The opening of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company line had a greater impact on Pukerua than any other single event since the arrival of Ngāti Toa. Before rail the only way to reach Pukerua was by walking, horse or by waka.

It was quite a railroad, the Manawatu line. The first general manager was a Lambton Quay grocer, and the directorate included several merchants, a lawyer or two, a brewer, at least two retail drapers and a pioneer settler whom Seddon once described as the “Father of Wellington”. But these amateurs not only built a railway. They also ran it for twenty-two years, and ran it well. (McGavin, 1958, p5)

Following considerable agitation from prominent Wellington citizens the Public Works Statement tabled in Parliament in August 1878 allocated £440,000 for a Wellington to Foxton railway. Work began in 1879 but was halted after a change of Government. Several members of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce then formed the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company to finish construction and run the railway. This venture was enabled by the Railway Construction and Land Act of 1881. The Act was “a carefully prepared piece of legislation which virtually gave the colony railways in exchange for Crown lands” (Cassells, 1994, p23). The Act included very strict regulations and provision for eventual Government purchase.

The initial survey for the rail line south of Pukerua had two possible routes around Taupo Swamp: one east and one west of the swamp. The western route was chosen because the wide gully on the eastern side would have required an expensive wooden bridge. The survey recorded “Heavy Bush” around Pukerua with Bright’s Clearing marked near where Pukerua Bay station is today. Frederick Bright leased land from the Ngāti Toa owners who strongly opposed both the survey and the taking of land for the railway.

The No. 12 contract to construct the railway between Paremata and Pukerua went out to tender by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) on 17 November 1883. The successful tenderer for this relatively straightforward contract was John Taylor of Taylor and Briton, Auckland. In January 1884 the contractors advertised for “Good Railway Laborers between Porirua and Pukerua; the works are now started.” (New Zealand Times 16 January 1884 p3). They also required pick and shovel men, a carpenter familiar with bridges and culverts, a pair of sawyers with their own tools, ship carpenters or bridge hands, and fencers. Taylor and Briton also wanted to buy or hire draught horses and tipping drays as well as “good horse drivers.” (New Zealand Times 7 February 1884 p 3). A total of ten draught horses were used on this contract. Tenders were called to supply 5,000 fence posts and 100 strainer posts. These were to be sound heart totara, black birch or hinau. The railway contract brought business to the area including James Floyd’s butchery, bakery and boarding house capable of housing 50 people “with comfort”. By September 1885 rails were laid and the first work train reached Pukerua on Saturday 31 October 1885. Directors of the WMR were the first passengers to reach Pukerua by rail the following day.

The No. 15 contract, for construction of the railway and six tunnels between Pukerua and Paekākāriki, attracted significant newspaper coverage because it was, “considered the most difficult and important [contract] on the line” (New Zealand Mail 19 September 1884 p25) and “a precarious undertaking” (Hoy, 1972, p32). The contract was won by Samuel Brown, well known at the time as a very successful Wellington contractor, businessman, and provisional director of the WMR. Brown later became Mayor of Wellington for two terms. Brown was a significant figure in the development of Wellington’s infrastructure. He had put up the telegraph lines from Wellington to Masterton, designed and built the Farewell Spit lighthouse which began operating in 1870 and laid Wellington’s first tram lines.

During the construction of the tunnels up to 400 men were employed at any one time. Workers included brick makers, bricklayers, tunnelers, quarrymen, woodcutters, stonemasons, navvies, bootmakers, butchers, storekeepers and boarding house keepers.  [Link to: Pukerua Railway Camp]

The escarpment was so unstable a very large number of bricks were required to line five of the tunnels. The sixth tunnel through stable rock was concrete lined. A brick works was established at Pukerua and additional bricks were brought in from Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. [link to Pukerua Brickworks]

All construction material including barrels of cement, kerosene, candles, dynamite, blasting powder, rails, drain pipes, nails, timber and even the steam engine and boiler for the brick works were unloaded from coastal steamers anchored just off the beach at Pukerua and brought ashore in surf boats. Two surf boats, the larger weighing three tons, were kept by Samuel Brown on the beach at Pukerua for landing material and equipment. The boiler was floated ashore after all the tubes had been plugged. The ships which called in to Pukerua during the building of the railway included the s.s. Huia, and s.s Napier but the most frequent visitor was the s.s. Tui under Captain Charles Pope, highly regarded by both passengers and contractors. The Tui made regular voyages from Wellington to Foxton and Port Gore in the Marlborough Sounds calling at Pukerua with construction material from Wellington and, on the return voyage, with timber from Paiaka Mill on the Manawatu River. This vessel delivered over 2000 tons of freight to Pukerua beach. Captain Pope said of his experiences landing freight at Pukerua:

I had no idea of the danger I was in. I used to lay-to at night, and as the morning broke I used to find rocks in every direction. Fortunately, I landed a lot of stuff without any loss; but I hope I shall never go through the same experience again.” Those who have been in the habit of travelling up and down the coast with Captain Pope will have no difficulty in forming their own ideas as to the difficulties which had to be overcome, for the captain is known to be one of the pluckiest men in command of our steam fleet. (New Zealand Times 29 September 1886 Page 3)

The task of lifting tunnel construction material to the level of the railway workings above the beach was even more difficult than landing it from coastal ships. Once ashore it was transferred to a trolley and hauled 250 feet up the cliff on rails. At the top of the cliff a horse walking in circles turned a vertical windlass called a whim which wound up a steel cable attached to the trolley.

