Lumsden, New Zealand
Lumsden is a town in
Southland, New Zealand. Lying in a gap in the surrounding hills, it is the location of a major junction halfway along the north-south road from
Queenstown to
Invercargill, where it is crossed by the east-west road from
Gore to
Te Anau.
Lumsden also used to be a major railway junction with lines departing to all four points of the compass. The
Kingston Branch from Invercargill ran north-south through the town, while to the west was the
Mossburn Branch and to the east was the
Waimea Plains Railway that connected with the
Main South Line in Gore. In
1971, most of the Waimea Plains Railway closed, but sixteen kilometres from Lumsden to Balfour remained open until
1978. In
1979, the line north to Kingston was closed after repairs to flood damage would not have been economic, and both the Mossburn Branch and the connection south to Invercargill closed in December
1982. The railway station is now preserved as a tourist information centre, but otherwise, little remains of the town's former prominent status in New Zealand's
national rail network.
It has a primary school and a secondary one
*
Cathy Baker (October 16, 1957), New Zealand field hockey player
*
Lumsden community website
