Woodville Railway Station, New Zealand

Story

|}Woodville railway station is the northern terminus of the Wairarapa Line and is located at the junction with the Palmerston North - Gisborne Line in the small Tararua town of Woodville, 27km east of Palmerston North in New Zealand’s North Island.Woodville was the railhead of the line from Napier until the line was completed through the Manawatu Gorge, connecting it with Palmerston North in 1891. It was not until 1897 when the Wairarapa Line finally reached its northern terminus that Woodville again became a station of some importance, 10 years after it opened. As a junction, Woodville has hosted a variety of services from the Wairarapa, Manawatu, and Hawkes Bay regions, but has been closed to passenger services since 2001.The station remains distinctive for its unique (to New Zealand) balloon loop track arrangement, which allows trains from Hawke’s Bay direct access to the Wairarapa and vice versa without having to run the locomotive around the train. This means that trains from any direction can use the station, and the loop can also be used to turn locomotives when Woodville is the terminus of a journey.HistoryOperationEarly years: 1887–1897Woodville was initially a station on the Palmerston North – Napier line that was constructed southwards from Napier in the 1880s. The railhead finally reached Woodville in 1887, with the first official train arriving on 22 March 1887. Woodville remained the terminus of the line over the next four years as it was extended through the Manawatu Gorge, finally reaching Palmerston North in March 1891.