This photo was taken in the Buller Gorge, near Cascade Creek. It shows the first trainload of coal from the Cascade Mine 20th July 1927, hence the row of dignitaries which includes the Deputy Mayor of Westport and the Cascade Mine paymaster. The mine was on the Denniston plateau and a 14km flume was built to wash the coal down to bins near Cascade Creek, from which the train took the coal to Westport. My uncle Jack Shaw was a maintainer on the flume, and my grandfather George Wheatley was an engine driver for NZ Govt Railways. Source: Phil Walsh's book 'Conquering Cascade'.
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