Mercer railway station
Mercer railway station in Mercer, New Zealand, is from Auckland and 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 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.''''
History
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 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.
Refreshment room
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.''''Flooding
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, 19251879 station
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, x goods sheds and another of x 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.Goods
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 x.''''1902 station
The new station opened on 2 June 1902,' described as, "a long wood and iron building, which contains a large refreshment room and bar, ladies' room, public room, booking office, stationmaster's room, and post and telegraph department. There is also a large engine shed, besides a pump house and coal shed, and there are eight cottages in the immediate vicinity", with 9 staff – stationmaster, porter, cadet, 2 engine drivers, 2 firemen, and 2 greasers. There was criticism of the small bar, refreshment and luncheon room entrances and improvements were made in 1908, 1916 and 1919.' There was also criticism that it was further north than the old one, on lower, swampier, land, requiring it to be supported. By the time of the 1907 flood the station had further tilted. By 1956 its floor had a 1 in 12 slope, leading to its demolition in 1958. In 1907 Mercer was one of three stations in the Auckland Section to get a larger turntable, the others being Rotorua, and Taumarunui.''''Double tracking
From Sunday, 11 November 1951 Tuakau to Mercer had of double track and from Sunday, 1 July 1956 from Mercer to Mile Peg 44, was also doubled.''''1959 station
A new x station, with a verandah, costing £9,000, opened on Sunday 16 August 1959. It was sold in October 1987. In 1982 the goods shed was sold to Cooks New Zealand Wine Co Ltd. By November 1987 there was no station, or platform and only a small goods shed and low level loading bank remained.''''Railway houses
A stationmaster's house was built in 1878 and in 1882 two 5th class stationmasters' houses were built. By 1884 there were 4 stationmasters' houses. In 1882 four additional cottages were proposed at Mercer, in March 1884 platelayers' cottages were finished, in 1896 additions were made to cottage No 105. and in 1898 a house was provided for a pumper. In 1955 a new chlorinated water supply for the railway houses, station, police station and town hall cost £8,000, replaced untreated water from the Waikato River, which continued to be used for locomotives.''''Post office
On 20 May 1875 a Post Office operated by Postal Department staff opened, which from 11 August 1885 also took on railway duties and from 16 February 1903 was operated by Railways Department staff. On 1 September 1929 it was moved from the station.''''Wharf
From the beginning a branch ran down the main street to a wharf on the Waikato River to link the railway with places upstream, including a steam crane operated by WSNC. In March 1884 a 3-ton steam crane for working coal was added. A 1½ ton crane on Mercer Wharf was moved to Te Puke in 1929.''''Patronage
Traffic grew to a peak in World War 2, as shown in the graph and table below.| year | tickets | season tickets | staff | ref. | |
| 1881 | 1,763 | 3 | |||
| 1882 | 4,824 | 1 | |||
| 1883 | 4,330 | 3 | |||
| 1884 | 5,726 | 4 | |||
| 1885 | 5,536 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 1886 | 4,614 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 1887 | 4,675 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 1888 | 7,045 | 5 | 2 | - | |
| 1889 | 8,127 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1890 | |||||
| 1891 | 7,686 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1892 | 7,969 | 3 | 3 | ||
| 1893 | 7,519 | 5 | 3 | ||
| 1894 | 7,869 | 5 | 4 | ||
| 1895 | 7,951 | 7 | 4 | ||
| 1896 | 7,953 | 4 | 4 | ||
| 1897 | 8,652 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1898 | 8,446 | 6 | 5 | ||
| 1899 | 9,605 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 1900 | 10,482 | 3 | 5 | ||
| 1901 | |||||
| 1902 | 15,449 | 6 | |||
| 1903 | 16,365 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 1904 | 15,183 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 1905 | 14,912 | 14 | 9 | ||
| 1906 | 12,529 | 21 | 11 | ||
| 1907 | 11,619 | 29 | 10 | ||
| 1908 | 14,898 | 4 | 12 | ||
| 1909 | 13,977 | 8 | 12 | ||
| 1910 | 12,768 | 9 | 12 | ||
| 1911 | 11,055 | 20 | 11 | ||
| 1912 | 11,295 | 13 | 17 | ||
| 1913 | 14,199 | 52 | 17 | ||
| 1914 | 15,337 | 156 | |||
| 1915 | 15,898 | 144 | |||
| 1916 | 18,400 | 135 | |||
| 1917 | 20,601 | 113 | |||
| 1918 | 20,560 | 154 | |||
| 1919 | 20,680 | 111 | |||
| 1920 | 19,363 | 142 | |||
| 1921 | 21,203 | 125 | |||
| 1922 | 16,450 | 106 | |||
| 1923 | 14,535 | 101 | |||
| 1924 | 15,700 | 102 | |||
| 1925 | 17,615 | 107 | |||
| 1926 | 14,711 | 107 | |||
| 1927 | 14,696 | 68 | |||
| 1928 | 11,536 | 84 | |||
| 1929 | 10,218 | 133 | |||
| 1930 | 9,110 | 133 | |||
| 1931 | 11,892 | 94 | |||
| 1932 | 11,587 | 95 | |||
| 1933 | 14,141 | 99 | |||
| 1934 | 16,227 | 131 | |||
| 1935 | 18,030 | 127 | |||
| 1936 | 18,030 | 124 | |||
| 1937 | 19,560 | 111 | |||
| 1938 | 19,365 | 138 | |||
| 1939 | 19,802 | 175 | |||
| 1940 | 19,718 | 114 | |||
| 1941 | 19,667 | 128 | |||
| 1942 | 22,580 | 89 | |||
| 1943 | 25,422 | 92 | |||
| 1944 | 30,297 | 166 | |||
| 1945 | 31,073 | 145 | |||
| 1946 | 25,651 | 119 | |||
| 1947 | 21,410 | 185 | |||
| 1948 | 15,495 | 478 | |||
| 1949 | 14,838 | 337 | |||
| 1950 | 16,452 | 240 |
Accidents and tunnel
An engine cleaner died in 1899 after trying to jump onto a moving engine.A Wellington to Auckland "Limited" express derailed on 28 October 1940 killing the driver and fireman and injuring 12 passengers. An estimate put the speed at 75 mph on the 8-chain radius curve, just south of the station, near the former tunnel opened out in 1937. The engine, K900, tipped on its side and was overrun by six carriages. Removal of the tunnel allowed double tracking and easing of the speed limit to. The curve has been greatly eased in the 2006 Mercer to Long Swamp Expressway 4-laning of 12 km of SH1, which included this 1 km of rail deviation.
Another derailment at Mercer was on 3 September 2013, when a freight train blocked both the road and railway.