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After its opening in 1901, Ida Valley Station was for quite a few years the Otago Central Railway railhead. The only evidence remaining of the station’s importance is the handsome mud-brick ‘Railway Hotel’ still standing alongside the trail. The owners intend this to once again provide accommodation to travellers.

The original Class 5 station building, the same size and design as those at Ranfurly and Middlemarch, was burned down in 1919 and replaced with a much smaller type. This replacement now resides high in the Hawkdun Range as a musterers’ hut. On private land on the uphill side of the station site can be seen the foundations of the turntable and a concrete pit that enabled engineers to work under locomotives.

Another busy livestock station on the Otago Central Railway – maximum stock loadings were often recorded during the 1940s and 50s – it was permanently closed early in 1978.

Ida Valley – Oturehua

• 7.8km separates Ida Valley Station site from Oturehua.
• Ida Burn Gangers’ Shed… one of 12 gangers’ sheds along the Rail Trail housing information panels. These sheds are identified with an ‘i’ on the map in the Official Rail Trail Passport.
• The trail provides a straight run through Ida Valley farmland.
  

Ida Valley – Auripo

• 3.1km separates Ida Valley Station site from Auripo Station site.
• The trail traverses Blackstone Hill gradually climbing out of the Ida Valley climbing out of the Ida Valley to the Auripo Station site
• Swamp Road Gangers’ Shed… one of 12 gangers’ sheds along the Rail Trail housing information panels. These sheds are identified with an ‘i’ on the map in the Official Rail Trail Passport.

Guests at the Ida Valley Station Railway Hotel pose for this early 1900s photo. The building looks remarkably similar to this day Photo: Central Stories, Alexandra

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