Location:
30 Wrigley Street
Waihi 3610
Waihi Railway Station was built in conjunction with the completion of the Paeroa-Waihi Railway in 1905. It was the terminus of the line until 1928 when the first extension to Tauranga was opened up, later to become the East Coast Main Trunk Line.
The station was designed by George Troup and built by William Hay of Waihi at a total cost of £1764. It was completed on 3 October 1905 in time for the official opening of the line between Paeroa and Waihi on November 8th 1905. The first station-master was Mr W J Hessell.
It is a Victorian style building with timber with corrugated iron roof construction. The station originally contained a lobby, an office, ladies waiting room and toilet.
The main traffic through the station was mine-related freight. Timetables for 1912 show four mixed (goods and passenger) trains and two goods trains running between Paeroa and Waihi daily. Coal was an early important traffic (the Waikino Battery used approximately 125 tons daily).
The line and station closed in 1978 upon the completion of the Kaimai tunnel through to Tauranga and the station and line were taken over by the Goldfields Steam Train Society in 1980 who continue to run excursion trains to Waikino as Goldfields Railway Inc.
Main Photo: Ulrich Lange, Bochum, Germany, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
