Friday 4 August 2017

Otago Central Railway [34B]: NZED Depot

As we know there was an NZED siding at Clyde from 1968 to 1978. It was used in conjunction with a transmission line that was constructed to the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter during this period. NZED established a depot at this site next to what later became the MOW depot, which was built for the Clyde Dam project. Since a transmission line was constructed from the Clyde Dam to Twizel the line workers probably got extra work from the hydro development at Clyde and the depot could have been kept open for this work. The siding which came off the original route of Otago Central Railway through the centre of Clyde, was closed in 1978 but the near proximity of both the (new) Clyde railway yard and the MOW depot with its own sidings could have made it possible to continue servicing the depot by rail.


Above is the NZED site location along with its siding and the housing sites. This is essentially an interpretation of the below photo.
This is a section from a 1979 aerial photo of Clyde, showing the existing NZED depot between the new NZR Clyde yard and the MOW depot which were both under construction at the time. The NZED depot retained a separate presence during at least part of the Clyde Dam project. A piece was taken off the lower left corner when the new Clyde yard was surveyed. A 1991 photo shows the site having been cleared and the houses and buildings removed.