Mercer railway station in Mercer, New Zealand, is 72 km from Auckland and 609 km 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.
History
The line was extended 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 refreshment room was built in 1876/77 for £245. 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. An 1880 advert for reopening of the refreshment rooms said trains waited 20 minutes. In 1902 the newly rebuilt station was 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 coalshed, and there are eight cottages in the immediate vicinity", with 9 staff – stationmaster, porter, cadet, 2 engine drivers, 2 firemen, and 2 greasers. Until New Zealand Railways took over in 1917, the refreshment rooms were managed by the Mercer Railway Hotel, opposite the station. The hotel was rebuilt in 1898, with 15 bedrooms, 3 sitting rooms and a 50-seat dining room. The refreshment rooms gained importance when dining cars on main trunk expresses were removed as a wartime measure. The refreshment rooms became the target of poet A.R.D Fairburn's witty tongue with this very famous quip. "The thought occurs to those who are entrained: The squalid tea of Mercer is not strained." 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 & 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.
Future services
In 2011 a feasibility report on reinstating passenger services said a station with a platform 155m long and 750mm high for 6-car trains would cost $4m. The proposal was shelved. It is believed by some that the figure is overly inflated to kill off the proposal.
