Hutt Park Railway Station, Petone
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hutt Park New Zealand Government Railways Department |
|
| Station statistics | |
|---|---|
| Lines | Hutt Park Railway |
| Platforms | Single side |
| Tracks | Branch line (1) Siding (1) |
| Other information | |
| Opened | 1885-02-06 |
| Closed | 1904 |
| Owned by | Hutt Park Railway Company |
| Formerly | Racecourse Platform |
| Traffic | |
| Passengers (1904) | 15,800 |
The Hutt Park railway station was a station on the privately owned but government operated Hutt Park Railway in Petone, a suburb of the city of Lower Hutt in the Wellington region of New Zealand’s North Island. It was located on the western bank of the Hutt River, and adjacent to a bridge that carried pipes over the Hutt River, near present day Waione Street.
The station was built for, and only ever handled, patrons for the Hutt Park Racecourse who arrived at the station on special race trains from Wellington. Due to the nature of this traffic, the station was only busy for several days a year during racing season, and operated between 1885 and 1904.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first passengers through the Hutt Park station arrived for the race meetings held by the Wellington Racing Club on the 6th and 7th of February 1885, with the line having only been certified by the Chief Engineer the previous day.
Facilities initially provided at the station included a 400 ft long platform, a siding, and a small ticket office. Several complaints were made over the years about the inadequacy of these facilities, with one such missive in 1895 noting that the platform was in poor shape, a barrier on the pipe bridge was required to control the flow of passengers from the racecourse on to the platform, another siding with a 40 vehicle capacity was required to handle additional traffic, and the ticket office was not suitable. By March of the following year, the company had installed a barrier on the bridge and laid a new 11 chain long siding.
A dispute between the racing club and the Hutt Park Railway Company in 1904 over the fares being levied by the railway company, along with a move by the Wellington Racing Club to shift its operations to a new racecourse at Trentham, were contributing factors to the cessation of all race traffic on the line by the following year.
[edit] Operations
The Wellington Racing Club held up to ten meetings per racing season, with two trains being run each way to each of these meetings. After the arrival of the first train on a race day, it was shunted into a siding at the station to allow for the second train to use the platform.
All trains were owned and operated by the Railways Department, who also sold combined tickets covering travel on the trains and admittance to the racecourse. In 1904, the fare was 4s 6p first class, or 3s 6p second class, of which 1s was remitted to the racing club to cover admission, and the remainder divided equally between the railway company and the Railways Department.
[edit] Proposals
Consideration was given as early as 1895 to extending the Hutt Park Railway over the Hutt River and terminating the line near the entrance of the Hutt Park Racecourse. This would have involved the construction of a new Hutt Park station at the terminus, including: two loop sidings; a barricade; fencing; entrance gates; ticket office; and a 600 ft long platform. The existing siding at the current Hutt Park station would have been retained for race day operational requirements.
Discussions between the Wellington Racing Club and the Hutt Park Railway Company on this proposal had, by 1904, failed to produce an agreement that was satisfactory for both parties, and the racing club also failed in its attempt to get the government to fund the extension. By September 1904, the racing club had abandoned all attempts to improve rail access to the Hutt Park Racecourse and was actively seeking to establish a new racecourse at Trentham.
[edit] Today
No trace of the station remains, with the site on which it once stood having been developed as a commercial and industrial area in the 20th century.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Picnic and Race Trains to Hutt Park, Archives New Zealand, AAEB W3199 32 04/493 1
- Working of Hutt Park Railway Company Limited’s line from Petone Junction to Racecourse, Archives New Zealand, R 3 W2278 1905/325 1
