The study has been commissioned by the Waimea Plains Railway Trust.
Chairman Colin Smith said group members planned to build a heritage rail precinct on the site which would include about 2.5km of rail track.
“It is based on what was actually happening here 140 years ago and it’s something that the younger generation seem to be able to connect with,” Mr Smith said.
Originally Mandeville was a station on the Gore to Lumsden Waimea line, which had been built privately by the Waimea Plains Railway Company in 1880.
The company’s directors were also part of the New Zealand Agricultural Company that owned the land from Gore to beyond Garston.
The company planned to subdivide the land and sell it to farmers but there was no road.
“The railway was the key to the subdivisions being serviced.’’
In 1996, when the trust was formed, all that was left at Mandeville was a goods shed.
The trust was able to buy a Rogers locomotive, numbered K92, one of the four originally used on the line.
For the past 20 years, carriages, wagons and fixtures from the period from 1890 to 1910 had also been collected.
Now the trust needed money to finish the development and the study would help prove the viability of the two-stage project.
The first stage was to finish reconstructing the Dunedin building trust members had demolished to collect iron trusses that, among other items, dated back to 1876.
The second stage was to build the railway track.
At present the locomotive ran up and down about 400m of track, pulling two loaned carriages.
“We’re able to operate the length of the yard but we’re not going anywhere.”
In the past two years people have been able to ride on the train during the summer months, which had been very popular, he said.
Gore District Arts and Heritage curator Jim Geddes said the Waimea Line was historically important to the pastoral development of the Waimea Plains.
‘‘So it's a significant part of our heritage.’’
Given the public response to open days at Mandeville, there was interest in the project.
‘‘The new Covid environment has demonstrated a big interest in New Zealanders re-connecting with their heritage, and domestic tourist numbers to niche activities and boutique experiences are growing.’’
