NZ Rail History – Muddy Start

With the pause on construction at our sites this month, we thought it might be a good time to do a bit of a u-turn historically.

Let’s take a look back at some of the big steps taken before City Rail Link (CRL) could put the first spade into the ground to build a project that will do so much to make Auckland grow and prosper. It’s quite a journey.

It starts back in the 1850s when there were little more than tracks of mud connecting the settlement. Auckland’s first bus service – relying on horse power – starts running between Queen Street, Epsom and Onehunga.  At the same time, ferries appear on the harbour connecting the North Shore and Ōtāhuhu with the city.  

Auckland’s first train line, between the city and Drury with a branch line to Onehunga, opens in the 1860s. 

A couple of decades later, a railway station is built at the bottom of Queen Street and Auckland’s first tramway, again relying on horses, starts a service between Queen Street and Ponsonby.  

Railway Station at the bottom of Queen Street

Just after the turn of the century, horses are retired as the city’s electric tramway service is switched on. Concrete wharves start replacing wooden ones for the ferries, and the Government steps in to hurry-up completion of the rail line between Auckland and Wellington.

There’s more Government involvement on the horizon as the first chapter in a very long and convoluted transport story for Auckland is written – more on that next month.