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Nelson Historical Society Journal, Volume 3, Issue 4, September 1978

The Railway Windmill at Belgrove

page 41

The Railway Windmill at Belgrove

The old windmill at Belgrove is now one of the few obvious relics of the Nelson Railway which was dismantled in 1955. Of even more significance is the fact that it is one of only two of these railway windmills which is still standing in New Zealand. The Committee of the Nelson Historical Society regarded the Belgrove windmill as an essential iink in the history of Nelson Province and to ensure that it would not be destroyed, entered into a lease with the Railway Department and undertook to see that it would be preserved. The wheel has been suffering from the ravages of weather but the Society, with some financial assistance from the Historic Places Trust has had costly repairs carried out and this well-known landmark is again an attractive sight.

Belgrove was an important station on the Nelson section of railway. The line was opened as far as Foxhill on 31 January, 1876, and at the time it was confidently expected that it would be continued on to the West Coast as a survey had been carried out by John Rochfort in 1874. A contract for the extension to Belgrove was let in 1879 and the line was opened on 25 July, 1881, when Belgrove became the terminus.

The detailed survey beyond this point had been carried out for the next 19½ miles to Blue Glen by way of the Wai-iti Valley and Golden Downs. A contract was let in June 1884 for formation work beyond Belgrove and some of the earthworks on this section are still obvious. Little headway was made, but in August 1888 a contract was signed between a private company and the Government to construct, operate and within ten years, from January 1885, to provide railways from Springfield (Canterbury) to Brunnerton (West Coast) and from Brunnerton, by way of Reefton to Belgrove. This became known as the "Midland" railway and did not follow the 1874 survey. Little progress was made on the Nelson end of the contract.

The Midland Railway Company Contract expired in 1895 when the Government seized the railway and at once recommenced work on the Belgrove-Spooner's Range section. With the opening of the Spooner's Range tunnel the line was completed to Motupiko (later known as Kohatu) in 1899, and this became the terminus for the Buller coaches and wagons until the section to Glenhope was opened in 1912.

Belgrove continued to be one of the most important stations on the line. Engines and train crews were stationed there as additional trains operated between Belgrove and Nelson. There must be hundreds of people who, as College students, travelled into Nelson daily by train.

When the old steam locomotives were in use untold volumes of page 42water were required to provide the steam and the Belgrove windmill played a very important part in the day by day running of the essential transport of that time. The exact date when the windmill was erected is not available, but the plans for the structure with the sixteen foot wheel were approved in March 1892.