By Roselyn Fauth
A lovely WuHoo follower flicked me a message today to share an image currently on display at the Pleasant Point Railway Museum. Alongside it was their own photo, taken while trying to find the same viewpoint today. They were happy for me to share the story, but wished to remain anonymous. Here are two scenes same spot, then and now of the rail at the bay. Thank you for sparking this afternoon’s curiosity-filled history hunt...
Yes, trains really did stop at Caroline Bay. Railway excursion trains were a much-anticipated part of summer life in Timaru and across South Canterbury. Special passenger services ran during fine weather, holidays and community events, carrying hundreds of people down to the coast for a day out by the sea.
A platforms was established up by the Bay Hill so passengers could step off the carriages and head to the summer attractions by Timaru's shore. For many, these affordable rail excursions made seaside leisure accessible for the first time. At the end of the day, sun-tired and sandy, they climbed back aboard and rode the rails home again.
Rail arrived in Timaru in the 1870s as part of Julius Vogel’s public works programme, linking South Canterbury to Christchurch and Dunedin via the Main South Line. Branch lines soon followed, including the Fairlie Branch, which ran inland from Washdyke through Pleasant Point and beyond. The railway was central to Timaru’s growth, moving people, produce and supplies, and helping transform a challenging open-roadstead landing into a functioning port town.
Canterbury Maps 1935-39
The summer excursions played an important role in shaping Caroline Bay. The flow of visitors encouraged the development of promenades, amenities and facilities, reinforcing the bay’s shift from a rugged coastal edge to a shared civic space the town promoted as the Port Resort and South Islands Rivera by the Sea. These trains delivered people to the beach and helped to create the beach as a destination. Timaru for over a Century has been the place to play.
What is interesting is how closely Timaru’s rail, harbour and coastal planning were connected. Timaru’s Blackett Lighthouse, first lit in 1878, was designed by John Blackett, the Colonial Marine Engineer of the time. As well as being responsible for lighthouses across New Zealand, Blackett was also involved in rail, harbour works and coastal infrastructure, and influenced the practical alignment of rail corridors near the sea. His influence wasn't always welcome, and there was a famous article in the newspaper that reported the community bawking to his suggestion of the port being a complete fiasco and needing to be blown up, and instead, in their 100s the locals paraded down the main street with a effigy of Blackett's, hissing to the end of the breakwater where they filled it up with fireworks and blew it up in protest!
The response to his plans and suggestions thought not always well received would have come with choices that had to be affordable. The coastline was unstable, and sections of rail near the shore suffered repeated erosion. In response, huge basalt boulders were tipped along vulnerable stretches to protect the line. Standing on the bay hill today, it is hard to imagine that the waves posed a threat to the section of rail here, and it reminds us how much the landscape in this area has rapidly changed.
Erosion is no longer the challenge on this stretch of cliff as it once was. After the harbour was constructed, fine sediment became trapped by the breakwaters and gradually built out over time. The stone shoreline softened into the wide shallow and sandy stretch of Caroline Bay we know today. The sea no longer reaches the cliffs as it once did, and with new land to play with, what began as a working port edge evolved into a place of leisure, from port to resort.
We don't really see that many passengers go by on the rail these days. However we are lucky that just up the road at Pleasant Point, we can still experience a working steam train, running along a few kilometres of historic track. The museum and its volunteers there, keep these rail stories alive, with engines, carriages and images that connect us directly to a time when trains brought people to the sea, and helped shape Timaru itself. Inside the museum is where you will find the rail image in this blog.
Thank you to person who sent these two snaps in. They remind us that Caroline Bay's rail history is just down the line at Pleasant Point.