Claudelands railway station

Claudelands railway station
Claudelands railway station in 1953
General information
Location	Claudelands New Zealand
Coordinates	37.7805°S 175.2904°E / -37.7805; 175.2904
Owned by	KiwiRail Network
Line(s)	East Coast Main Line
Tracks	single track
History
Opened	1 October 1884
Closed	2 June 1991
Previous names	Hamilton East, Kirikiriroa
Services
Preceding station   Historical railways   Following station Hamilton Central Line open, station closed 1.23 km (0.76 mi)   East Coast Main Trunk New Zealand Railways Department   Ruakura Line open, station closed 3.94 km (2.45 mi)

Claudelands railway station was a New Zealand railway station in the Hamilton suburb of Claudelands. The station was between Brooklyn Road and Claudelands Road,[1] 1.23 km (0.76 mi) east of the old Hamilton station (1879–1969) and 3.94 km (2.45 mi) west of Ruakura[2] (1884–1967).[3]

History

Claudelands had a railway station from 1 October 1884 to 2 June 1991,[3] named Hamilton East until 1 March 1899,[4] and then Kirikiriroa until 1 February 1914,[5] when it was changed to Claudelands after a petition.[6]

The station was between Brooklyn Road and Claudelands Road.[1]

By 1884 the station had a goods shed and cattle pens.[7] In 1912, the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce applied for a porter to be employed there,[8] which was approved in 1913, when it became a tablet station[9] and the yard was extended,[10] after a lengthy residents' campaign.[11] A 30 ft (9.1 m) x 20 ft (6.1 m) goods shed was built in 1925[12] and electric lighting added by 1927.[13] Railway houses were built in 1920, 1954 and 1955.[7] The station building was damaged by fire on 23 April 1949[7] and burnt down on 11 July 1987,[14] though there is a photograph of the station captioned as 25 June 1988.[15] The stockyards closed on 12 May 1969 and the station closed on 2 June 1991.[7]

In 2020 double tracking, and potentially reopening the station for events, were put forward as part of a $150m scheme to relay tracks to Cambridge.[16] The scheme was proposed as part of efforts to help the area recover from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

References

1. Aerial photograph taken by Whites Aviation (4 April 1967). "Claudelands, Hamilton". Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington.
2. Yonge, John Roger (1993). New Zealand Railway and Tramway Atlas. Quail Map Company. ISBN 9780900609923.
3. Scoble, Juliet. "Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand 1863 to 2010" (PDF). Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 January 2018.
4. "Page 8 Advertisements Column 6". Auckland Star. 28 February 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
5. "Local and General". Waikato Independent. 1914. p. 4. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
6. "The Waikato Argus, [published Daily.] a Guaranteed Circulation of Over 8500 Weekly. Saturday, January 2, 1909". 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
7. "Station Archive". NZR Rolling Stock Lists. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
8. "Chamber Of Commerce". Waikato Times. 10 December 1912. p. 4. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
9. "Kirikiriroa Station". New Zealand Herald. 2 August 1913. p. 7. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
10. "Waikato a. & P. Association". Waikato Argus. 17 July 1913. p. 3. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
11. "Kirikiriroa Railway Station". Waikato Times. 19 April 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
12. "LOCAL AND GENERAL. WAIKATO TIMES". paperspast.natlib.govt.nz. 14 January 1925. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
13. "Claudelands Progress". New Zealand Herald. 25 June 1927. p. 13. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
14. "Railways". Hamilton. Archived from the original on 3 May 2018. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
15. "Stations". NZR Rolling Stock Lists. Archived from the original on 20 October 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2020.
16. "URBAN GROWTH PROGRAMME INITIATIVES" (PDF). Hamilton City Council. 3 April 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 April 2020.