Okahukura railway station | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Okahukura station site in 2019
Double deck bridge on Stratford branch in background | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | New Zealand | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 38°48′06″S 175°13′26″E / 38.801591°S 175.22378°E / -38.801591; 175.22378 | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 178 m (584 ft) | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||
| Distance | Wellington 408.54 km (253.85 mi) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 1912 | ||||||||||
| Closed | Before Dec 1975 passenger 27 August 1978 goods[1] | ||||||||||
| Electrified | June 1988 | ||||||||||
| Previous names | Okahukora to 7 Aug 1913 | ||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||
| 1934 | 11,940 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main TrunkinNew 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]
Passenger numbers peaked in 1934, as shown in the graph and table below -
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]
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]
Photo of road-rail double deck bridge about 1930
