New Studholme station

Press, 19 December 1981, Page 11

New Studholme station

One of New Zealand’s oldest railway stations, at Studholme, about 40km south of Timaru. will soon be replaced.

The Railways Department has accepted a $35,000 tender from a private contractor to

replace the present dilapidated 105-year-old station, which is on the Main South line.

This would be the first new station to be built in the South Island in the last five years, said the Railways ar-

chitectural officer in Christchurch, Mr Trevor Henderson.

Studholme’s new 170 sq m station should be finished by June next year, said Mr Henderson, who designed it.

When this was done, the historic old station, which was nearby, would be demolished.

Studholme is an important station because it is close to fruit farms round Waimate. Included in the new station will be a special fruit compound which will be used to store fruit overnight. The new station, comprising toilets, tearooms, and an office, would be built of weatherboard and corrugated iron, Mr Henderson said.

Silver birch and silver gum trees would be planted outside to landscape the station. Mr Henderson said he first designed the station about three years ago. After the replacement station had been approved in principle by officials in Wellington, the design had had to be slightly modified.

In recent years, traffic at the station has fallen because of the closing of the branch line to Waimate, and the axing of the Christchurch to Dunedin railcar.

Even though there are now only four trains a day travelling through the station it is considered an important one because of the nearby fruit farms. The stationmistress is Mrs Marie Fletcher.