Wednesday 15 November 2017

Otago Central Railway [47H]: New maps Clyde-Cromwell

So after a lot of tidying up and adjustment I have started revising the maps from Clyde to Cromwell.
The reason for all this photoshopping is I have felt that having the original aerial photography as a background is better than trying to draw a lot of features on a map that aren't a complete representation of what is on the ground. The original aerial photography shows a lot of detail that doesn't exist today so bringing it in on the maps is a really good move.

The above image shows where the dam sits just above Clyde and where the railway, old highway and Fruitgrowers Road were in relation to it.

 On the west bank of the Clutha River near the Clyde town bridge is where Fruitgrowers Road starts. The old route of Fruitgrowers Road went off the south side of Earnscleugh Road just before the bridge and followed the riverbank. It was a fairly serious dirt road that ran for miles up the west side of the valley, not quite all the way to Cromwell. In this picture you can see where it starts to the right where cars are parked. With the dam construction most of the road above the dam is underwater so a new Fruitgrowers Road was built, this is the one that curves round to the left in the picture above. The big difference is that just past the dam it turns into a rough track, this is because there are no orchards or farms up there any more as all the flat land has been inundated.
This is down the old Fruitgrowers Road, which these days loops around to go back under the Clyde bridge. The road used to continue where the gate is now.