Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand.[2][3]

Okahukura railway station
Okahukura station site in 2019 Double deck bridge on Stratford branch in background
General information
Location	New Zealand
Coordinates	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
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station Te Koura Line open, station closed   North Island Main Trunk KiwiRail   Taringamotu Line open, station closed

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 -

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

External links

Photo of road-rail double deck bridge about 1930