Birchwood is a locality in the

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

region of New Zealand's

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. It is situated west of

Ohai Ohai is a town in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island, 65 kilometres northwest of Invercargill and 25 kilometres west of Winton. History Origins of name The literal meaning of ''Ohai'' is unclear, but a mural in the town centr ...

and Nightcaps, and north of

Tuatapere Tuatapere is a small rural town in Southland, New Zealand. It is the self declared "Sausage Capital of New Zealand". Tuatapere is located eight kilometres from the southern coast. The Waiau River flows through the town before reaching Te Waewa ...

and Orawia, with the nearest

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in Ohai. Birchwood was once the terminus of a private

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

line run by the

Ohai Railway Board The Ohai Railway Board (ORB) was a short railway in Southland, New Zealand. The railway line itself still exists as the Ohai branch line, but the ORB was dissolved in 1990, and in 1992 the Southland District Council sold the board's assets to New ...

, an extension of the

Wairio Branch The Ohai Line, formerly known as the Ohai Industrial Line and previously the Wairio Branch and the Ohai Railway Board's line, is a 54.5 km branch line railway in Southland, New Zealand. It opened in 1882 and is one of two remaining branch ...

. The 19 km line from

Wairio Wairio is a town in the Southland region of New Zealand's South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island ...

to Birchwood ran via Ohai and opened in 1934. The section from Ohai to Birchwood had been closed by the time the section from Wairio to Ohai was incorporated into the

national network The National Network (or National Truck Network) is a network of approved state highways and interstates for commercial truck drivers in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States ...

in 1990.

References

Further reading