This gallery is a work in progress.
Carterton Railway Station Building
The first part of this gallery is a brief history of the Carterton Railway Station Building.
The photograph below is a plan of the Carterton precinct four years after the station opened in 1884. The left and right sides of the photograph are to the southwest and northeast respectively. Wellington Station is left 77 kilometres and Masterton station right 14 kilometres. The main street of Carterton is 500 metres off the bottom of the plan. The distance between the level crossings at the Wellington and Masterton ends is 340 metres. The trackside structures along the main line from the Wellington end are the men’s toilets, the station, and water tanks for topping up the small steam engines that serviced the line. The other structures in the plan are a goods shed, two loading platforms, sheep yards and loading race, the station master’s house and a probable outhouse, and a small unidentified structure near the station master’s house.
The next photograph, courtesy of the Wellington Region Heritage Promotional Council, was taken from the north and shows the station building in its early years. Several features are readily discernible: three chimneys, a luggage cart, the doors from the platform to the rooms in the station, and at least nine diagonal braces to support and anchor the veranda.
These braces were no match for a strong wind in 1934. The veranda was peeled back over the roof, taking some of the roof with it and knocking off the top of the street side chimney. Part of the veranda became airborne, flew over the station grounds behind the station and landed in a neighbouring property. The veranda was repaired, as was the chimney although not to its original height. The first photograph below (Wellington Region Heritage Promotional Council) was taken from the west and shows the building after the damage but before repair work began. The second photograph (Old Wellington Region Facebook page) was taken from the north and shows the repair work in progress.
Moving forward to 1973, the next photograph (Wellington Region Heritage Promotional Council) shows the station from the Masterton end of the platform. A Silver Fern railcar is standing at the station. The photograph also shows the goods shed with a gantry crane, and part of a shelter to the right of the goods shed. This shelter sits astride a back shunt. The shelter and back shunt were not part of the precinct in 1884. The photograph shows four loops, one more than in 1884. The time stamp on the photograph is incorrect, as can be seen from the cars on the left side of the photograph.
Below are two more photographs, both courtesy of the Wellington Region Heritage Promotional Council, from around the same time as the above. The first photograph was taken from near the Wellington end of the precinct. The goods shed is centre left. In the centre foreground is a three-way turnout. This turnout is still there. The second photograph (Wellington Region Heritage Promotional Council) was taken from near the Masterton end of the station building looking towards Masterton. The platform ends just before the three small buildings which are jigger sheds. The concrete structure near the left side of the photograph is one of the loading platforms shown in the 1884 plan.
Fast forward now to 1990. Carterton station had closed to freight October 13, 1986 and the goods shed sold 1988. Masterton continued to accept freight and still does. The last Carterton station staff member left in 1988. From then on, local passengers had to buy tickets at a travel agent in Carterton or on the train.
Sadly, the station building, seen below in 1990, received no maintenance and was left to decay. Can you imagine waiting on the platform beside that building?
The building was slated for demolition when, fortunately for the building and the wider Carterton community, a group of concerned locals stepped in. They leased the building and formed the Wairarapa Restoration Society Incorporated, later changed to the present Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society Incorporated, and began restoring the building.
The society’s membership was small, the society had little money, and most members had full time jobs. These obstacles meant progress was slow and it was over a decade before the restoration was completed. The photograph below shows the result of the group’s efforts.
In early 2013, the Greater Wellington District Council who now owned the building paid for an upgrade. The building was painted in what has become the standard heritage colours for railway stations in New Zealand , and strengthened to make it safer during earthquakes. This strengthening included reinforcing the chimney that was operational, filling the two remaining chimneys with concrete, and attaching the building to its piles – it had been sitting on them. The resulting building is given in the photograph below
