Waterloo Weekday Trains This page documents the weekday commuter trains starting from, terminating at and passing through Waterloo from 1927, when the Hutt Branch Railway was opened, until 1947 when the line was extended to Taita. Home  >  Timetables  >  Waterloo Background   Signalling   Running Times   Number of Trains   Up Timetable   Down Timetable

Background

On the 26th of May 1927 a double track branch railway was opened from Petone to Waterloo, a distance of 2 3/4 miles. There were intermediate stations at Ava and Woburn. 64% of the cost of construction came from the sale of land. A branch was constructed south from Woburn to serve the new Hutt Railway Workshops, the Hutt Park Racecourse (1929) and other industrial establishments. The first section of the industrial line was completed by 1927 and in 1943 it was extended to its present length of 2 1/4 miles.

On 7 January 1946 the branch was extended from Waterloo to Naenae as a single track. On 14 April 1947 the branch was extended from Naenae to Taita and the Waterloo - Naenae section doubled.

Electric trains to Taita began running on 12 October 1953 and on 28 February 1954 diesel hauled Upper Hutt trains were diverted to the new line, which by now was connected between Taita and Haywards (Manor Park). Electrified services to Upper Hutt began on 24 July 1955. EMUs were used, supplemented during peak periods by ordinary trains hauled by electric locomotives. In the 1970s the electric locomotives were replaced by diesel locomotives and finally on 4 November 1982 all carriage trains were replaced by EMUs.

In the 1980s Waterloo station was demolished and on 26 November 1988 the Waterloo Interchange (Hutt Central) was opened. From this date Wainuiomata buses connected with trains at Waterloo rather than Woburn.

Signalling And Trackwork

Over the past twenty years the trackwork at Waterloo has been substantially reduced. Today there are no track structures at Waterloo. See my Hutt Valley Signalling History page for details.

Running Times

Wellington - Waterloo (minutes)

1. 1928, 1937, 1947 times from Working Timetables.
2. 1995 time from public timetable.
3. Running times were consistant.
4. Times varied. On Saturday some trains took 25 - 29 minutes. An empty train took 23 minutes.
5. Times varied from 24 to 27 minutes. Most trains terminated at Taita and the departure time from Waterloo is shown in the Timetable; the running times are probably slightly less than shown here.

Number Of Trains

Wellington - Waterloo
Number of trains daily, Monday - Saturday.

Care should be used in looking at these figures. The numbers of trains on a weekday depends on which trains have been included - e.g. Wed, Sat only; Fri only. I have listed the rules I used in counting the numbers of trains at the end of the table.

1. * - Data not available (Iforgot to photocopy it!)
2. All rows exclude trains which do not stop at Waterloo.
3. All rows exclude Wed, Sat only trains
4. All rows exclude Empty trains.
5. All rows exclude Friday only trains.
6. "Terminate at Waterloo" numbers are for Monday - Friday.

Waterloo - Wellington
Number of trains daily, Monday - Saturday.

Care should be used in looking at these figures. The numbers of trains on a weekday depends on which trains have been included - e.g. Wed, Sat only; Fri only. I have listed the rules I used in counting the numbers of trains at the end of the table.

1. All rows exclude trains which do not stop at Waterloo.
2. All rows exclude Wed, Sat only trains
3. All rows exclude Empty trains.
4. All rows exclude Friday only trains.
5. "Originate at Waterloo" numbers are for Monday - Friday.

Up Trains (Wellington - Waterloo)

I have used the following codes:

Up Trains - Monday to Saturday
The times given are when the trains arrive at or pass Waterloo.

1. All trains terminate at Waterloo unless otherwise specified.
2. All trains run Monday - Saturday unless otherwise specified.
3. Times are arrival times at Waterloo for trains which terminate at Waterloo; for trains which terminate at Naenae or Taita the departure time from Waterloo is given.
4. 1927 times are from a public notice in the Evening Post of 21 May 1927. The 1928, 1937 and 1947 times are from the WTTs.

Down Trains ( Waterloo - Wellington)

I have used the following codes:

Down Trains - Monday to Saturday
The times given are when the trains depart from or pass Waterloo.

1. All trains originate at Waterloo unless otherwise specified.
2. All trains run Monday - Saturday unless otherwise specified.
3. 1927 times are from a public notice in the Evening Post of 21 May 1927. The 1928, 1937 and 1947 times are from the WTTs.

Last Updated: Saturday, September 13, 2003