Mauriceville railway station was a rural railway station that served the small village of Mauriceville in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand’s North Island. It was located on the Wairarapa Line between the stations of Kopuaranga (to the south) and Mangamahoe (to the north) with direct vehicular access from Opaki Kaiparoro Road.
The station opened to all traffic in 1886 and was in service for years until closed to both goods and passenger traffic in the 1980s. For many years it was a station of some importance and supported a small complement of staff.
History
Operation
Early years: 1886 – 1897
When the station opened in mid-1886, Mauriceville was served by mixed trains that had already been providing services to stations further south on those sections of the line that were opened as the railway line made its way north. Mauriceville was briefly the railhead (for seven months) until Mangamahoe opened early the next year followed by Eketahuna two years later. Mixed trains continued to provide the only regular passenger services to Mauriceville until the completion of the line through to Woodville in 1897.
Heyday: 1897 – 1908
At the time the Wairarapa Line was completed, the Wellington – Longburn line was owned and operated by the privately held Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, meaning all government trains from Wellington to destinations north ran via the Wairarapa, ascribing a status of some importance to stations like Mauriceville. The popular Napier Mail trains were diverted from their original Napier – Palmerston North route to run via the Wairarapa to Wellington, and became the main passenger service stopping at Mauriceville, supplementing the mixed trains that continued to run on this section.
Halcyon years: 1908 – 1988
The Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company's line from Wellington to Longburn was purchased by the government in 1908, which had an effect on services provided in the Wairarapa, particularly the section of the line north of Masterton. Because of the lengthy and costly delays associated with the operation of the Rimutaka Incline, much freight traffic from the northern Wairarapa region was diverted north through Woodville and Palmerston North so it could be taken down the Main Trunk Line to Wellington. Mixed trains, however, continued to operate through Mauriceville.
Shortly after the nationalisation of the WMR line, the Napier Express was diverted in 1909 from the Wairarapa Line to run through the Manawatū Gorge and down the former WMR line to Wellington. Thereafter, the main passenger service to stop at Mauriceville was its replacement, the Wairarapa Mail. A new passenger-only service was provided from 1936 with the introduction of the Wairarapa-class railcars, which supplemented and later replaced the Wairarapa Mail in 1948. The Wairarapa railcars were in turn replaced after the opening of the Rimutaka Tunnel in 1955 by the twinset railcars, which provided the main passenger service for Mauriceville for the next 22 years. The 1959 railcar timetable shows two north-bound and two south-bound railcar services stopping at Mauriceville each day of the week, with a third service on Fridays. During the period in which railcar services were provided through Mauriceville, locomotive-hauled carriage trains were occasionally provided when demand exceeded the capacity of the railcars, but finally replaced railcar services altogether in 1977.
It was proposed in a memorandum of 25 June 1968 to convert Mauriceville to a "switch-out" tablet station to reduce operating expenses for the Traffic Department. There were few train crossings in weekends, and staff were only required to be in attendance for tablet purposes. The timetabling of trains between Eketahuna and Masterton precluded the reduction of staff hours during the week. It was later noted in 1976 that the station had been demoted to a flag station "a few years ago" and an employee and his house were removed at around the same time.