Anama

Location map
New Zealand
label=Anama
lat_dir=S | lat_deg=43 | lat_min=45
lon_dir=E | lon_deg=171 | lon_min=26
position=right
width= 150
float=right
caption=: "This article is about the New Zealand location. For the Brazilian municipality, see Anamã."

Anama is a lowly populated locality in the Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. [Land Information New Zealand, [http://www.linz.govt.nz/apps/placenames/index.html?p=18231 New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database - Place Name Detail: Anama] , accessed 19 March 2007] It is situated on the Hinds River, with the Ashburton River not far to the north in nearby Mount Somers. Other nearby settlements include Valetta to the east, Mayfield to the south, and Montalto to the west. The locality has its own school, which celebrated its centenary in March 2002. [ [http://www.edgazette.govt.nz/notices.php/?id=57917 "Jubilees & reunions - Anama School: Centenary"] , "Education Gazette New Zealand" 80(20), 19 November 2001.]

Anama was briefly a railway terminus. On 3 October 1882, a 30.9 km long branch line was opened to Anama from a junction with the Main South Line in Tinwald, just south of Ashburton. This line, later known as the Mount Somers Branch, ceased to terminate in Anama when an extension to Cavendish was opened on 1 March 1884. Passengers were primarily served by carriages attached to the daily goods train; these were known as mixed trains, and due to the declining patronage caused by increased usage of the motor car, passengers were no longer served from 9 January 1933. Freight traffic remained steady for some years but declined after World War II to the point that the railway was no longer economic. It closed on 1 January 1968. Some of the line's formation can be seen in the area around Anama, and Anama station's platform and loading bank survive. [David Leitch and Brian Scott, "Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways", rev. ed. (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998), pp. 75-6.]

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