Newman Railway Station

Newman
New Zealand Government Railways (NZGR)
Newman railway station, from the south.
Location	Cliff Road, Newman, New Zealand
Coordinates	40°37′19.17″S 175°42′40.83″E / 40.6219917°S 175.7113417°E / -40.6219917; 175.7113417
Owned by	Railways Department
Line(s)	Wairarapa Line
Tracks	Single
History
Opened	7 February 1896 (freight) 18 March 1896 (passengers)
Closed	9 June 1969 (passengers) 12 August 1973 (freight)

Newman railway station was a station on the Wairarapa Line in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of New Zealand’s North Island. It served the small rural community of Newman, 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Eketahuna. It is accessed via Cliff Road, but is now located on private property.

The crossing of the Makakahi River by the Wellington – Woodville railway in December 1894 enabled the establishment of a station at Newman. The station was initially freight-only, while passenger trains continued to terminate at nearby Eketahuna as it was the nearest station with passenger accommodations.

After the railway reached Eketahuna in 1889, local timber merchant Tom Price established a sawmill at Newman, named Albion Mill. At first, the timber was transported by cart to Eketahuna to be shipped out, but this caused problems with the local council when inclement weather caused his carts to damage the roads. Therefore, when Newman station was established, a siding was laid north of the station to his mill at the township of Newman. Until the mill closed in March 1900, it provided a significant source of traffic for the station. Price’s operations were responsible for 1,000,000 cubic metres (35,000,000 cu ft) of totora, rimu, and matai being shipped to his timber yard in Petone.

One of the most significant aspects of Newman’s history is its short-lived status as the junction with the Nireaha Tramway from 1895 to 1900. Unlike many other timber tramways of the period, the Nireaha Tramway was constructed to railway standards, with a fully ballasted track and iron rails, and used the national track gauge of 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm).

Permission was first sought in 1893 to construct the line, and was intended to resolve the problems caused by transporting timber using carts on the roads. Price was fortunate in that an economic depression had caused work on the government Wellington – Woodville railway to stall at Eketahuna, leading to the availability of a pool of skilled labour. These men were employed by Price to construct and run his tramway. The 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) line started at the Albion Mill and passed by the township of Nireaha before terminating at a sawmill Price had established there on the eastern bank of the Mangatainoka River. This mill was destroyed by fire shortly after commencing operation and was not replaced.