The Kawatiri tunnel

Although the Nelson railway line had reached as far as Glenhope by 1912, work on the 6.5 kilometre Glenhope-Kawatiri section stopped and started during the war years, then ground to a complete halt in 1917. Work on the Kawatiri tunnel began in 1920 and a workers’ camp was set up across the river from the tunnel work site, at a place called Woodhen Bend/Pikomanu. The workforce built up to around 300 at its peak and the camp had its own post office. The tunnel, which is sometimes called the Pikomanu tunnel, cuts 185 metres through a granite spur around which the Hope River flows. North and south of the tunnel, bridges crossed the river, providing what must’ve been spectacular views of the river running through the beech-forested hillsides. The concrete above the entrance to the tunnel says 1923, the year work on the tunnel was finally completed. It was another three years, though, before trains were using it to get to Kawatiri Junction.