Auckland Railway Station 1982 - a leaflet for kids?

 

Auckland Railway Station leaflet 1982

Auckland Railway Station leaflet 1982

Auckland Railway Station leaflet 1982 showing the Northerner

Auckland Railway Station leaflet 1982

As with many of the publicity leaflets produced by NZR at the time, it is not clear the intended audience for this material. It contains a mix of history of Auckland Railway Station (now converted into accommodation) and lists some facilities, but doesn't include a map of the station or any contact details that would be useful for any passengers. It describes the station, but it seems unlikely that this leaflet could be of much use to anyone visiting it for the first time, perhaps as a tourist about to catch a train to Wellington. Some of the use of language indicates it might have been produced for school children. 

"Looking at the left (as we walk up No.1 platform) we can see directly into the No. 1 Car Yard. Can you see the cars of the Northerner, painted in yellow and brown?"

It is dated February 1982, so NZR was still a Government Department at the time.  It indicates NZR was rather proud of Auckland Station even though the level of service offered in terms of train operations is far from its peak.  Some of the quaint points mentioned in this leaflet include:

• The chandeliers that would be lowered to the ground to service the lights
• The luggage counter is available for people to "look after" luggage or to place it on the train or bus they are travelling on.
• Facilities listed as open included the cafeteria, Post Office, hairdressing salon and bookstall. 
• The concourse is described as "very wide" because many people travelled by train, so it was necessary to have a wide thoroughfare, but fewer people use the station today and there is no way to make the concourse "any different" (!)
• Two platforms had been "filled in" for a roadway, for access to the long distance services more directly (which of course meant many passengers never ever entered the station building itself).
• The only long-distance services in 1982 were the daylight Silverfern and overnight Northerner to and from Wellington, which would depart from Platform 1 and arrive at Platform 4 respectively (largely because when one was arriving the other would usually be preparing to depart). The leaflet describes that the beds in sleeping cars were made up ready for the next trip. 
• There is a depiction of the signal box, and the numbers of locomotives (328 main line and 192 shunters), and a wide variety of freight cars (28,000 cars in 96 types. 
• A summary of the rail ferries and the Road Services buses which go to places "where there is no track laid" and places "where, although, there is track laid, no passenger trains are operating".

I remember walking through Auckland railway station in 1984 after travelling on the Northerner with my dad and being rather impressed at this ornate building, albeit with hardly any people about. It seems like such a waste, and with potential to be a grand terminal, but alas it was not to be.