Mercer railway station

Mercer railway station in Mercer, New Zealand, is 72 km (45 mi) from Auckland and 609 km (378 mi) from Wellington on the North Island Main Trunk line. It opened on 20 May 1875 and was closed to passengers about 1970 and to goods in the 1990s. It burnt down in 1879 and also in 1900. Until 1958 it was the first refreshment stop south of Auckland.

In 1883 Mercer was 43 mi 54 ch (70.3 km) from Auckland and, from the opening of the new Auckland station in 1930, until Britomart replaced it in 1993, Mercer was 41 miles 69 chains from Auckland, via Newmarket, and 44 miles 5 chains via Ōrākei.

The line was extended from Penrose to Mercer on 20 May 1875, though the pioneer British contractors, John Brogden & Sons, ran an excursion train the day before. The New Zealand Herald said, "This will be a busy station for some time to come, it being the terminus." It described the route as crossing Mangatawhiri swamp, then running beside the South Road, with a short branch line being constructed to connect with the Waikato Steam Navigation Company's (WSNC) boats. It said the station and other buildings were still being built. 'Some time to come' ended just over 2 years later, when the line was extended to Ngāruawāhia on 13 August 1877.

The service began with two trains per day each way between Auckland and Mercer taking 2hrs 50mins. The station was unfinished when the railway opened.

The refreshment room was built by 10 August 1877 for £245 and extended in 1878/79 for £180. An 1880 advert for reopening of the refreshment room said trains waited 20 minutes. Until New Zealand Railways took over in 1917, the Mercer Railway Hotel, opposite the original station, managed the refreshment room. The hotel was rebuilt in 1898, with 15 bedrooms, 3 sitting rooms and a 50-seat dining room. The refreshment room gained importance when dining cars on main trunk expresses were removed as a wartime measure. The refreshment room was the target of poet A. R. D Fairburn's, with his famous quip. "The thought occurs to those who are entrained: The squalid tea of Mercer is not strained." Sit-down” meals were discontinued from 13 December 1923. From 1940 a hostel accommodated female refreshment room staff. On Tuesday, 28 October 1958 the refreshment room closed, following the introduction of railcars. It had employed 4 to 12 staff.

Until the Lower Waikato-Waipa Flood Control Scheme was built, between 1961 and 1983, the station area regularly flooded, including in 1906, 1907, 1917, 1924, 1925

The original station burnt down on 19 May 1879, due to an old stove in the refreshment room. A new station opened on 4 October 1879. In 1883 a plan was made to re-arrange the station. By 1884 there was a special station, platform, cart approach, 20 ft (6.1 m) x 15 ft (4.6 m) goods sheds and another of 63 ft (19 m) x 25 ft (7.6 m) for WSNC, loading bank, crane, water, coal, turntable, wagon turntable, engine shed, fixed signals, stationmaster's house, urinals and a passing loop for 50 wagons. A verandah was added in 1893. Only the chimneys were left standing after the 1879 station was also destroyed by a fire begun in the refreshment room, on 23 December 1900. A temporary station was formed from 5 huts, which had housed prisoners at Rotorua.

In 1889 provision was made for loading sheep and in 1890 cattle yards and in 1896 sheep yards were added. By 1911 the goods shed had been extended to 30 ft (9.1 m) x 20 ft (6.1 m).