page_title: Mauriceville railway station
section_title: Facilities
hierarchical_section_title: Mauriceville railway station / History / Facilities
caption_attribution_description: English: Mauriceville railway station loading bank.
context_page_description: Mauriceville railway station was a rural railway station that served the small village of Mauriceville in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand’s North Island. It was located on the Wairarapa Line between the stations of Kopuaranga and Mangamahoe with direct vehicular access from Opaki Kaiparoro Road.
  The station opened to all traffic in 1886 and was in service for 102 years until closed to both goods and passenger traffic in the 1980s. For many years it was a station of some importance and supported a small complement of staff.
context_section_description: Facilities provided at Mauriceville included a small station building, measuring 11.5 by 9.5 feet (3.5 by 2.9 m), a platform, goods shed, and loading bank.  Just 11 years after opening, it was remarked that "the office is not large enough to properly conduct the work already transacted", a problem that was only exacerbated that year when Morse telegraphy equipment was installed.  Extensions to the building were called for in 1898 when the installation of a telephone booth was requested, and again in 1900 when additional accommodation for parcels was required.  Further alterations were required in 1907 when tablet instruments were installed.  The loading bank was reconstructed in 1925.
  Following representations from the National Dairy Association on behalf of the Mauriceville Dairy Company, the department had a luggage room constructed at Mauriceville in 1900.  Concerns had been expressed about the practice of storing dairy products, particularly butter, on the platform and under tarpaulins in roadside wagons, and it was desired to have a room in which to keep such goods to reduce the possibility of spoilage.  In 1923 the District Traffic Manager requested the construction of a new storeroom in which to keep goods, primarily bundles of lime bags.  As this storeroom could not be attached to the end of the station building as originally requested, the job was quoted as a stand-alone building.  A cart dock was built at the north end of the platform in 1930.
  The Mauriceville Dairy Company, as a major customer of the railways at Mauriceville, had several alterations made to the station at various times including the laying of a track across the main road (which at the time was not sealed) between the station and the dairy factory, the laying of a concrete path from the station platform to the road, and the widening of gates in the station fence to allow the passage of barrows used to transport cans of cream.  By 1930 it had become apparent that the dumping of cream cans from the trains onto the platform – a common practice to minimise delays to the trains – was causing premature deterioration of the platform surface.  It was requested that part of the platform be re-laid in concrete slabs, but in 1933 it was decided to instead only renew the front of the platform in concrete and to lay asphalt with a greater thickness on the area where extra strength was required.
  The Railways Department requested the Mauriceville County Council to seal the roadway in front of the station in February 1939, with work being completed by the following April.
  Renovation of the station building was authorised in 1951 with the following schedule of work:
  Renew piles, level-up and repair of the floor.
  Removal of two small "lean-to" structures attached to the building and formerly used by the Post & Telegraph Department and as a telephone booth respectively.
  Repair of roof and drains.
  Install ceiling and interior lining.
  Painting.
  The department was advised on 20 September 1954 that the work had been completed.
  Preparations were made in 1952 for the increase in traffic levels expected to follow the opening of the Rimutaka tunnel.  Provision of £1,700 was made in the 1953 Capital Estimates for the installation of a new crossing loop at Mauriceville, which would be used for three train crossings and the storage of wagons from the neighbouring lime works.  Three train crossings had only been possible at Mauriceville on previous occasions when one of the trains was a railcar which could use the lime works siding, otherwise delays were experienced when trains had to be held at Masterton or Eketahuna because of insufficient space at Mauriceville.  A decision on the new crossing loop was deferred when alterations were made to the timetable to eliminate the need for three train crossings at Mauriceville.  In 1957, after the department had had a chance to assess the impact of the Rimutaka tunnel on traffic levels and freight operations in the Wairarapa, the replacement of the existing 50-wagon crossing loop at Mauriceville with a new 97-wagon capacity loop was
caption: Loading bank.
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