page_title: Pahiatua railway station
section_title: Halcyon years: 1908–1988
hierarchical_section_title: Pahiatua railway station / History / Operation / Halcyon years: 1908–1988
caption_attribution_description: English: Pahiatua railway station Railcar Storage Shed and Workshop. This building was constructed by the Pahiatua Railcar Society and was completed in 2001.
context_page_description: Pahiatua railway station is on the Wairarapa Line in New Zealand’s North Island. It was opened in May 1897, shortly before the line was opened to Woodville in December of that year. The station is 1.7 kilometres from Pahiatua, in contrast to the original plans for the railway line to run through the town.
  As Pahiatua is one of the more significant towns in the northern Wairarapa, the station was for many years one of the few staffed stations on the northern section of the line. Though passenger traffic ceased in 1988, the station continues to be the source of freight traffic thanks to the neighbouring dairy factory, and it is also the home of the Pahiatua Railcar Society.
context_section_description: The Wellington and Manawatu Railway was purchased by the government in 1908, which had an effect on services provided in the Wairarapa, particularly the section of the line north of Masterton.  Because of the lengthy and costly delays associated with the operation of the Rimutaka Incline, much freight traffic from the northern Wairarapa region was diverted north through Woodville and Palmerston North to the Main Trunk Line to Wellington.  Mixed trains, however, continued to operate through Pahiatua.
  Shortly after the nationalisation of the WMR line, the Napier Express was diverted from the Wairarapa Line to run through the Manawatu Gorge and down the former WMR line to Wellington.  Thereafter, the main passenger service to stop at Pahiatua was its replacement, the Wairarapa Mail.  A new passenger service was provided from 1936 with the introduction of the Wairarapa-class railcars, which supplemented and later replaced the Wairarapa Mail in 1948.  The Wairarapa railcars were replaced after the opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel in 1955 by 88-seater twinset railcars, which provided the main passenger service for Pahiatua for the next 22 years.  The 1959 railcar timetable shows two north-bound and two south-bound railcar services stopping daily, with a third service on Fridays.  During the railcar period, locomotive-hauled carriage trains were occasionally provided when demand exceeded the capacity of the railcars, and replaced railcar services altogether in 1977.
  After the railcar services were withdrawn, patronage of passenger services on the northern section of the Wairarapa Line gradually declined.  Demand finally reached a point where the service was no longer economical, and the Palmerston North – Masterton – Wellington and return service was withdrawn from 1 August 1988.  This move led to the closure of Pahiatua station to passengers, though it remained open for goods traffic.
caption: Pahiatua railway station Railcar Storage Shed and Workshop. This building was constructed by the Pahiatua Railcar Society and was completed in 2001.
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