The Racing Pigeons Take The Train
The Dunedin train station. “The”, yes, for there is only one. The significance of this train station is quite…well…significant.
After Dunedin was founded, there was a big requirement for the efficient supply of settlers, goods, services and building materials. To ease this requirement, a harbour was built further along the coastline of the Otago Harbour inlet. This harbour was named Port Chalmers, and this port came to serve as a staging area for goods and materials to and from Dunedin. A warehouse if you wish, from which goods and materials were distributed either by ship or by rail. Ships would birth at Port Chalmers where they were unloaded, their cargo put onto a train which would bring them into Dunedin.
Times have changed since then, but while the purpose of this railway station has changed, it’s significance has not.
Other than a fantastic historic building which (amongst other things) houses the New Zealand Gallery of Sports Heroes, it also showcases some historic train engines (steam, electric and diesel). It is the starting (and disembarkation) point of a “unique in the world” oceanside train journey. And, every Saturdaymorning, it is the place for the awesome Otago Farmers Market, where farmers and growers from the region offer their unrivalled produce.