Taringamotu railway station was a station at

Taringamotu Taringamotu is a valley and rural community in the Ruapehu District and Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It is located northwest of Taumarunui, and north of State Highway 41. The local Hia Kaitupeka marae is a tribal m ...

on the North Island Main Trunk, in the Ruapehu District and

Manawatū-Whanganui Manawatū-Whanganui (; spelled Manawatu-Wanganui prior to 2019) is a region in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand, whose main population centres are the cities of Palmerston North and Whanganui. It is administered by the Manawat ...

region. Goods traffic was reported to have started by November 1902. A

station master The station master (or stationmaster) is the person in charge of a railway station, particularly in the United Kingdom and many other countries outside North America. In the United Kingdom, where the term originated, it is now largely historical ...

was appointed in 1911. In 1920 he was working over 12 hours a day. In 1924 it was a 6th grade post. The stationmaster was withdrawn from 26 June 1926. Reports mention a caretaker being at the station in 1948 and 1951. The name was changed from Taringamutu to Taringamotu after Alexander Young had described it as an error in Parliament in 1913. In 1908 additions were made to the station buildings and a station house was built. By 1911 there was a shelter shed, platform, loading bank and a passing loop for 36 wagons. Electric lighting came in about 1936. Timber was the main traffic, transferring from the

Taringamotu Tramway Taringamotu Tramway, nicknamed Taringamotu Express, was a bush tramway near Oruaiwi, also known as Waituhi, a settlement in the valley of Taringamotu in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island. It operated from 1910 to the m ...

, but the station also handled other goods, such as 122 tons of fertilisers in 1926. Taringamotu Totara Sawmills' private siding was south of the station. In 1939 the line between Taumarunui and Taringamotu became the first in the country to get CTC, meaning that Taringamotu closed as a

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 ...

station.

Passenger numbers rose rapidly until 1916, as shown in the table and graph below – Taringamotu closed to all traffic from 16 April 1972. In 1974 the crossing loop was extended. The loop was closed on 9 March 1987. There is now just a single track and a 2-span girder bridge over the Ongarue River.

Incidents

The line wasn't fenced until 1909. In October 1905 a letter from 22 Māori farmers between Taumarunui and Taringamotu complained of the agreement to do so being broken, saying, "Fifteen horses have been killed, eight cows, and five pigs". In 1915 the

Ongarue River The Ongarue River is a river of the Waikato and Manawatū-Whanganui regions of New Zealand's North Island. A major tributary of the Whanganui River, it flows west then south from its sources in the Hauhungaroa Range northwest of Lake Taupo, pa ...

undermined a bank and two engines and a van, which had been moving very slowly, were overturned. One fireman had a minor hand, or head, injury. Two goods trains crashed in 1943, with slight injuries to drivers and firemen. Floods and slips closed the line nearby on several occasions. In 2015 the wooden bridge over the Ongarue River was replaced in concrete and mass stabilisation was applied to the nearby embankment.

References

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External links

Timber mill in 1910
Ruapehu District Defunct railway stations in New Zealand Buildings and structures in Manawatū-Whanganui Rail transport in Manawatū-Whanganui Railway stations opened in 1903 Railway stations closed in 1987