Christchurch’s First Puffing Billy

Do you think they could have fitted anymore people on? Referred to as a ‘Puffing Billy’, pictured here is Christchurch’s first, leaving Cathedral Square and heading to the Addington Railway Station – where the Tower Junction shopping centre is now situated.  This route through the city was opened on the 5th January 1882, though trams …

Addington Water Tower

What a grand moment it would have been for the Canterbury Provincial Council to have opened New Zealand’s first Railway Workshops.  The year was 1863 and what an achievement for Christchurch! These humble beginnings were replaced in 1879 and were known as the Addington Railway Workshops.  In its Hey Day, 2000 men were employed there …