Where Four Railway Lines Once Met
Lumsden sits at a crossroads in northern Southland, just under halfway between Invercargill and Queenstown on State Highway 6. Roads radiate from it in all four directions: south to Invercargill, north to Queenstown, east to Gore, northwest to Te Anau and Milford Sound, and for nearly a century, railway lines did the same. Today, the lines are gone, and the town of around 500 people is easy to overlook. However, its railway heritage is genuinely interesting, it has a notable cafe and other food options and sits on one of New Zealand's Great Rides, the Around the Mountains Trail. The surrounding countryside, with rolling Southland farmland and entrance to the steeper ranges, provides a scenic outlook.
The Name and Its Origins
The settlement was originally known by European settlers and goldminers as The Elbow, for the way the Ōreti River makes a sharp 90-degree turn from east to south north of the town. The Māori name Ōreti means "place of the snare", indicating its importance to Māori as a food source.
However, when the old Railways Department needed to formalise a name for the station, it chose to honour George Lumsden of the Otago Provincial Council, a Scottish trader who had become a New Zealand politician.
A Railway Junction Town
Steam shaped Lumsden. The Kingston Branch from Invercargill reached the town in 1878, followed by the Waimea Plains Railway from Gore in 1880, and the Mossburn Branch in 1887, giving the town lines running in four directions and making it the most significant rail junction in Southland. The Kingston Flyer passenger service connected Lumsden to Lake Wakatipu, from where travellers crossed to Queenstown by steamer, most famously aboard the TSS Earnslaw.
All four lines were eventually closed, the last, to Mossburn and Invercargill, in 1982, but the physical legacy of the railway era remains well preserved. The 1878 railway station building has been restored and operates as a visitor information centre. Outside it, the Lumsden Heritage Trust has assembled a collection of historic rolling stock: two Drewry diesel shunters, the chassis of steam locomotive P60, two red rusted unrestored V-class locomotives recovered from the Ōreti River where they had been dumped as bank protection in 1928, and a restored 1883 A-class elevated-roof passenger carriage. It is a compact and interesting open-air display.
Around the Mountains Cycle Trail
Lumsden is a key staging point on the Around the Mountains Cycle Trail, one of New Zealand's 23 Great Rides. The 186 km trail runs between Walter Peak Station on Lake Wakatipu and Kingston, looping through the high country via the Mavora Lakes, and then the Southland farming towns of Mossburn, Lumsden, Five Rivers, Athol, and Garston.
From Lumsden, the trail follows the old railway line northeast along the Ōreti River toward Five Rivers and Athol, with panoramic views of Mid Dome, the prominent 1,964-metre peak of northern Southland, and the surrounding ranges. The trail is Grade 2 to 3 and suitable for reasonably fit cyclists, taking three to five days to complete the whole loop. Lumsden has bike hire for those beginning or breaking their journey here.
How to Get There
Lumsden is on State Highway 6, 81 km north of Invercargill and 106 km south of Queenstown. The drive from Invercargill takes around one hour. The railway station precinct is in the centre of the town on Bowler Street. Mossburn is 19 km northwest on State Highway 97 toward Te Anau.
Other nearby places to visit heading north include Nokomai Valley and the south end of Nevis Road, with access to the historic Garston Ski Hut and the Roaring Lion Trail. To the south is the lovely historic town of Winton.
