WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Wellington’s rail history dates back to 1858 when a prominent local named Robert Stokes floated the idea of a railway line from Wellington to the Rimutaka Range to the Wellington provincial government.
The government supported the line in 1863. While an ordinance passed on July 2, 1866, authorized the construction of either a standard gauge or a 3-foot, 6-inch narrow gauge line, it didn’t proceed because of a lack of funding.
However, on August 20, 1872, construction began on a line from Wellington to Lower Hutt, where it reached on April 14, 1874. Today, the line is known as the Hutt Valley Line.
Wellington’s first station, a temporary wooden structure, opened that same year at Pipitea Point. It burned down in 1878 and was replaced in 1880 to service the Wairarapa line.
In 1881, the Wellington & Manawatu Railway began operating between its privately-run Wellington-Manawatu line between Thorndon in Wellington and Longburn, near Palmerston North, in Manawatu.
A new timber station was erected near the goods station for the new Railway Wharf. In 1885, as traffic grew, the station was moved on rollers north to a less congested site on Featherston Street near Thorndon and Lambton quays; the new station was known as Lambton.
On November 3, 1886, a second station was erected at Thorndon to serve the Wellington-Manawatu line. It was 48 chains — or about 0.6 miles — from the Lambton station.
Following the government’s purchase of the Wellington & Manawatu Railway in December 1908, public pressure mounted for a single terminal, prompting plans to remodel Wellington’s railway facilities.
In 1910, George Troup, the well-known New Zealand Railways architect, began planning a new station. However, a plan wasn’t devised until 1922, and it would be another decade before work on the station began in 1933.
The current Wellington Railway Station on Bunny Street opened in June 1937, replacing terminal stations in Lambton and Thorndon. Today, it serves as the southern terminus of the North Island Main Trunk, Wairarapa Line and Johnsonville Line.
Wellington Railway Stations
- Pipitea Point (1874-1878)
- Featherston Street (1880-1885)
- Government/Lambton Station (1885-1937)
- Manawatu/Thorndon Station (1886-1937)
- Te Aro Station (1893-1917)
- Wellington Railway Station (1937-present day)