Hīhītahi railway station
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Hīhītahi railway station | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Hīhītahi station in 1911 | |||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||
| Location | New Zealand | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 39°34′14″S 175°42′21″E / 39.570497°S 175.705783°E | ||||||||||
| Elevation | 741 m (2,431 ft) | ||||||||||
| Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||
| Distance | Wellington 270.79 km (168.26 mi) | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| Opened | 1 July 1908 | ||||||||||
| Closed | 31 January 1982 | ||||||||||
| Electrified | June 1988 | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
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Hīhītahi was a station on the North Island Main Trunk line,[1] in the Rangitikei District of New Zealand,[2] in the Hautapu River valley.[3] The station served the settlement of Hīhītahi, which was big enough to have a store[4] and a school.[5] It was 12.55 km (7.80 mi) south of Waiouru and 3.05 km (1.90 mi) north of Turangarere.[6] Hīhītahi is at the top of a 1 in 70 gradient from Mataroa,[7] so that it is 39 m (128 ft) above Turangarere, but only 73 m (240 ft) below the much more distant Waiouru.[6] A crossing loop remains.[8]
Hīhītahi means the first rays of the sun.[9] When opened on 1 July 1908 the station was Tarangarere,[10] changed to Turangaarere on 15 April 1909 and to Hihitahi on 21 August 1910.[11]
Until 25 October 1928 the crossing sidings to the south were called Gardner & Sons Siding, or Gardners Siding but then took the former name of its northern neighbour, Turangaarere, later becoming Turangarere.[11]
History
A service road to help with building the railway was formed in 1887,[10] when the route was first surveyed.[12] The Public Works Department (PWD) had the rail and telegraph lines through Hīhītahi[11] built by 1906.[13] NZR took it over as a flag station on 1 July 1908, when the railhead from the south was extended from Mataroa to Waiouru.[14]
A plan for the proposed station was made in 1903. Tenders were invited on 4 March 1907.[15] On 7 June 1907 a contract was let to A S Johnston of Hunterville for £2,201.0s.7d and the station was built by January 1908. When opened it was 66 ft (20 m) by 14 ft (4.3 m), with rooms for stationmaster, luggage, a lobby, urinals and ladies, on a 240 ft (73 m) by 15 ft (4.6 m) platform. There was also a 40 ft (12 m) by 30 ft (9.1 m) goods shed with verandah, a loading bank, cattle yards, two 4,000 imp gal (18,000 L) water tanks and a cart approach. Cottages for railway staff were built from 1904 to 1955. A crossing loop could take 54 wagons and a snowplough was kept at the station.
The station lost its passenger trains before 1972 and closed to all traffic on 31 January 1982.[11]
Bridges to Waiouru
Between Hīhītahi and Waiouru the railway has four bridges over the Hautapu River.[16] They are made up of spans of –
- 66 ft (20 m), 2 x 33 ft (10 m) and 4 x 22 ft (6.7 m)
- 66 ft (20 m) and 7 x 22 ft (6.7 m),
- 2 x 33 ft (10 m) and 4 x 22 ft (6.7 m)
- 66 ft (20 m), 3 x 33 ft (10 m) and 2 x 22 ft (6.7 m)
The 66 ft spans were latticed girders, and the others plate girders.[13]
Tramways
There were at least three tramway networks in the area, which took timber to sawmills and the railway. Gibbs & Trevor had a tramway running west from the station and George Gardner had tramways to the north west.[6] They had a 1927 Type Cb 0-4-4-0 built by A & G Price.[17] In 1906 a tramway ran to the PWD siding and next year, W G Irvine applied to run one beside the railway. Quin Bros siding was noted in 1909[11] and, in 1910, owners of the Hawera Sash & Door Co Ltd,[18] had a 4 mi (6.4 km) tramway linking their logging area to their mill and the railway.[19] They used a 1909 Type A 0-4-0 T built by J. Johnston's Vulcan Foundry at Invercargill and a 1914 0-4-4-0 by G & D Davidson Ltd. of Hokitika. The tramways were dismantled about 1934, when the bush had been cleared.[17][20]