It was inevitable that there would be accidents along such an unstable escarpment. The works manager John Laughton always had a small medicine chest and a sheet of sticking plaster at the ready for minor cuts and grazes. More serious accidents happened to an assortment of workers from the Paekākāriki paper boy who delivered the Evening Post to camp workers, right up to the contractor Samuel Brown himself. Tragically there were three fatalities during construction. [Link to: Accidents – Building the Railway]

The first passenger trains arrived at Pukerua long before the tunnels were completed. Two special excursions trains left Wellington for Pukerua on Christmas Day and again on Boxing Day 1885. The excursion return fare was four shillings. Later, when the line was fully open, the usual return fare was six shillings. The New Zealand Times “special reporter” described the views:

Pukerua, which is to Paikakariki what Kaitoke is to the Rimutaka, is very prettily situated. Overhanging the sea, you can look across the Straits on a fine day, when the Kaikouras are easily discernible; and, if you ascend some of the hills close by, you can have a magnificent view of Mount Egmont on the one aide and Ruapehu on the other. The hills are covered with bush, and the gullies have a profusion of ferns; so that the place is charmingly situated for picnics and fern gathering. Family parties will still find Plimmerton more comfortable, as the refreshment rooms lately built there are very convenient; but athletes, health-seekers, and lovers of nature will often find Recreation in the Pukerua hills and gullies. (New Zealand Times 12 January 1886 p2)

Two special excursion trains were again run for Wellington Anniversary Day on Friday 22 January 1886.

In January 1886 directors of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway announced there would be a temporary light rail line along the beach from below tunnel 10 to Paekākāriki while tunnels 11 and 12 were being completed. A notable feat was lowering a small Belmont locomotive down 250 feet on rails to the level of the beach. Two wagons and a van followed.

On Saturday 23 March 1886 the directors travelled to the end of the line in a carriage pulled by the company’s powerful new locomotive built by Nasmyth and Wilson of Manchester. This journey was a trial of the new locomotive and to acquaint the directors with progress on the railway. No.10 tunnel was reached in 45 minutes running time from Wellington and the directors were duly impressed with progress. They saw “the little town” of tents and huts along the beach used by workmen, the cave used as a temporary home and even a store. An advertisement for St Jacob’s Oil, a patent medicine used for sprains, bruises and muscle pain was prominently displayed at the store.

On 9 July the Company advertised daily trains from Wellington to Paekākāriki to meet the Foxton coach but, as the timetable said, “Passengers will be required to walk between the upper and lower lines.” (New Zealand Times 9 July 1886 p3). The timetable did not say that it was somewhat more than just a walk as “the climb up the side of the cliff from the one train to the other was rather a severe scramble owing to the precipitous nature of the ascent and the loose character of the soil.” (Manawatu Standard, 23 March 1886, p2) Luggage was run down a chute to the lower level and hauled up when passengers were travelling south. A reporter described his descent:

… jumping, slipping, and sliding in a somewhat undignified attitude, I got to the bottom with nothing worse than my boots being filled with pebbles and my nether garments torn where I fain would have them whole. Having all assembled on the beach, we mounted a platform on wheels and were pushed by an engine over the three remaining miles of line to Paikakariki. (Evening Post, 28 April 1886, p1)

In April 1886 a reporter claimed he had made the fastest ever return journey from Wellington to Palmerston North and back by rail, coach and coastal steamer. The journey was completed in the then amazing time of only 23 hours. Many people living in Wellington at this time thought of the inland country north of the city, which had only been accessible previously by coach or on foot, as somewhat mysterious and of considerable interest. When the Paekākāriki Hill road was opened in 1849 the foot track through Pukerua had been bypassed.

Monday 4 October 1886 was very significant for Samuel Brown. That was the day the very last brick was laid in tunnel No. 12. Directors of the WMR, together with prominent Wellington citizens, were among the 120 invited guests in a special train which left for Pukerua at 1:30pm. Mr. J. E. Nathan, Chairman of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company performed the ceremony of laying the last brick. A commemorative marble was placed on the northern entrance of the tunnel with the words:

Finished 1886. J. E. Nathan, C. J. Johnston, M.H.R., J. Plimmer, J. Kirkcaldie, G. V. Shannon, W. H. Levin, James Smith, J. Wallace, Secretary; H. P. Higginson, Engineer-in-Chief; A. R. W. Fulton, Resident Engineer and Samuel Brown, contractor.

The current whereabouts of this engraved marble slab is not known.

After the ceremony the train carried on to the end of the rails just short of Waikanae. On the return journey toasts were given to the Company, Mr Brown, Mr Nathan, Mr Higginson, Mr Wallace and the engineering staff. The train arrived back in Wellington at 7pm. The day was deemed a great success in spite of a very strong northerly and heavy rain which caused a shower of rocks to break four carriage windows and crack others.

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Pukerua tunnel numbers

3,000,000 bricks made at Pukerua

2,385,000 bricks used in tunnels*

900,000 Pukerua bricks used

640,000 extra bricks to increase tunnel walls from 9 inches to 14 inches thick

300,000 bricks made at Mount Cook Prison

265,000 cubic yards excavated in earthworks

200,000 bricks brought from Auckland in sailing ships

£60, 748 original contract price

30,000 cubic yards excavated in tunnels

4,000 barrels of cement

3,000 pounds of blasting powder

2,500 pounds of dynamite

2,000 tons of building material landed from s.s. Tui

1,200 gallons of kerosene for lighting

140 feet length of brick drying tables

60 feet height of brickworks chimney

6 number of tunnels in No. 15 contract

5.75 miles length of Samuel Brown’s contract

*Tunnel No     Length in yards                 Bricks

8                                  178                             350,000

9                                  306                             560,000

10                               236                             450,000

11                                276                             475,000

12                               300                             530,000

Total                         1296         Total         2,385,000

13                                  70                           Concrete lined

 

 

By Ashley Blair