Dun Mountain Railway - Stations

Stations

The company did not have stations on the incline section: it established four depots that it called “houses”. The first, at the start of the incline section, included stores, workshops for the carpenters and blacksmiths, stables for up to ten horses, a four-room house and a two-room cottage. The next most important depot was Third House, on the Wairoa Saddle, approximately halfway along the incline section. Second and Fourth Houses included small buildings for maintenance work and shelter for the staff.

While waiting for the delivery of the tram, the company communicated with the Board of Works in January 1862 to arrange for the installation of suitable passenger stations, as required under the act. The Board initially deferred a response, pending a decision on suitable sites. Later that month the company again wrote to the Board to suggest that four stations be established, at Alton Street; outside the Masonic Hotel; adjacent to the City Market Hall, on the Fish Market Reserve; and at the Government Wharf at the port. The company suggested that further stations would be required when the it exercised its right to extend the line into Trafalgar Street and Bridge Street.

Only a week later it changed its stance and suggested that only stations at the port and outside the Masonic Hotel would be required. On 30 January the Board agreed with this suggestion, but attached the stipulation that the latter station should only be a temporary stopping place, that the footpath was not to be obstructed, and that no buildings were to be erected on the roadway.