the line had it easy-going until the upper reaches of Bluff Harbour where costly large stone causeways were constructed to take the line around the Ocean Beach neck and onto the Bluff peninsula. A quarry nearby was used for material needed. Helping with the construction, a small branch line was laid to the Mokomoko inlet jetty with coastal shipping off-loading supplies. Controversial opening The line opened on 5 February 1867 after a delay caused by the Southland Provincial Council going bankrupt due to the high cost of building both this line and a wooden railway northwards to Makarewa (later part of the Kingston Branch). During the last phases of building, the line was blocked at Greenhills by angry contractors who were still to be paid for work done on the large causeways that carried the line down the upper Bluff harbour. The local Sheriff seized all assets on the line, a form of receivership enacted, allowing the finishing off work to continue. The situation was resolved when the Otago Provincial Council, as well as the Central Government, absorbed the debt incurred with the passage of the Southland Provincial Debt Act 1865. The province was re-absorbed into Otago on 6 October 1870. Kew diversion The formation and bridges that crossed the upper New River estuary continued to cause trouble with the line formation sinking and making the journey uncomfortable for travellers. It was decided to divert the line around the estuary foreshore from what is today the Crinan St level crossing, paralleling the Bluff Highway around past the Kew Bush area and meeting up with the line at Clifton. This was completed in 1872. This route would later be of benefit to the future Seaward Bush/Tokanui branch line that ran parallel to the Bluff line from Invercargill station to south of Clyde Street station where the two lines parted company. So the station at Clyde Street had two single-track railways running through it, giving a false impression of double track. When the Tokanui branch closed, the parallel line was taken out of use, and points were installed at Clyde Street for access to the branch by work trains during the lifting of the track. Little remains of the harbour crossing and Invercargill Wharf due to draining and substantial land reclamation over 100 years, some bridge piles are still visible. Regauged In 1870, the central government took effective control of railway development