The railway along the Petone foreshore was built to convey patrons to the Hutt Racecourse. Bridges are expensive to build, and the railway was privately funded, and so the the station was placed on the wrong side of the river to save on costs. Passengers had to walk the last kilometre across two bridges to attend the races. There were proposals to build a bridge for the railway, beside the existing pipe and road bridge, as early as 1895, however the Wellington Trotting Club, the Hutt Park Railway Company and the Government were unable to come to a funding arrangement. By September 1904 the racing club was seeking to establish a new racecourse in Trentham and abandoned all attempts to improve rail access.
Fast forward 20 years. Railway's workshops in Petone had outgrown their space and in 1927 a new workshop yard was being built here in Gracefield. As this was adjacent to Hutt Park, the racing club sought to take advantage of this and wrote to to the Railways Department requesting that race trains be provided. They estimated that two trains per race meeting would be required from Lambton Station in Wellington to the back of the Hutt Park Racecourse via Whites Line Station (now Woburn). At the time line construction to the Hutt workshops had only been completed to Waiwhetu, but it was expected to be ready for the summer racing season that year. Railways agreed but said they would only clear the ground. The racing club agreed. The first train to a race meeting was 17 September, 1927. As before, the train fare included the entry fee to the grounds. But by 1949 an increased uptake of personal vehicles and a decrease in attendance saw a decline in usage and the line was closed with the last race train in February of that year.
Fast forward some more, and in 1960 the Wellington Trotting Club decided to hold race meetings at night. The new format was expected to have an increased and stable patronage and this led to a renewed interest in running the race trains. The stop was upgraded - Railways provided a platform, and the racing club provided the path lighting, rebuilt the gates and ticketing stalls. Services on race day ran from Upper Hutt and Wellington. As there were no sidings, the trains moved into a workshop siding to await the return journey.
Service started for the first race of the 1960-61 season. Although the inaugural service was successful with 1508 passengers this was not sustained, with passenger counts quickly dropping to the borderline 500 needed to break even. In order to reduce costs the service ran from Woburn only, connecting with regular scheduled serices there. In 1962 the station officer role at Hutt Park was eliminated, his duties taken up by the guard on the train. The assistant guard was also eliminated, and the fares reduced to match those offered by busses. After two years of not breaking even, the race train ran for the final race of the 1964-5 season, on 11 May 1965. In June the station was formally closed or the second time in its life and all facillites removed.
Although much has gone from the site, the platform still exists and can be seen looking across the bridge (at the waypoint). The rail line continued from here to a number of industrial sidings all over Gracefield. You can see some remnants of this across the road from the cache and a bit more on Hutt Park Road, at the other waypoint. Alas all the rail beyond Hutt Park Road (and a lot before it) has been pulled up.
As a side note, in 1975 a report from Railways suggested a possibility of a rail link to Wainuiomata. This was to involve an extension of the Gracefield Branch line through a three-kilometre tunnel.
Hutt Park station, 1960 |
Hutt Park station, 2007
Looking towards the cache
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References:
Wikipedia: "Hutt Park railway station, Petone" (note - this refers to Pipe Bridge railway station)
Wikipedia: "Hutt Park railway station, Gracefield"
Scoble, J: "Names and Opening and Closing Dates of Railway Stations", published by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, 2010.
Parsons, D: "Wellington's Railways Colonial Steam to Matangi", published by the New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society, 2010