The Napier railway station in Napier, New Zealand was the main railway station in Napier and an intermediate stop on the Palmerston North–Gisborne Line.
The original Napier station building was on the corner of Station Street and Millar Street, close to the centre of Napier. The facilities on the site increased to include the passenger station plus a goods yard, locomotive depot, workshop, and a way and works (maintenance) depot. The line was on a difficult to work curve and the site was limited by level crossings at each end, leaving no room for expansion. Since 1990, the passenger station has been further south, at 85 Munroe Street, and is still used by occasional passenger trains.
Napier was the terminus for both Gisborne and Wellington goods trains, though some passenger trains ran straight through, such as the Endeavour express. This section north was mothballed in 2012, reopened to Wairoa in 2019, but was closed again by Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023. Increased costs at the Wairoa Log Yard resulted in rail not being competitive.
History
Construction
Construction of the line north to the port at Spit began on 1 January 1872, a major work being to dig away Pukemokimoki hill, which had been a headland and Ngāti Pārau pā site. The first passenger train was organised by the contractors, John Brogden and Sons, on Tuesday 30 June 1874 from Napier to Waitangi. On Monday 12 October 1874, the station and the first section of the line south from Napier to Pakipaki, the to Hastings, was opened by Brogdens with an excursion train, taking 40 minutes, and a picnic, but there was no other ceremony. The line through the Manawatū Gorge to Palmerston North and hence to Wellington was opened on 9 March 1891, linking the Napier section to other railways. On Wednesday 25, or Thursday, 26 November 1874, the line to Spit opened.
The next extension from Napier was long delayed. Construction commenced on a line north of Napier in 1912, first reaching Eskdale in 1922 after a series of delays and finally reaching Gisborne on 3 August 1942; passenger services commenced on 7 September. At Westshore, on 29 January 1912, Sir Joseph Ward turned the first sod. By 2 September 1912, NZR was reporting offers made for properties, but next month the new Massey government stopped construction, pending a decision on a bridge or bank across the harbour. Therefore, it wasn't until 13 March 1916 that driving of the first bridge pile began. The last pile was driven on 26 June 1917. Work was delayed by shortages during World War I, so that rails weren't laid over the bridge to Westshore until July 1922. In 1922, the river gap at had a temporary bridge to allow platelaying to Westshore to proceed. The Harbour Board filled the main line at . Ballasting of the line from Napier was done in October 1922, with a new siding at Faraday Street, about north of Napier station, used to supply materials. On 3 February 1931, the line subsided between Napier and Bay View due to the Hawke's Bay earthquake. Repair work started in March and by June 1931, gangs were working on the line, but stopped in October 1931, a decision confirmed by an unfavourable Railways Board report. In December 1935, the Minister of Public Works, Bob Semple, announced that the new Labour government would complete the line. Work began on 27 April and on 2 July 1936, the Napier–Eskdale Section reopened for goods traffic, worked by PWD. The line was taken over by NZR on Monday 23 August 1937. The first railcar ran from Napier to Wairoa and back on 30 June 1937, but a regular service didn't start until 3 July 1939. In 1937, work at Pandora Point removed a tight curve and use of explosives there in 1947 created space for marshalling yards.
1874 station
Napier station building was extended several times as traffic grew, to become a 1st class station. It was on a spit, with the Tūtaekurī River estuary to its east, a site later occupied by railway offices. Tenders for it closed on 21 January 1874. On 4 September 1875, Justin McSweeney completed a £500 contract for a store at Napier station. A 1st class stationmaster's house was built in 1878. In 1879, £1,426 were requested to reclaim land from the estuary to expand the station and workshops. In 1882, an estimate of the cost of a verandah was made. Additions to the station by Lucas & Humphrey cost £588 in 1884. In 1893, the platform front was rebuilt in concrete. A bookstall was mentioned in 1894. By the 1880s, developments were making the station the centre of town.
By 1896, it was a 2nd class station, with platform, cart approach, x goods shed, crane, water, coal, weighbridge, wagon turntable, engine shed, fixed signals, stationmaster's house (rebuilt in 1900) and urinals. A loading bank and cattle yards were added in 1897 and sheep yards in 1898. In 1906, the station was described as an old wooden building on piles, with an asphalt platform, a stationmaster's office, chief clerk's room, parcel room, booking room, public office, luggage room and a ladies waiting room, with a goods shed, office, engine sheds and workshops, having trains a day, including the Express. In November 1926, NZR bought the Napier & Hastings Bus Company, and a bus office was opened on Marine Parade. Refreshment rooms opened on 1 July 1939, on opening of the line to Wairoa. On 29 July 1948, the telegraph room was destroyed by fire, probably originating in a chimney.
In the 1880s, houses were provided for senior staff, such as the Locomotive Foreman, and railway houses were added in 1894 (1), 1898 (1), 1926 (3), 1927 (4), 1930 (1), 1933 (1), 1934 (1), 1936 (2), 1940 (1), 1946 (1), 1947 (1), 1948 (2), 1950 (1), 1951 (1), 1955 (1) and 1956 (3).
In 1882, an artesian well was sunk for £160. From about 1883, two saltwater wells provided water for firefighting. In 1929, the water supply was made independent of Council's supply, and in 1930 four 400-gallon tanks were moved from Hastings.
