Brightwater Railway Station

Story

Brightwater railway station was a rural railway station that served the town of Brightwater in the Tasman district of New Zealand’s South Island. Brightwater is located on State Highway 6, approximately midway between the towns of Richmond, to the north, and Wakefield, to the south. It was one of 25 stations on the Nelson Section, and existed from 1876 to 1955.Facilities at this station included a Class 5 Vogel-era wooden station building, a platform, goods shed, crossing loop, siding (through the goods shed), station master's house, and windmill.To the east of the station, there was a level crossing where the line crossed Ellis Street before it headed into the curve that led to the straight to Hope and crossed the Waimea River. To the west, the line crossed Lord Rutherford Road, the then main highway south through the area. On the opposite side of Ellis Street there was the two-storey Everett Brothers’ store and G. Robertson’s sawmill and workshop.HistoryThe first section of the Nelson Section to be built was from Stoke to Foxhill, as the route for this part of the line was the first to be confirmed while the route out of Nelson was still being debated. This included the construction of the Brightwater railway station, which was opened along with the first completed section from Nelson to Foxhill on 29 January 1876.