Raurimu railway station
Raurimu railway station was a station on the North Island Main Trunk, and in the Manawatū-Whanganui region.
It opened in 1906 and closed in 1978. It was known as Pukerimu from 1906 to 1908.[1]
The Raurimu Spiral is 6.8 kilometres (4.2 mi) from the station, and rises 200 metres (660 ft) to the National Park railway station on the North Island Volcanic Plateau; on a direct line this would be a gradient of 1 in 24, but the Raurimu Spiral reduces the gradient to a (still steep) 1 in 52.
Raurimu
In 1906 the administrative office of the northern section of the Public Works Department (PWD) which was building the NIMT was moved to a group of "tents and huts" at Raurimu, and at its zenith the Raurimu community numbered a thousand men, women and children.[2]
The settlement of Raurimu in the early 20th century had two bush tramways for forestry; Knight's tram, Raurimu of the Raumiru Sawmilling Co (1935-1957) and a tramway of the Pokata Timber Co (1930-1957).
- Knight's tram and a steam hauler, Raurimu, in a clearing in the bush
- Price type "O" bush locomotive at Raurimu, ca. 1917
- Offices of the Tamaki Sawmill Co. at Raurimu railway station
- Raurimu Spiral in 2007 (no remains of tramways visible)
- Map of the spiral, from OpenStreetMap
References
- Juliet Scoble: Names & Opening & Closing Dates of Railway Stations in New Zealand
- Pierre, W.A. (Bill) (1981). North Island Main Trunk: An Illustrated History. Auckland: A.H. & A.W. Reed. p. 92. ISBN 0-589-01316-5.