Waingawa Railway Station

Infobox Station
name=Waingawa
type=New Zealand Government Railways Department regional rail


image_size=
image_caption=Waingawa railway station platform.
address=Waingawa Road, Wairarapa, New Zealand
coordinates= coord|40|58|8.47|S|175|35|46.82|E|type:railwaystation_region:NZ|
line=Wairarapa Line
other=
structure=
platform=Single side
depth=
levels=
tracks=Main line (1)
Wagon loops (4)
parking=No
bicycle=No
baggage_check=No
passengers=
pass_year=
pass_percent=
pass_system=
opened=1921
closed=
rebuilt=
electrified=
ADA=
code=
owned=ONTRACK?
zone=
former=Taratahi
services=
mpassengers=

Waingawa railway station is a station on the Wairarapa Line in the Wairarapa district of New Zealand’s North Island. It is located about one kilometre south of the Waingawa River, and is situated in a heavy industrial area. It once served passenger trains, but now handles only freight.

History

The first use of the name Waingawa in relation to rail facilities in the Wairarapa was when from 1895 a siding about two miles south of Kurupuni (Solway) became known as Waingawa. It was a private siding that had for a long time been known as Donald’s Siding, and was used by the Wellington Meat Export Company to load livestock for transport to their abattoir at Ngahauranga.cite book |last=Cameron |first=Walter Norman |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=A Line Of Railway: The Railway Conquest of the Rimutakas |origdate= |origyear= |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year=1976 |month= |publisher=New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society |location=Wellington |language= |isbn=0-908573-00-6 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=243-244 |chapter=Chapter 10: The Stations |chapterurl= |quote=In those early years the next public station was Kurupuni, 7 miles 27 chains north of Carterton, but from very early times a private siding had existed about two miles to the south of Kurupuni, being known for a long time as Donald's Siding. From 1895 it became known as Waingawa. Between 1908 and 1912 another private siding called Taratahi was opened to serve the Wellington Farmers' Meat Company 45 chains south of Waingawa; the siding at Waingawa served the Wellington Meat Export Company and was used for loading sheep and cattle for transport to the Company's works at Ngahauranga. In 1921, however, a new Waingawa station was built with signals and "switch-out" tablet instruments south of the original Waingawa siding and Taratahi disappeared as a name for this locality. A new siding was laid in 1966 to service the new Masterton saleyards. ]

Between 1908 and 1912 the Wellington Farmers’ Meat Company established their own private siding about 45 chains south of Waingawa called Taratahi. In 1921 this became the location of a new station called Waingawa, complete with signalling apparatus, and the name Taratahi ceased to be used.

Though a co-operative freezing works was established at Waingawa in 1897, the brisk traffic in livestock from Waingawa to Wellington continued, at least until the opening of the Waingawa Freezing Works. In 1966 a siding was laid from the Waingawa yard to the then new Masterton saleyards. Though the saleyards are still in use today, the siding has long since been removed.

Several industrial neighbours have come and gone in the vicinity of Waingawa station. In 1911, the Waingawa Freezing Works were opened by the Wellington Farmers’ Meat Company and lasted until 1989 when, in the hands of AFFCO, the works were closed as part of an industry rationalisation. Japanese forestry products company Juken Nissho (now Juken NZ) opened a mill just north of the station in February 1992, which continues to transport goods by rail using its own private siding.

Today

Though since the closure of the freezing works forestry related businesses and trucking companies have largely supplanted the livestock trade at Waingawa, the JNL mill is currently the only major rail customer at the site. This may change in the future, as several projects are under consideration that may involve the use of rail for the transport of product out of the Wairarapa, including:
* Wairarapa log freight rail project [cite web |url=http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:uwBf-xSo3YYJ:www.gw.govt.nz/story_images/4446_Transport200708A_s8844.pdf+waingawa+train&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=22&gl=nz |title=Key projects for 2007/08 |accessdate=2008-01-03 |format= |work= ]
* Waingawa Industrial Park [cite news |first=Sean |last=Hoskins |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Waingawa industrial park set for go-ahead |url=http://wairarapa.co.nz/times-age/news2004/040507a.html |work= |publisher=Wairarapa Times-Age |date=2004-05-07 |accessdate=2008-01-03 ]

The former Waingawa station building was rescued from demolition by the Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society in 1991 and relocated to the Carterton station precinct where it may be viewed by visitors to the museum there.

The only sign at Waingawa that passenger trains used to stop there is the old station platform which can still be seen from Waingawa Road. There is little prospect of a passenger station being re-established here, as Waingawa is officially considered to be part of the "Solway/Masterton rail station catchment". [cite conference |first=Rhona |last=Hewitt |authorlink= |coauthors= |title=Matarawa Station - Update |booktitle=Proceedings of the Passenger Transport Committee |pages= |publisher=Greater Wellington Regional Council |date=2007-03-26 |location=Wellington |url=http://www.gw.govt.nz/council-reports/pdfs%5Creportdocs%5C2007_173_1_Report.pdf |format=PDF |accessdate=2008-01-03 |id= ]

Gallery

Footnotes

External links

*
*