Huntly railway station, Waikato facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Huntly Railway Station
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Huntly station, footbridge and road/rail bridge in 1949
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| Location | Huntly New Zealand |
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| Coordinates | 37°33′36″S 175°09′36″E / 37.56000°S 175.16000°E | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Elevation | 13 m (43 ft) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | KiwiRail Network | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Distance | Wellington 573.76 km (356.52 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | double track from 4 December 1938 to south from 27 August 1939 to north |
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| History | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 13 August 1877 original 6 April 2021 |
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| Closed | 10 April 2005 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1939, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Previous names | Ruawaro, Huntley | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Huntly Railway Station is an important train stop in the town of Huntly, New Zealand. It's located on the main railway line that runs through the North Island, called the North Island Main Trunk. This station has a long history, serving passengers and freight for many years. It recently reopened for a new train service called Te Huia. Huntly is about 65 kilometers (40 miles) south of Auckland.
Contents
Station History
The Huntly Railway Station first opened on August 13, 1877. It was known by a few different names in its early years, like Huntley Lodge or Ruawaro. By 1879, it was usually called Huntley, and then later, Huntly. The station was closed on May 21, 1972, for a period.
Early Station Building
In 1893, the station was made bigger. The building was made of wood and iron. It had a large waiting room, a special waiting room for ladies, and a room for lamps and luggage. There was also a post and telegraph office inside.
The station also had a shed for goods and a place for engines to be refueled. Around 1902, about ten trains passed through the station every day. The station had a staff of five people, plus the stationmaster.
Growing Traffic and a New Station
Over the years, more and more people used the station. In March 1920, the local town board said that a bigger station was needed. At first, these requests were not approved.
However, in July 1936, the Minister of Railways (a government official in charge of trains) said that if the government was re-elected, a new station building would be built. This showed how important the station had become to the area.
The number of tickets sold at Huntly grew a lot, especially in the 1920s. This was probably because new coal mines opened nearby. Many miners used the trains to travel to and from their jobs.
The 1939 Station
A brand new station opened on May 28, 1939. This new building had rooms for the stationmaster, waiting areas, and places for porters and parcels. It also had a special electric control system with 55 levers to manage the train tracks.
The old station building was taken down to make space for a longer platform. Freight business was also increasing. By 1924, the growth of coal mining had made train business 25% busier.
Station Closure and Changes
In 1993, a local club helped repaint the station. A footbridge, which was built in 1939, was moved from Huntly to another town called Helensville. However, it couldn't be used there because too many parts were missing.
The footbridge had been raised in 1978 to allow a new main road (State Highway 1) to be built. After this, people could only get to the station from Rayners Road.
The long-distance passenger train called the Overlander continued to stop at Huntly until 2005. After that, the station was no longer used for regular passenger trains.
In 2008, the 1939 station building was moved. There were plans to use it as part of a museum about the Waikato coalfields. In 2021, there was a new idea to move the building back to the station. The plan was for it to be used as a museum and for passengers of the new Te Huia train service.
Station Reopening
The Huntly station was originally on an island platform, which means it was between two sets of tracks. When it reopened, the new station was built on a side track. This meant that trains had to slow down a lot, and trains going north had to cross over the southbound track.
Upgrades for Te Huia
About $960,000 was planned to be spent to fix up the station for the new Te Huia train service. This service was first expected in 2019, but it was delayed several times. It finally started on April 6, 2021.
The station needed a new shelter and an upgraded platform. There also needed to be "park-and-ride" areas for people to leave their cars and a bridge for people to walk over to the town center.
In 2019, an extra $3.2 million was added to the budget. This money was used to add special track switches (called points) and to make the single platform longer, up to 140 meters (460 feet). By October 2020, the new shelter was mostly finished, and the car park was completed soon after.
Naming the Station
The town of Huntly, and therefore the railway station, was named after Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Images for kids
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Tickets and season tickets sold at Huntly 1881–1950. The growth in season tickets in the 1920s was probably due to opening of mines on the Awaroa Branch, where many miners used cheap workmen's tickets.
Gallery
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Huntly about 1910
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1933 view of stations at Huntly and Huntly Town (1916–1969), Awaroa Branch
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Huntly station shelter in 2019
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Huntly 1939 railway station at Lake Puketirini in 2020
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