Okahukura railway station
38°48′06″S 175°13′26″E / 38.801591°S 175.22378°E / -38.801591; 175.22378
27 August 1978 goods[1]
Preceding station | Historical railways | Following station | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Te Koura Line open, station closed | North Island Main Trunk KiwiRail | Taringamotu Line open, station closed |
Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand.[2][3]
The station opened when work started on the eastern end of the Stratford–Okahukura Line. It was served by through trains on that line from 3 September 1933 (though rails were completed by 7 November 1932)[4] to 2009, being 9.65 km (6.00 mi) east of Tuhua.[2] The Public Works Department operated a limited train service as far as Matiere from 1922.[5] A junction with the NIMT at Ongarue,[6] and even as far north as Puketutu[7] (via Mokauiti and Ohura)[8] had been considered before the Okahukura route was decided in 1911.[9] Work started shortly[10] after Sir Joseph Ward had turned the first sod, including the construction of workshops and 4 railway houses at Okahukura,[11] and the station opened the following year. It seems that the initial service was provided by coaches attached to goods trains.[12]
A cattle yard and goods shed were added in 1915.[13] In 1916 a porter was paid 9 shillings a week.[14]
Patronage
Passenger numbers peaked in 1934, as shown in the graph and table below -
year | tickets | season tickets | staff | source |
---|---|---|---|---|
1928 | 9,219 | 59 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1928" | |
1929 | 9,379 | 64 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1929" | |
1930 | 8,654 | 63 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1930" | |
1931 | 11,279 | 90 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1931" | |
1932 | 9,910 | 111 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1932" | |
1933 | 10,822 | 160 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1933" | |
1934 | 11,940 | 119 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1934" | |
1935 | 6,739 | 129 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1935" | |
1936 | 6,575 | 129 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1936" | |
1937 | 5,989 | 130 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1937" | |
1938 | 5,062 | 114 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1938" | |
1939 | 5,431 | 121 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1939" | |
1940 | 3,983 | 110 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1940" | |
1941 | 5,094 | 79 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1941" | |
1942 | 6,202 | 111 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1942" | |
1943 | 6,536 | 138 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1943" | |
1944 | 6,478 | 144 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1944" | |
1945 | 6,757 | 106 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1945" | |
1946 | 7,254 | 86 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1946" | |
1947 | 6,012 | 72 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1947" | |
1948 | 4,899 | 14 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1948" | |
1949 | 3,279 | 14 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1949" | |
1950 | 3,340 | 26 | "STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1950" |
Road-rail bridge
The concrete foundations of the 260 ft (79 m)[15] road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, on the Stratford line had been laid by 1918, but war-time steel shortages delayed further work.[16] The first piles were sunk in 1916[15] and it had been completed by January 1922.[17]
In 2019 reopening of the line was listed as a possible future priority.[18]
Okahukura tunnel
76 ch (5,000 ft; 1,500 m) long Okahukura tunnel, is 2 mi (3.2 km) up from Okahukura, along the Stratford line, on a 1 in 50 gradient.[6] It was started in February 1914 and completed in December 1920, after digging out 58,000 cu yd (44,000 m3) of mudstone.[15]
References
- ^ Scoble, Juliet (April 2010). "Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand" (PDF). Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.
- ^ a b New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas (First ed.). Quail Map Co. 1965. pp. 3 & 4.
- ^ Pierre, Bill (1981). North Island Main Trunk. Wellington: A.H&A.W Reed. pp. 289–290. ISBN 0589013165.
- ^ "RAILWAY WORKS. MANAWATU STANDARD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 24 November 1933. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "MATIERE RAILWAY. AUCKLAND STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 23 May 1922. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ a b "STRATFORD-MAIN TRUNK. STRATFORD EVENING POST". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 8 November 1932. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. AUCKLAND STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 9 November 1907. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "DISTRICT PARS. KING COUNTRY CHRONICLE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 15 November 1907. Retrieved 31 March 2020.
- ^ "PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT. BY THE HON. WILLIAM FRASER, MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS. APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1912". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 18 October 1912. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "SLOW RAILWAY-MAKING. TARANAKI DAILY NEWS". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 26 April 1913. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "THE STRATFORD RAILWAY. NEW ZEALAND HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 17 March 1913. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "TAUMARUNUI TRAINS. NEW ZEALAND HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 27 September 1912. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "RAILWAYS STATEMENT BY THE MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, THE HON. W. H. HERRIES. APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1915". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ "MEMBERS OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT. APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1916". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
- ^ a b c "RAILWAY TO MATIERE. NEW ZEALAND HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 7 March 1923. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ Representatives, New Zealand Parliament House of (1918). Parliamentary Debates.
- ^ "STRATFORD RAILWAY. NEW ZEALAND HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 11 January 1922. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
- ^ "The Draft New Zealand Rail Plan" (PDF). Ministry of Transport. December 2019.
External links
Photo of road-rail double deck bridge about 1930