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The railway renewed: 150 years of railways in Manukau

Bruce Ringer

When the Manukau railway station is opened in 2011, the occasion will mark almost 150 years of railway development in the region.

On 1 May 1862 South Auckland’s – indeed the North Island’s – first railway was opened. This was a three-mile-long wooden tramway between the Waihoihoi Coal Company’s mine near Drury and the Slippery Creek.

Auckland businessmen soon developed more ambitious plans for a railway line between Auckland and the Waikato River. However, although a route was surveyed as far as Drury, further progress was delayed by the Waikato war.

On 16 February 1865 the first sod of the Auckland to Drury railway was turned, but construction was halted the following year for financial reasons.

The advent of Julius Vogel as Colonial Treasurer in 1869 changed matters. Vogel was prepared to borrow large amounts of money overseas to finance public works. Work resumed on the abandoned line in January 1872.

On 26 March 1874 a passenger excursion train reached Otahuhu. Six days later the first produce from the area was shipped to Auckland by train – a load of 12 tons of potatoes. On 20 May 1875 passenger services began between Auckland and Mercer. At that time the stops along the route included Penrose, Otahuhu, Papatoetoe, Manurewa, Papakura, ‘Hunua’, Drury, Pukekohe, Buckland, Tuakau and Pokeno.

Further stops were added as the population of the area grew. The Westfield station was opened in 1887, Mangere in 1910, Wiri and Takanini in 1913 (when Wiri Station Road was developed), Homai in 1924 and Puhinui in 1925. Suburban services were boosted by the opening of the Westfield deviation or eastern line in 1930. The Middlemore station was opened in 1947.

Manurewa railway station, looking north, 1944. Engine WAB 772 on the Auckland to Papakura run. Photographer, R.H. Jeans. (Manukau Research Library, Manurewa Historical Society collection, MNA: I, 2, D4)

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