 Railways
October 29, 1875 was a momentous day for the Helensville district, as the railway finally
came to the Kaipara.
Prior to this time goods and passengers either had to brave the somewhat arduous coastal
trip from Onehunga into the Harbour across the temperamental Kaipara Bar, then up the winding
Kaipara River, or come up the Waitemata Harbour from Auckland to Riverhead, then travel
overland through bush country on rough tracks to Helensville.
The Kaipara Line had been long fought for. Setting up the railway link from Auckland to
Helensville was dependent on the goodwill of Maori and European landowners between Pitoitoi
(Riverhead) and Te Awaroa (Helensville) as Auckland Provincial Council policy of the time
was that land had to be given without compensation.
The need for a rail link was being investigated from the 1860s and after the Kaipara Railway
Act of 1871, negotiations began in earnest. It was four years later that the line was opened.
On the day the train of eight carriages, two wagons, and two engines (“Snapper” and “Kaihu”),
took one hour forty minutes to reach the Helensville (South) Terminus – railway station
and wharf.
The Riverhead line was never entirely successful, and pressure mounted for a direct line
from Auckland. A route through Glen Eden, Waitakere and Kumeu (where the link was made
with the Riverhead line) was chosen. The building of the Waitakere tunnel was a big project.
The through line was opened in July 1881.
The line was extended to Helensville North two years later, 1883, after the building of
a bridge over the Awaroa Stream. In 1866 railway construction north of Helensville began
and extended about ten miles – through Kaukapakapa – to the Makarau tunnel,
which was very difficult, and was the end of the line for many years. Construction continued
slowIy; in 1906 it was open to Kaipara Flats, 1909 to Wellsford, 1915 to Maungaturoto and
1922 to Whangarei.
Re-alignment of the lines, and changes in the Railway buildings happened at the Helensville
North Station in the mid 1920s, and a Railway Refreshment Room took over from private enterprise
in 1927. This was the first “cuppa” stop on the line.
Helensville North Station was adjacent to the “steamer” wharf and was an important
terminus for travellers to the north and north-west (Whangarei, Dargaville) as the link
for the train and harbour steamers right through until the 1940s. The opening of the Brynderwyn
Highway and the completion of the Waiotira-Dargaville rail link (1942) made the service
uneconomic, and the last steamer ran on 27 August 1942. During World War 2 trains moved
soldiers around the various northern-Auckland camps and to the troop ships.
The Auckland-North Auckland express trains (and in latter years railcars) continued a
passenger service until 1967. Passenger traffic on the line ceased in the 1970s but freight
trains continued.
Interested residents of the area, led by Councillor Arnold Gosling, formed the Rodney
Community Tourist & Development Trust Ltd in the 1980s which took over the remaining
station buildings, and has continued after Mr Gosling’s death, to promote the interests
of rail in Helensville.
Bibliography:
- A History of Helensville and the Kaipara, by C S West
- Tracks in the North, H J Hansen and F J Neil
- Men Came Voyaging, C M Sheffield
- The Kaipara Line, Peter Reaves
- Tall Spars, Steamers and Gum, Wayne
Ryburn
- Notes from Margaret Kawharu
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