At the south end of the platform, a departure bay was built and later another at the north, for the Gisborne railcars, though the canopy only protected the main platform. On the seaward side, the engine sheds had a turntable, coal bunkers, (also fuel oil from October 1947) and could do light running maintenance. Across the tracks was the goods shed. In the 1960s, the original station was gradually demolished and a new complex was built on the same site.
1961 station An office block was built in 1956, and a new x station building opened beside it on 4 September 1961. In 1960, Eskdale station building was moved to be an amenities building for the Way & Works Depot, and in 1972 it was moved from Napier to Pandora.
1990 station
The way and works depot, goods shed, locomotive servicing, repair shops and all but one track were moved to Pandora Point at the start of the Ahuriri Branch during a two-year programme across 1989–91. Afterwards, only a new InterCity coach and train terminal remained on the city site, fronting Munroe Street. The old station was closed on 6 October 1990, with a new station opened on 9 June 1991. The former station and three-storey administrative block built in the late 1950s and early 1960s were demolished, making three hectares of land available for retail development. Car parks, shops and offices were built over the former station and yard site. A development of up to 110 homes was proposed in 2024 on of the former station site, included in the Ahuriri Hapu Claims Settlement.
On Monday 1 October 1990, a New Freight Terminal opened on the site of the former exchange sidings with the Napier Harbour Board. Napier Freight Terminal, which is now accessed by the Port of Napier's Western Gate, off Breakwater Road. A marshalling yard, locomotive depot, and other facilities were also established at Pandora Point. A triangular junction gave direct access north and south from the port branch. The Ahuriri yard was closed. The old main line north to Gisborne was realigned to the east to allow a new link road to the Tamatea area of Napier, and railways land was redeveloped as an industrial subdivision.
Passenger services
Until the completion of the line from Napier to Palmerston North, passengers were catered for solely by slow mixed trains that also conveyed goods. Coaches used were 18 x A class bogie (probably Addington designed with clerestory roofs), 2 x 30 ft. B class bogies, 6 x 6-wheel C class and 5 x 4-wheel D class. The 1875 timetable allowed 50 minutes for the journey between Napier and Hastings.
In September 1887, after the railway to Woodville opened on 22 March 1887, 3 x NZR J class locomotives were transferred to Napier. Other trains were worked by 11 x F class 0-6-0STs. Expresses were limited to 80 tons, but they could take goods wagons between principal stations. When the Wellington & Manawatu Railway (WMR) was linked via the Gorge in 1891, a train left Napier at 10.45am and arrived in Wellington at 9.50pm. From 13 December 1897, after opening of the Wairarapа line, through trains were about an hour slower by that route. Southbound, the express left Napier at 8.05am and, although there were now 17 stops between Napier and Woodville instead of 12, Woodville, , was reached in 4hr 50min There the train reversed and, after a 20min stop, became a mixed train, leaving at 1.15pm. Wellington, was reached at 8.25 and Te Aro at 8.37pm. The northbound train took 12hr 23min. When the through train ran via the Wairarapa, WA class hauled trains linked Palmerston North and Woodville. The slower trains weren't popular; the Waipawa Mail noted that the first train via the Wairarapa had only 3 passengers, an MP, a policeman and a swagger, and that the only one who paid a fare was the swagger. Early in 1898, both trains were reclassified Mail, and from 1 September 1899, the 45 min allowed for the 11.9 miles from Napier to Hastings was cut to 30 min. From 1 December 1900, fewer stops cut the time to 10hr 50min and from 1 November 1901 to 10hr 35min. In 1897, Palmerston North passengers had a wait of 1½ or 2 hours at Woodville, possibly to discourage passengers from using the WMR, but it may have been to avoid extra train mileage at a time when two old K class 2-4-2s had to be transferred from South Island, even though they could only pull 55 tons up the 1 in 40 to Cross Creek and 100 tons up the 1 in 80 from Masterton to Eketāhuna. In 1899 3 x N class 2-6-2s also came from South Island and 3 more in 1901, the Ks being sent to Auckland in 1902. The Ns could take 7 cars and a 44 ft. van up Matamau and Te Aute banks and the 1 in 80 from Hukanui to Masterton, but only 80 tons from Featherston to Cross Creek. In 1907, the Mail had 2 small M class 2-4-4Ts when it was too heavy for an N class.
About 1900 trains were gas-lit (see Pintsch gas), unheated, with bench-seats and birdcage cars. A greater proportion of 47½ ft. round-roofed cars were introduced in the 1900s, complete with continuous brakes, though these still had the long bench seats in 2nd class. Electric lighting replaced gas on principal long-distance trains in the late 1920s, and steel-panelled cars formed the Main Trunk expresses between 1931 and 1933, the wider cars being cascaded to the Napier line. Between 1934 and 1936, 15 x new 50ft. steel-panelled centre-lavatory cars with vestibule, chair seating, steam-heating and covered gang ways (1809, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1826–35, and 1840, with 2nd-class Scarrett seat (wider and higher backed, padded, red leather seats) and 4 x 1st class cars 1836-39 were allocated to Wellington) replaced open platforms on some provincial express and passenger trains, mainly Wellington-Napier trains. They were gradually replaced by 56ft. stock in the later 1940s.