Manawatu rail: Whitmore Traditional Cache
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Size: 
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One of a series of simple, easy to find, caches at railway stations in and around the Manawatu.
Welcome aboard the WMR service to Wellington! Last stop Longburn (start of the line), next stop Linton.
This town that never was is probably named for Sir George Stoddart Whitmore (1830-1903). Whitmore was born in Malta and after battles in South Africa, Crimea and Turkey came to New Zealand in 1861. He retired in 1862, however was appointed major commanding Napier Military District in 1864. After outstanding successes in the Maori Wars for which he eventually attained the rank of Major-General he retired from the military and spent many years in parliament and on the NZ Legislative Council. Eventually he retired again to his cattle stud in the Hawkes Bay. |
G.S. Whitmore
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Although some of the land here was sold, the town never got established and only 1½ streets of the six originally planned exist. This station, although fully planned for, was never actually built. Certainly the stop is not listed in the Wellington and Manawatu Railway (WMR) timetables of 1886. In 1960 NZ Railways, who purchased the line from WMR in 1908, built a new bridge over the Manawatu River cutting out the loop and excluding this stop. The old bridge, in the words of a local resident, was "a bit rickerty" and the train would slow down so much that people could drop off their groceries and then get off at Linton and walk back. The station itself was to have been built about 120m to your right as you face the NZP gate at the end of the road.
The last stop, Longburn, is the terminus of the WMR. There were arguments over who should pay for moving and upgrading the simple shelter shed station and installation of a engine shed and turntable. The argument went so long that WMR put these in at its own cost but had to site the station in the V of the rail junction, to allow the Foxton-Palmerston train to stop on the other side of the platform. This meant that WMR trains stopping at the station would block the road! The government did not even want to have a station at Longburn, but WMR refused to pay the 8 shillings per train for track rental to Palmerston. So passengers were required to alight here to change trains, and goods cars also had to be transferred. The government was given free use of the station and all other costs, such as the stationmaster's salary, were split down the middle. The station was upgraded with a verandah in 1905 and eventually removed when the Milson rail deviation to a new rail station on the edge of Palmerston North was opened in 1959.
The fare for the whole journey, Wellington to Longburn, in 1886 for first class passengers was 17s. 6d. By 1906 this had dropped to 9s. 11d. Second class passenger fares dropped from 9s. 11d. to 4s. 2d. A wagonload of sheep dropped from 52s. 9d to 44s. 8d - all a measure of the success of the railway. Before the railway opened, the cost of moving a ton of potatoes from Otaki to Wellington was £5. In 1906 it was just 7s.!
Whitmore, from WMR survey documents
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Google maps clearly shows the road and property boundaries, the original rail right-of-way, and the new rail by-passing the town.
For examples of other towns that never materialised, see Cunningham, at the geocache Cunninghams Post Office (Manawatu), and Linton, at the cache Manawatu rail: Linton.
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References:
Cassells, K.R.: "Uncommon Carrier", published by the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, 1993.
The Encyclopaedia of New Zealand: "WHITMORE, Major-General the Hon. Sir George Stoddart, K.C.M.G., M.L.C."
Enzed Transport: "Mapping the old Wellington and Manawatu Railway"
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Gerr