Utiku railway station explained

Utiku railway station
Country:New Zealand
Elevation:371m (1,217feet)
Line:North Island Main Trunk
Distance:Wellington 243.69km (151.42miles)
Opened:27 May 1904
Closed:Passengers 31 January 1982
Goods 31 October 1986
Electrified:June 1988

Utiku railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk in New Zealand, and in the Manawatū-Whanganui region. It opened in 1904 and closed in 1986.[1] [2] [3] It was part of the NaNmiles Mangaweka to Taihape section, officially opened by the Prime Minister, Richard Seddon, on 21 November 1904.[4] It closed in 1986.[5] [6] A passing loop remains.[7]

The name Utiku had a biblical origin as a transliteration of Eutychus.[8]

History

The station was planned in 1902, when work on the line had reached Utiku.[9] Tenders were put out in August 1903, track had been laid as far as Toi Toi Viaduct by February 1904[10] and the 7miles extension from Mangaweka to Utiku opened for goods traffic on Friday, 27 May 1904.[11] though worked by the Public Works Department. Goods were worked through to Taihape from 4 August 1904. On Saturday, 10 September 1904 Utiku opened for passengers[12] as a flag station, with a shelter shed and platform. Three days later a contract was let to Russell & Bignell of Whanganui for £1203.5s to build the station, which was ready by 21 February 1905. In 1906 a 40feet by 30feet goods shed was added. It had a cart approach, loading bank, cattle and sheep yards, fixed signals and a passing loop for 50 wagons, which was extended to 100 wagons in 1970 and 126 by 1980. Due to growing business,[13] the station was enlarged[14] and a stationmaster appointed in 1907. A telephone was added in 1909.Utiku was important enough to have annual returns of its traffic recorded, as was Taihape to the north and Hunterville to the south. For example, it had 6,599 passengers in 1923, but was 4th largest on NIMT in terms of sheep and pig inwards traffic and still had a substantial timber trade, both inwards and outwards.[15]

On 31 January 1982 the station closed to all but Ravensdown fertiliser in wagon lots and to that on 31 October 1986.

In 2017 a bank to the south of the station[16] was strengthened with shotcrete and soil nails.[17]

Toi Toi Viaduct

Toi Toi Viaduct lies about south of Utiku.[18] It is 59m (194feet) long and up to 58m (190feet)[19] above the Toi Toi Creek.[20] The contract for the steelwork went to Scott Bros of Christchurch.[21] Work on the viaduct was under the cooperative system. It was completed in February 1904[22] and tested in September 1904.[23] It is one of the few dating from that era, though it was strengthened in 1934. The Mangaweka deviation of 1981 starts just south of the viaduct.[24]

Timber

When the railway opened the area was still extensively forested.[25] Like other stations along this part of NIMT, this station had freight from several timber mills.

On 11 May 1904, before the line opened, Albert Gibbs[26] applied for a siding at Utiku. A cable of the tramway suspension bridge, which led to their mill, broke in 1912, resulting in the mill being shut until a new bridge, mill and tramway opened in 1914,[27] the plans having been drawn in 1913.[28] Similar collapses occurred in 1904[29] and 1920, though no one was killed then.[30] The 1914 bridge was replaced in 1961. Only the northern tower of the 1914 bridge remains.[31] In 1922 the Gibbs Bros butter box factory[32] was blown down.[33] It finally burnt down in 1927.[34]

Knight's had a siding 52ch north of the station from 1904, when they planned a 7miles tramway.[35] Perham & Larsen also had a mill north of the station,[36] until they moved to Rangataua in 1909,[37] and they and Manawatu Timber Co both had sidings in 1906. As the bush was depleted, mills closed. In 1909 there were 9 mills, but in 1911 only two.[38]

Incidents

In 1910 a landslip in a cutting near Utiku derailed a goods train. A freight train derailed in 2006 on the crossing loop, due to stiff couplings.

