Hamilton Railway Station, New Zealand

Hamilton

1980 - the new Hamilton station in the middle distance, the old Frankton Junction being demolished in the foreground. ECMT and NIMT branching to left and right respectively
Location Fraser Street, Hamilton[1]
New Zealand
Coordinates 37°47′30″S 175°15′55″E / 37.791611°S 175.26536°E / -37.791611; 175.26536Coordinates: 37°47′30″S 175°15′55″E / 37.791611°S 175.26536°E / -37.791611; 175.26536
Owned by KiwiRail
Line(s) North Island Main Trunk
Platforms 2
Connections East Coast Main Trunk (goods only)
Construction
Parking Yes
History
Opened 19 December 1877[2]
Rebuilt 1975
Electrified 25 kV 50 Hz AC June 1988
Previous names Hamilton,
Hamilton Junction (20/10/1879 – 1/10/1884),
Frankton Junction (1884-1955),
Frankton (1955-20/7/1975)[2]
Services
  KiwiRail  
Preceding station   KiwiRail Scenic   Following station
Northern Explorer
toward Wellington

Hamilton Railway Station serves the city of Hamilton in the Waikato region of New Zealand. It is located in the suburb of Frankton, hence the station's former name Frankton Junction, its name for most of its existence. The station is located at the junction of the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) and East Coast Main Trunk (ECMT) lines. Only the NIMT still carries passenger services, which consist only of Northern Explorer services between Auckland and Wellington on six days of the week.

Hamilton also had at one time a station in the city centre.

History

Frankton Junction station consisted of an island platform located on the NIMT just north of the junction between the ECMT and NIMT. It had two signal boxes, and a locomotive depot was located in the Vee of the junction.

Due to the end of steam operation in the North Island in 1968, the depot was closed and a new station was opened on its site in 1975 with a side platform on each line. The station was renamed to its present name at that time. The Frankton South End signalbox was relocated to the Hamilton Miniature Engineers' site at Minogue Park in Te Rapa, opposite the new Te Rapa loco depot, while the station building became a café near Waikato University.

The station was important in the growth of Hamilton and historically the trains calling included The Overlander, Blue Streak, Scenic Daylight, Daylight Limited, Northerner, Silver Star, Night Limited, Waikato Connection, Rotorua Express, Geyserland Express, Thames Express, Taneatua Express and Kaimai Express.

The scale of past use of the station is indicated by a 1936 report that 3 months' revenue was £7065 for tickets (27,025 sold), £1482 for parcels and £24,143 for goods, including 43,357 sheep, 5,849 cattle and 1,756,450 feet of timber.[3] The 2016 equivalent would be about $15m a year.[4]

Services

About 2008, the canopy over platform 1 (NIMT) was reduced in length. The ECMT carries no passenger services and its platform (platform 2) is used infrequently by excursion trains.

Passenger services are limited to the Northern Explorer, which replaced The Overlander in 2012. Previous services include the Kaimai Express and Geyserland Express railcars to Tauranga and Rotorua (Koutu) respectively, which were cancelled in 2002, and the overnight Northerner, which ceased operation in 2004 under Toll Rail.


  Former adjoining stations  
Te Rapa Racecourse
Line open, station closed		   New Zealand Railways Department
North Island Main Trunk		   Rukuhia
Line open, station closed
Terminus   East Coast Main Trunk   Hamilton Central
Line open, station closed
Hamilton station from Massey Hall bridge, showing the NIMT platform (right) and ECMT (left). In 2006 the station still had the long canopy over the platforms
Frankton Junction about 1915
AARD Hudson buses at Frankton Junction early 1920s loaded with mailbags. The 1937 link shows that the station then had many bus connections. No bus now serves the station.
Northern Explorer at Hamilton in 2012, ready to depart for Auckland. Most of the platform canopy was removed about 2008.
Plaque next to main entrance - opened by Ron Bailey 6 August 1975
A 25-minute walk to the city centre, or 5 minutes to the half-hourly[5] bus

References

  1. ↑ KiwiRail Scenic Journeys - our stations
  2. 1 2 Juliet Scoble: Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand
  3. ↑ "REVENUE GOES UP. Railway Business. Frankton And Hamilton. Three Months' Activity (Auckland Star, 1936-07-04)". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  4. ↑ "Inflation calculator - Reserve Bank of New Zealand". www.rbnz.govt.nz. Retrieved 2016-11-03.
  5. ↑ Dinsdale route 3 bus timetable
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