History
Construction of buildings for use by railway staff and the station itself was underway in May 1880, with the station master’s house (used initially as the resident engineer’s office), followed a month or two later by the station building.
The first train to depart was a special goods train carrying a load of timber, on 5 July 1880. It was another three months before goods consignments were accepted, on 11 October 1880, with the first goods train running to Masterton two days later. The first passenger train ran on 30 October 1880. The line between Woodside and Masterton was officially opened on 1 November 1880.
In 1884 Carterton was recorded as having a five-room station building with a 60-by-30-foot (18 by 9.1 m) goods shed and watering facilities. Cattle and sheep yards and a loading bank were installed prior to 1890. There were three loops, holding 56, 23, and 9 wagons; a goods shed road holding 9; and a siding behind it with capacity of 32. In 1884 the station sold 6,530 passenger tickets, and handled 13,610 tons of goods outward and 1,583 tons inward and 20,875 head of livestock, mostly sheep and mostly outward.
Carterton was a manned station until 1989 when the last staff positions were withdrawn. This move led to a decline in the condition of the station buildings, a situation which in part prompted the formation of the Wairarapa Railway Restoration Society. The goods shed and some unused track which was used for marshalling purposes were removed in the late 1980s.
The Society has saved the Waingawa station building in the early 1990s, its now located beside the loading bank in the Carterton Station Yard.
Read more about this topic: Carterton Railway Station
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