Koputaroa railway station was a station at

Koputaroa Koputaroa, Koputāroa or Kōputaroa is a rural community in the Horowhenua District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located south of Shannon and north of Levin on State Highway 57. It had a railway station ...

Horowhenua District Horowhenua District is a territorial authority district on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand, administered by Horowhenua District Council. Located north of Wellington and Kapiti, it stretches from slightly north of the town of ...

on the

North Island Main Trunk The North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) is the main railway line in the North Island of New Zealand, connecting the capital city Wellington with the country's largest city, Auckland. The line is long, built to the New Zealand rail gauge of and ser ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Name

The

Ministry for Culture and Heritage The Ministry for Culture and Heritage (MCH; ) is the department of the New Zealand Government responsible for supporting the arts, culture, built heritage, sport and recreation, and broadcasting sectors in New Zealand and advising government on ...

gives a translation of "long snare for catching parakeets" for ''Koputaroa''. On 29 February 1906 the name of station was changed from to Koputarua, to avoid confusion with Kereru in Hawkes Bay. On 15 April 1909 the spelling was corrected from Koputarua to Koputaroa.

History

was opened as a

flag station In public transport, a request stop, flag stop, or whistle stop is a stop or station at which buses or trains, respectively, stop only on request; that is, only if there are passengers or freight to be picked up or dropped off. In this way, st ...

by the

Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR or W&MR) was a private railway company that built, owned and operated the Wellington-Manawatu railway line between Thorndon in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, and Longburn, near Palmers ...

on Monday 2 August 1886, when trains started to run between

Longburn Longburn (or Karere) is a rural settlement just outside Palmerston North in the Manawatū-Whanganui area of New Zealand. Made up of large dairy processing plants Longburn is often mistaken to be a small township and not seen as a large satellite t ...

and Ōtaki, though a special train had run from Longburn to Ohau in April 1886. The first through train from

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

Palmerston North Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...

ran on 30 November 1886. In 1906 the cattle yards were rebuilt and a new goods shed and sheep stage added. When

New Zealand Railways Department The New Zealand Railways Department, NZR or NZGR (New Zealand Government Railways) and often known as the "Railways", was a government department charged with owning and maintaining New Zealand's railway infrastructure and operating the railway ...

took over in 1908,

tablet Tablet may refer to: Medicine * Tablet (pharmacy), a mixture of pharmacological substances pressed into a small cake or bar, colloquially called a "pill" Computing * Tablet computer, a mobile computer that is primarily operated by touching the s ...

signalling was introduced. Further improvements were made in 1909, so that by 1911 there was a shelter shed, platform, cart approach, by and by goods sheds, loading bank, cattle and sheep yards and a

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

for 70 wagons (extended to 90 wagons in the 1940s). From 1889 to 1915 there was a Post Office at the station, operated by a ganger. A post office was also mentioned in 1926. A railway house was built in 1927. Old buildings were removed in 1968. By 1981 Koputaroa had no outward traffic and the only inward freight was fertiliser to a bulk store; in 1905 Manawatu Gorge Lime Co Ltd had applied for a private siding. In 1990 a small shed remained on the west side of the line.

Incidents

On 24 June 1910 a U^D class locomotive and 3 coaches of the

New Plymouth New Plymouth ( mi, Ngāmotu) is the major city of the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. It is named after the English city of Plymouth, Devon from where the first English settlers to New Plymouth migrated. ...

mail train were derailed, though, as the train was travelling slowly, there were no injuries. It took all weekend to clear the line and a diversionary track was laid to allow trains to pass. Incorrectly set points at the passing loop were thought to have caused the Incident.

References

External links

1888 photo of shelter and linePhoto of post office, with station building in the background
Defunct railway stations in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui Rail transport in Manawatū-Whanganui Railway stations opened in 1886 Railway stations closed in 1986 {{NewZealand-railstation-stub