville State Mine. A timbered drive, dating back to the State Coal Mine, can be seen in the foreground, but only a small part of the seam had been removed by earlier workings.

Photograph by Simon Nathan, 1984

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Charming Creek union

The cover picture on an issue of New Zealand Coal in 1982 featured all the paid-up members of the Charming Creek union, then thought to be the world’s smallest union. The mine was still producing coal, but there was a problem finding a market for it.

New Zealand Coal, volume 6, no 23 (1982)

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Hydraulic mining diagram

This diagram illustrates how water was used in mining at Charming Creek Mine. High pressure water was used to sluice away coal from the working face after blasting; it was flumed underground to a holding pool or sump, then pumped up to the bin using high pressure water.

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

Source: Paul Mahoney, Charming Creek history album. Hokitika: New Zealand Forest Service, 1985

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

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