Invercargill Railway
A 12-kilometre line between Invercargill and Makarewa was opened on 18 October 1864, and the unsuitability of the wooden tracks became obvious quickly. Unlike most railway lines in New Zealand, this route was built to the international standard gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in), and in June 1866 the decision was made to convert to iron rails.
This conversion was performed at the same time as the line was extended to Winton and it opened on 22 February 1871. This proved to be the farthest extent of the 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge in Southland, and further lines were built to the nationally accepted narrow gauge of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in). The first portion of the Kingston Branch built to the new gauge was from Winton to Caroline, which opened on 20 October 1875, two months before the rest of the line to Invercargill was converted to the new gauge, on 20 December.