Ohotu railway station
Ohotu railway station | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
General information | |||||||||||
Location | New Zealand | ||||||||||
Coordinates | 39°43′S 175°50′E / 39.71°S 175.83°E | ||||||||||
Elevation | 396 m (1,299 ft) | ||||||||||
Line(s) | North Island Main Trunk | ||||||||||
Distance | Wellington 247.09 km (153.53 mi) | ||||||||||
Connections | until 5 January 1915 known as Egmont Box Co's siding | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
Opened | 21 November 1904 | ||||||||||
Closed | 10 August 1959 | ||||||||||
Electrified | June 1988 | ||||||||||
Services | |||||||||||
|
Ohotu railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand.[1][2] When the station closed to all traffic, on 10 August 1959, it had a shelter shed and passenger platform.[3] It was part of the 13+1⁄2 mi (21.7 km) Mangaweka to Taihape section, opened by the Prime Minister, Richard Seddon, on 21 November 1904.[4] The station was across the Hautapu River from Torere village, which had been surveyed in 1896.[5]
Only a single track remains through the station site and there is little sign that there was ever a station there.[6]
The New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage gives a translation of "place of [the] fifteenth night of the moon" for Ōhotu.[7]
Name
From 1908 Egmont Box Co had a sawmill at Ohutu, sometimes called Utiku,[8] or Torere.[9][10] When the track laying reached Ohotu in April 1904, it was described as Torere Junction.[11] From 5 January 1915 Egmont Box Co's siding, was renamed Ohotu[12] and it then became a booking station handling passengers and parcels.[13] The name of the post office changed from Ohutu to Ohotu in 1925.[14]
Timber
From 1908 until its closure in 1926,[14] Egmont Box Co's mill cut roughly 42,000,000 board feet (99,000 m3) of kahikatea, mainly for butter boxes,[15] in addition to some rimu.[8] Its tramway was extended as the bush was cut,[8] until it was cut out in 1921 and the mill closed.[15] The centre span of the 120 ft (37 m) Howe Truss bridge,[16] 160 ft (49 m) above the river, built of timbers up to 16 in (410 mm) thick,[17] which had been built by Sykes the & Shaw in 1911,[18] developed a crack which made it dangerous[15] to run their Climax locomotive[11] over it, so trucks were pulled over with a winch.[15] When the bush was cut out the bridge was sold for scrap. During demolition in 1923 it collapsed, killing one man and injuring another.[17]
References
- ^ New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas (First ed.). Quail Map Co. 1965. pp. 3 & 4.
- ^ Pierre, Bill (1981). North Island Main Trunk. Wellington: A.H&A.W Reed. pp. 289–290. ISBN 0589013165.
- ^ "Stations" (PDF). NZR Rolling Stock Lists. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ "GALA DAY AT TAIHAPE. MANAWATU TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 21 November 1904. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "Townships: Plan Of The Torere Village". archivescentral.org.nz. July 1896. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "7905 State Hwy 1". Google Maps. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ "1000 Māori place names". New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 6 August 2019.
- ^ a b c "TIMBER AND TIMBER-BUILDING INDUSTRIES (REPORT OF COMMISSION". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 1909. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "OHUTU NEWS. TAIHAPE DAILY TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 1 May 1919. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ "Sheet: WN38 1928 one inch map". www.mapspast.org.nz. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
- ^ a b "UTIKU NOTES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 15 April 1904. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ "Stations" (PDF). NZR Rolling Stock Lists. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
- ^ "OHUTU RAILWAY STATION. RANGITIKEI ADVOCATE AND MANAWATU ARGUS". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 28 October 1915. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ a b "POST AND TELEGRAPH DEPARTMENT (REPORT OF THE) FOR THE YEAR 1925-26". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ^ a b c d "EGMONT BOX COMPANY. HAWERA & NORMANBY STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 31 August 1921. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ "NEW ZEALAND TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 9 July 1920. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
- ^ a b "BRIDGE'S SUDDEN FAIL. NEW ZEALAND HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 3 December 1923. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
- ^ "UTIKU NOTES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 7 August 1911. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
External links
- Photo of Egmont Box tramway bridge in 1920s