The provincial government was outraged and Premier J. Walter Jones staged a publicity stunt at the Charlottetown abutment of the bridge, boarding a bulldozer and demanding in front of local media, that the bridge be reopened.
The area is now a heavily wooded country park, but an abutment of the long demolished bridge by which the waterworks railway crossed the River Colne can still be found amongst the vegetation.
The southern land abutment, styled as a medieval city gate, was designed by Dutch architect P.J.H Cuypers.
Along the route of the Waimate Gorge Branch out of Waimate, the line's formation including a cutting, a bridge abutment, and some brick culverts can be located, and for about 5 km, a walkway follows the route of the line beside the Waihao River.