Titiroa

Titiroa is a locality in the Southland Region of New Zealand's South Island. [Land Information New Zealand, [http://www.linz.govt.nz/apps/placenames/index.html?p=6645 "Place Name Detail: Titiroa"] , "Geographic Placenames Database", accessed 16 November 2007.] It is on the eastern bank of the lower Mataura River, inland from Toetoes Bay. Pine Bush is nearby to the northeast, and Waimahaka is to the southeast.

Railway

On 18 June 1899, an extension of the Seaward Bush Branch was opened from Gorge Road to Waimahaka; the only intermediate station was situated in Titiroa. This branch line railway linked Titiroa with Invercargill, approximately 36 km away by rail. ["New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas", fourth edition, edited by John Yonge (Essex: Quail Map Company, 1993), 30.] Passengers were carried on daily mixed trains; these were cut to operate once weekly in 1951, and after this point were operated mainly for the benefit of New Zealand Railways Department employees and their families who lived in the area. Goods-only trains operated on the other days, and on 1 June 1960 they became the sole trains through Titiroa as the weekly mixed was cancelled. The line officially closed on 31 March 1966 as freight levels had not been profitable for years. Some of the line's old formation can still be seen in the vicinity of Titiroa. [David Leitch and Brian Scott, "Exploring New Zealand's Ghost Railways", revised edition (Wellington: Grantham House, 1998 [1995] ), 125-6.]

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