Okahukura railway station


Okahukura railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand.
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 to 2009, being east of Tuhua. The Public Works Department operated a limited train service as far as Matiere from 1922. A junction with the NIMT at Ongarue, and even as far north as Puketutu had been considered before the Okahukura route was decided in 1911. Work started shortly after Sir Joseph Ward had turned the first sod, including the construction of workshops and 4 railway houses at Okahukura, and the station opened the following year. It seems that the initial service was provided by coaches attached to goods trains.
A cattle yard and goods shed were added in 1915. In 1916 a porter was paid 9 shillings a week.

Patronage

Passenger numbers peaked in 1934, as shown in the graph and table below -
yearticketsseason ticketsstaffsourcetitle
19289,21959https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1928/I/2628STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1928
19299,37964https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1929/I/2090STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1929
19308,65463https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1930/I/2212STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1930
193111,27990https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1931/I-II/1778STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1931
19329,910111https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1932/I-II/1934STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1932
193310,822160https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1933/I/1388STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1933
193411,940119https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1934/I/2278STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1934
19356,739129https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1935/I/1326STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1935
19366,575129https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1936/I/1552STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1936
19375,989130https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1937/I/1896STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1937
19385,062114https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1938/I/1652STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1938
19395,431121https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1939/I/1970STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1939
19403,983110https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1940/I/1314STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1940
19415,09479https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1941/I/1203STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1941
19426,202111https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1942/I/651STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1942
19436,536138https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1943/I/679STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1943
19446,478144https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1944/I/895STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1944
19456,757106https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1945/I/969STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1945
19467,25486https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1946/I/1548STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1946
19476,01272https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1947/I/2495STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1947
19484,89914https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1948/I/2521STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1948
19493,27914https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1949/I/2104STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1949
19503,34026https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/parliamentary/appendix-to-the-journals-of-the-house-of-representatives/1950/I/2366STATEMENT No. 18 Statement of Traffic and Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1950

Road-rail bridge

The concrete foundations of the road-rail bridge over the Ongarue River, on the Stratford line had been laid by 1918, but war-time steel shortages delayed further work. The first piles were sunk in 1916 and it had been completed by January 1922.
In 2019 reopening of the line was listed as a possible future priority.

Okahukura tunnel

long Okahukura tunnel, is up from Okahukura, along the Stratford line, on a 1 in 50 gradient. It was started in February 1914 and completed in December 1920, after digging out of mudstone.