[1] On 2 November 1870, the Canterbury provincial government resolved to build a line from Rolleston to Southbridge, as the district around Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora had become an economically significant grain-growing region that produced almost a quarter of all wheat in New Zealand in the late 1860s.

Passenger numbers peaked in 1924, with approximately 34,000 carried, and picnic trains to Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora were popular, but competition from road transport began to markedly increase, and the line was losing money in the late 1920s.

In 1930, the decision was taken to close the Southbridge locomotive depot and operate all trains directly out of Christchurch, and this had a notable short-term impact, as the line made a profit in 1938.

The Hornby-Lincoln section was then redesignated as the Hornby Industrial Line, which was cut back to Prebbleton station on 1 December 1967, and to the north side of the Springs Road crossing in 1986.

Most of the land around the old Prebbleton yard has been developed for housing in the last five years, although some is in reserves and a pedestrian path runs along part of the formation south of Tosswill Road.

Ellesmere retains concrete foundation remains, and in Irwell, rails can be found scattered at the station site and embedded in a road near an old factory.