Clareville railway station facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Clareville
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| New Zealand Government Railways (NZGR) regional rail |
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| Location | 48 Chester Road, Clareville, New Zealand |
| Coordinates | 41°0′16.51″S 175°32′48.35″E / 41.0045861°S 175.5467639°E |
| Owned by | Railways Department |
| Line(s) | Wairarapa Line |
| Platforms | Single side |
| Tracks | Main (x1) Loop siding (x1) |
| History | |
| Opened | 1 November 1880 |
| Closed | 16 September 1956 (freight) 30 November 1970 (passengers) |
Clareville railway station was a small train stop, known as a flag station, in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand's North Island. It served the village of Clareville, which is just north of Carterton. This station was open for 90 years, from 1880 until it closed completely in 1970.
Contents
History of the Station
How the Station Was Built
After the Greytown Branch railway line opened in May 1880, tracks were built steadily north towards Masterton. By late July, the first train could cross the Waingawa River.
Thanks to a gift of land from Donald and Frances Nicolson, a small shelter was built at Clareville by the end of August. The station officially opened for all train traffic on 1 November 1880. This happened when the railway section between Woodside and Masterton was completed.
Station Features
Besides the shelter shed, Clareville station also had a loop siding. This was a side track where up to 19 wagons could wait. There was also a special loading siding used by William Booth's timber mill. This mill was located between Carterton and Clareville. In 1885, the mill even got its own private siding.
In 1924, the loading bank was made longer, reaching about 100 feet (30 m). This was done so that racehorses could be loaded and unloaded more easily. The station needed to handle up to six special horseboxes for races. The work was finished by October 4, 1924, just in time for the race traffic on October 18.
In April 1925, the Taratahi Dairy Company and others found it hard to deliver milk cans to the station. They asked for a "cart dock," which is a special platform for carts. This was approved and built at the south end of the station. It was completed by June 30, 1925.
Train Services
When Clareville station first opened, it had two return mixed trains on weekdays. A mixed train carries both passengers and goods. This schedule stayed the same for many decades. There were no regular passenger-only trains, except for special holiday trips.
Since Clareville was a flag station, trains only stopped if passengers wanted to get on or off, or if goods needed to be loaded or unloaded.
The Wairarapa Line was finished all the way to Woodville in 1897. This allowed the Railways Department to run the Napier Mail train through the Wairarapa. This train used to go a different route. In 1909, the Napier Mail went back to its original route and became the Napier Express again. After that, the main passenger train through the Wairarapa was the Wairarapa Mail. This train mostly covered the route from Wellington to Woodville.
From 1936, new, faster trains called Wairarapa-type railcars were introduced. Passengers from Clareville could now travel much quicker. The Wairarapa Mail passenger trains still ran, but in 1944, they were cut back to only three times a week because there wasn't enough coal. The service never fully recovered and stopped completely in 1948.
A few years later, the Rimutaka Tunnel opened. This meant the mixed trains on the Wairarapa Line stopped running, and the Wairarapa-type railcars were replaced. New, larger twin-set railcars began operating. By 1959, Clareville was listed as a "stops if required" station for these new railcars.
In 1953, officials looked at the sidings at small, unstaffed stations like Clareville. They found that Clareville received about 12 wagons of coal and 6 wagons of wooden boxes (shooks) for the Carrington Dairy Company. The dairy company sent its outgoing goods from Carterton. Clareville mostly sent out hay and straw, about 12 wagons a year. It was decided that closing Clareville for goods traffic would not cause much trouble, as goods could be handled at Carterton instead.
The goods siding at Clareville was removed, with work finished by March 1, 1958. The station officially closed for goods traffic on September 16, 1956.
A Close Call
In 1898, there was a near-accident at the station. A horse-drawn buggy with two ladies was waiting by the tracks for the Napier-Wellington express train. The horse got scared as the train came closer and ran into the engine. Luckily, the horse was not hurt, and the ladies in the buggy also escaped without injury, though the buggy was broken.
Clareville Station Today
Today, there is nothing left at the original site of the Clareville station. The shelter shed was taken away when the station closed in 1970. All the private sidings nearby have also been removed.
However, the station building itself was saved! It was moved to a private home in Masterton. Then, in November 2017, it was moved again to the Carterton railway station, where it is now preserved.