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.railheritage.org.nz/assets/dates_and_names.pdf Juliet Scoble: Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand
  2. Book: Yonge, John. New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas. 1985. Quail Map Company. 9. Third. 090060932X.
  3. Book: Pierre, Bill. North Island Main Trunk. 1981. A.H&A.W Reed. Wellington. 0589013165. 289–290.
  4. Web site: 21 Nov 1904. GALA DAY AT TAIHAPE. MANAWATU TIMES. 2021-01-07. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  5. http://www.railheritage.org.nz/assets/dates_and_names.pdf Juliet Scoble: Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand
  6. Book: Pierre, Bill. North Island Main Trunk. A.H&A.W Reed. 1981. 0589013165. Wellington. 289–290.
  7. Web site: Jun 2015. Huia St. 2021-01-10. Google Maps. en.
  8. Web site: 1 Jan 1936. NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS MAGAZINE - Utiku. 2021-01-20. nzetc.victoria.ac.nz.
  9. Web site: 6 Jan 1902. THE MAIN TRUNK LINE. MANAWATU STANDARD. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  10. Web site: 3 Feb 1904. MAIN TRUNK LINE. NEW ZEALAND MAIL. 2021-01-10. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  11. Web site: Stations. 2020-08-10. NZR Rolling Stock Lists. en.
  12. Web site: 5 Sep 1904. UTIKU NOTES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  13. Web site: 23 Mar 1907. DISTRICT NOTES. RANGITIKEI ADVOCATE AND MANAWATU ARGUS. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  14. Web site: 13 May 1907. UTIKU. RANGITIKEI ADVOCATE AND MANAWATU ARGUS. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  15. Web site: RETURN No. 12. Statement of Revenue for each Station for the Year ended 31st March, 1923. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  16. Web site: Basemaps. 2021-01-11. basemaps.linz.govt.nz.
  17. Web site: 12 May 2017. STRONGEST SHOTCRETE WALL EVER. 2021-01-11. Abseil Access. en-US.
  18. Web site: Toi Toi Viaduct, Manawatu-Wanganui. 2021-01-10. NZ Topo Map. en.
  19. Book: Yonge, John. New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas. Quail Map Company. 1985. 090060932X. Third. 9.
  20. Book: Representatives, New Zealand Parliament House of. Parliamentary Debates. 1901. en.
  21. Web site: 15 Apr 1901. LOCAL AND GENERAL. NEW ZEALAND TIMES. 2021-01-10. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  22. Web site: 18 Feb 1904. OUR MANGAWEKA MAN. MANAWATU TIMES. 2021-01-10. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  23. Web site: 12 Sep 1904. THE MANGAWEKA VIADUCT. WAIRARAPA DAILY TIMES. 2021-01-10. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  24. Web site: 1979. 1:63360 map - Sheet: N139 Mangaweka. 2021-01-10. www.mapspast.org.nz.
  25. Web site: 26 May 1904. NORTH ISLAND MAIN TRUNK RAILWAY: UNLOADING A BALLAST TRAIN AT UTIKU. 2021-01-11. www.aucklandcity.govt.nz.
  26. Web site: 30 Jul 1938. OBITUARY. MANAWATU STANDARD. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  27. Web site: 21 Nov 1914. UTIKU SUSPENSION BRIDGE. RANGITIKEI ADVOCATE AND MANAWATU ARGUS. 2021-01-10. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  28. Web site: Gibbs Suspension Bridge Over The Hautapu River Utiku. 2021-01-11. archivescentral.org.nz. en.
  29. Web site: 1 Dec 1904. ACCIDENTS AND FATALITIES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  30. Web site: 26 Oct 1920. TAIHAPE NOTES. RANGITIKEI ADVOCATE AND MANAWATU ARGUS. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  31. Web site: 2014. IPENZ Engineering Heritage Report - Springvale Suspension Bridge.
  32. Web site: 3 Jul 1922. HURRICANE AT UTIKU. MANAWATU TIMES. 2021-01-09. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  33. Web site: 20 Jul 1922. THE BOX FACTORY AT UTIKU, WHICH WAS SERIOUSLY DAMAGED AS A RESULT OF A SEVERE STORM IN THE DISTRICT.. 2021-01-08. www.aucklandcity.govt.nz.
  34. Web site: 5 Apr 1927. DISASTROUS FIRE NEAR TAIHAPE. MANAWATU TIMES. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  35. Web site: 20 Jun 1904. NORTH ISLAND TRUNK RAILWAY. WANGANUI HERALD. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  36. Web site: 15 Apr 1904. UTIKU NOTES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  37. Web site: 15 Nov 1909. UTIKU NOTES. WANGANUI CHRONICLE. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.
  38. Web site: 9 Oct 1911. OUR DYING FORESTS. WANGANUI HERALD. 2021-01-11. paperspast.natlib.govt.nz.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Utiku railway station".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.