Feilding railway station

Feilding railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk line in Feilding, New Zealand. It was opened on 1 October 1876 and closed on 1 July 2002.[2] The station is now used by Feilding Information Centre[3] and an occasional excursion train.[4]

Feilding railway station
Feilding railway station
LocationNew Zealand
Coordinates40.226472°S 175.568784°E / -40.226472; 175.568784
Elevation72 m (236 ft)
Line(s)North Island Main Trunk
DistanceWellington 152.95 km (95.04 mi)
History
Opened1 October 1876 (1876-10-01)[1]
Closed25 June 2012
Rebuilt7 December 1961 after fire
ElectrifiedJune 1988
Services
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station
Makino Road
Line open,
station closed
3.3 km (2.1 mi)		   North Island Main Trunk
KiwiRail		   Aorangi
Line open,
station closed
2.05 km (1.27 mi)

The south wall of the station is decorated with a mural,[5] which features Feilding's 1999[6] clock tower, which has a 1902 clock.[7] The nearby former goods shed has a mural depicting the X Class loco[8] stored at Feilding.[9] The murals were by Eric Brew,[10] who was a resident artist and painted many other murals in the town.[11]

Feilding had hoped to be the junction of the North Island Main Trunk and the Marton–New Plymouth line so had made Kimbolton Road exceptionally wide, but that honour went to Marton and Longburn.[12]

History

J & C Bull built a 5th class station with platform, goods shed, privies and urinals[13] by 28 April 1876.[14] By July 1876 the rails were in place, linking Palmerton North and Feilding,[15] and ballasting was finished in September.[16] Two platelayers' cottages and a stationmaster's house were built by Burgess & Thompson in 1877[14] and a ladies waiting room in 1878. By 1896 there was also a passing loop for 19 wagons, cart approach, loading bank and cattle yards and the goods shed was 103 ft (31 m) by 31 ft (9.4 m), with a crane and a verandah added in 1897. By 1900 the goods shed was 153 ft (47 m) by 42 ft (13 m). In 1973 a 190 ft (58 m) wool loading shelter replaced an earlier one.[14]

The contract for the extension north from Feilding to the Rangitīkei River was let on 28 June 1876.[17] The line was extended to Halcombe from 22 April 1878,[14] thus linking the ports of Foxton and Whanganui to their hinterland.[18]

Feilding gas works opened in 1897[19] and gas lamps were added to the station in 1901. Electric lighting came on 25 January 1916,[14] after the local power station opened in 1915.[20]

Sawmillers Manson & Bartholomew, later known as Feilding Sash and Door Co,[21] had a tramway link to the railway from 1877[22] until at least 1916.[14]

A new 138 ft (42 m) by 34 ft (10 m) station, built by Graham Lambert Builders for £27,000, opened on Thursday, 7 December 1961 to replace the old one, burnt down on 29 July 1960.In part of the building was demolished in 1988 after another fire.[14]

Services
January 1877 Foxton Feilding timetable

Initially Feilding was served by two trains a day from Foxton.[23]

The first Foxton-Whanganui train on Thursday 18 April 1878 took 6½ hours.[18] The through public service began on 20 May 1878[24] with two trains a day each way, taking 5hrs 50mins for the 86 mi (138 km) journey.[25]

Once the NIMT opened in 1909, Feilding was often one of the calls made by the expresses during the night. For example, in 1932, the express from Auckland arrived at 4.20am.[26]

In the 1970s trains calling at Feilding were the Blue Streak and Northerner.[27]

Feilding closed to regular passenger trains when the Overlander was replaced by the Northern Explorer in 2012.[28]

Aorangi Bridge

The railway crosses the Oroua River just south of Feilding[29] on Aorangi Bridge, which was rebuilt in 1930[30]-31[31] when the curve was eased from a radius of 14 chains (920 ft; 280 m) to 20 ch (1,300 ft; 400 m). It has ten 60 feet (18 m) spans,[32] with a total length of 183 m (600 ft).[33]

See also

References
  1. Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand by Juliet Scoble (2012)
  2. Scoble, Juliet (2012). Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand, 1863 to 2012. Wellington. p. 32.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  3. "Information Centre - Feilding". www.feilding.co.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  4. "Upcoming trips & events – Feilding and District Steam Rail Society Inc". Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  5. "58 State Hwy 54". Google Maps. July 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  6. "Feilding Clock Tower". www.feildingheritage.nz. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  7. "Feilding town centre". teara.govt.nz. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  8. "62 State Hwy 54". Google Maps. December 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  9. "FDSR - X442 Information". steamrail.org.nz. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  10. "ERIC BREW ARTIST". MANAWATU'S IRON GATES EXPERIENCE. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  11. "Things to see and do in Feilding, New Zealand". www.newzealand.com. Retrieved 28 January 2021.
  12. Mulgan, Alan (1939). The City of the Strait: Wellington and its province. Wellington: Reed. p. 283.
  13. "PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT, BY THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS, THE HON. EDWARD RICHARDSON". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 25 July 1876. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  14. "Stations" (PDF). NZR Rolling Stock Lists. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  15. "PUBLIC WORKS STATEMENT, BY THE MINISTER FOR PUBLIC WORKS, THE HON. EDWARD RICHARDSON". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 25 July 1876. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  16. "THE FIELDING SETTLEMENT (REPORT ON THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT CONDITION OF). APPENDIX TO THE JOURNALS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, 1877". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  17. "LOCAL AND GENERAL NEWS. WANGANUI CHRONICLE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 29 June 1876. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  18. "BY RAIL TO FOXTON. WANGANUI CHRONICLE". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 20 April 1878. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  19. "The Feilding Gas Works. FEILDING STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 21 August 1897. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  20. "LIGHTING UP. FEILDING STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 25 January 1915. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  21. "OBITUARY. AUCKLAND STAR". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 15 June 1945. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  22. "MANAWATU TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 10 January 1877. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  23. "MANAWATU TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 6 January 1877. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  24. "OPENING OF THE RAILWAY FOXTON TO WANAGANUI. WANGANUI HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 20 May 1878. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  25. "WANGANUI-MANAWATU RAILWAY. TIME TABLE. WANGANUI HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 21 May 1878. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  26. "MAIN TRUNK EXPRESS. EVENING POST". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 18 March 1932. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  27. "Gazette" (PDF). 21 January 1976.
  28. "Dash to catch the last train". Stuff. 25 June 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  29. "Oroua River, Manawatu-Wanganui". NZ Topo Map. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  30. "A Reconstructed Railway Bridge — Views of the new railway bridge recently constructed over the Oroua River (on the Auckland-Wellington Main Trunk Line, between Wellington and Marton), and of the men who carried out the work | NZETC". nzetc.victoria.ac.nz. Retrieved 20 January 2021.
  31. "LOCAL AND GENERAL. MANAWATU HERALD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 17 March 1931. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  32. "NEW RAILWAY BRIDGE. MANAWATU STANDARD". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 28 August 1929. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  33. New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas (First ed.). Quail Map Co. 1965. pp. 3 & 4.

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