Haapamäki railway station

Haapamäki railway station (abbrev. Hpk, Finnish: Haapamäen rautatieasema) is a junction station in the village of Haapamäki, in Keuruu, Finland. Construction on the railway line from Tampere to Seinäjoki via Haapamäki was finished in 1882. When the railway line to Jyväskylä was built, Haapamäki became a junction station. The fourth line to branch off from Haapamäki was the Pori line, which was built in the 1930s.

This line saw heavy traffic until the 1970s, since all trains heading for Ostrobothnia and Jyväskylä went through Haapamäki. The number of trains heading for Ostrobothnia via Haapamäki dropped off in 1971 as a result of the line from Tampere to Seinäjoki via Parkano being built. The number dropped even further once the Pori line was closed.

Haapamäki railway station was built over a two-year period, from 1880 to 1882. At the same time, construction was being started on a rail line between Tampere and Vaasa. Originally, the area around the station was sparsely populated wilderness, but a village quickly sprung up around the station. Beautiful log buildings were built for the stationmaster, the railway guard and other railway personnel. At the same time, some of the people building the station settled down permanently in the village and built themselves houses. The railway enticed merchants to the town as it offered them a substantial shipping advantage. By the time trains started rolling through the village in 1882, a village with several dozen houses had sprung up around the station. Haapamäki never saw any major industry roll into town, as there were no rapids nearby that could be used to generate energy; nor were there any major waterways nearby that could be used for transporting timber to the station.

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