NZHistory, New Zealand history online - railway stations

Reward notice in railway station

Advertising hoardings, posters and notices at railway stations have always been easy targets for vandals. Despite the Railways Department's efforts, such as this 1906 reward notice, the offenders, who were usually young, were seldom caught.

Alexander Turnbull Library,
Reference: Eph-C-RAILWAYS-1906-01
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz.
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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railway stations

Oamaru railway station

Oamaru's long wooden station, designed by Railways Department architect George Troup and completed in 1900, was typical of the new stations built in major provincial centres around the turn of the 20th century.

Oamaru station was particularly famous for its dining room (situated at the southern or far end of the building), which was capable of seating 250 diners at long tables. The Christchurch–Dunedin express made a regular 22-minute dinner (lunch) stop here, and for a set price of 2s 6d, travellers could sample delights such as ‘stewed tripe and oysters’, ‘smoked fish with butter sauce’, ‘roast sirloin of beef with Yorkshire pudding’ and ‘compote of pears with boiled custard’.

Gavin McLean

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Britomart Transport Centre

Resembling a modern European or Asian metro station, Auckland’s gleaming Britomart Transport Centre has helped boost rail commuter patronage in this sprawling, car-dominated city. The planned electrification of the Auckland urban network, due to be completed by 2013, will see peak-hour trains running every 10 minutes. Commuter patronage is expected to rise from the current six million passenger trips a year to 30 million by 2030. Growth on this scale would require Britomart’s redevelopment as a through station with an underground loop through the central business district.

Jackson Perry

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Carterton railway station

The colourful Carterton station (completed in 1880) has been restored by the Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society and houses the Carterton Community and Railway Museum. The station continues to serve passengers travelling on the popular Wairarapa Connection commuter service between Wellington and Masterton.

Neill Atkinson

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Helensville railway station

Helensville was once a popular refreshment stop for passengers travelling north of Auckland. Today its station features a café and shops. Regular passenger services between Auckland and Helensville ended in 1980, but a daily return commuter service resumed on a trial basis in July 2008. This involved an upgrade of the Helensville station and the rebuilding of facilities at Waimauku and Huapai. In late 2009 it was announced that the trial services would cease before Christmas that year.

Neill Atkinson

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Frankton railway station, 1930s

In the early 20th century some busy stations, such as Frankton Junction (seen here in the 1930s), earned unsavoury reputations as unsafe places for women travelling alone. In the 1910s a women’s group even claimed – rather wildly – that Frankton was the centre of ‘white slave traffic’, in which young women were kidnapped and forced into prostitution.

Archives New Zealand
Reference: AAVK, W3493, B5292

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NZR floor tiles, Dunedin station

These decorative floor tiles are just one of the many striking design features of the George Troup-designed Dunedin station.

Paul Hamer

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george troup

Stained glass, Dunedin station

The grand railway stations of European and North American cities are among the most impressive monuments of the industrial age and have often been likened to cathedrals. It is perhaps appropriate, then, that New Zealand’s finest station, in Dunedin, celebrates the glory of rail in stained-glass windows.

Gavin McLean

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Farewell at station, 1941

Railway stations have always been places of arrival and departure, anticipation and longing. As this 1941 image suggests, farewells took on an extra poignancy during wartime – who knows whether the people in this photograph ever saw each other again.

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
Reference: F-28405-1/2
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz.
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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Opening Toko railway station

The opening of a railway station, brimming with the promise of progress and prosperity, was an important event for a community of any size. This hardy crowd gathered to celebrate the opening of Toko station in the ravaged landscape of inland Taranaki, probably in 1902.

Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand
Reference: James McAllister Collection, G-9815-1/1
Further information and copies of this image may be obtained from the library through its 'Timeframes' website, http://timeframes.natlib.govt.nz.
Permission of the Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Matauranga o Aotearoa must be obtained before any reuse of this image.

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toko