Tawa Flat railway station was renamed Tawa railway station on 23 February 1959 in conjunction with the change of name of the Borough of Tawa Flat to the Borough of Tawa. The area that had previously been known as Tawa Flat then became known as Tawa. The original line through Tawa was built by the
Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company (WMR) and the station opened on 24 September 1885. At this time, the railway followed a circuitous route via
Johnsonville to reach Wellington and Tawa was 16.48 km from the terminus. The original station was a
flag stop at which trains would only stop if signalled to do so by passengers wishing to board or alight. It was located on what is now Duncan Street north of the junction of Duncan Street and Tawa Street and close to and above the present northbound
Redwood railway station.
Train crossing Arthur Leigh Hunt was employed from the WMR from 1892 to 1897, advancing from office boy at Thorndon to stationmaster. When he was a ticket clerk on the mail train coming south on a wild night with a “southerly” he was instructed at Paekakariki to cross with a special train at Tawa. The Tawa Flat station had only one “dead end” siding which was too short for either train. So the south-bound train was split into A and C, the front and rear halves. The north-bound train was designated B and the following shunts were required: • A goes forward and reverses into siding • B proceeds forward along main line clear of points to C • A proceeds onto main line clear of the points by the length of B plus C • B places C into siding, then backs to main line and proceeds on its way • A backs into siding, couples onto C, and then proceeds on its way
Incorporation into NZR The WMR was purchased and incorporated into the network of the
New Zealand Railways Department in December 1908. In June 1909, the government approved £500 to upgrade the station.
Tawa Flat Deviation In the 1930s, the original WMR route from Wellington to Tawa was truncated at Johnsonville as the
Johnsonville Branch and bypassed by the
Tawa Flat deviation. This deviation offered a quicker route to Wellington; it was 3 km shorter, avoided the steep grades and sharp curvature of the Johnsonville route, and rejoined the original route north of the new Tawa station. The new deviation was built on the floor of the valley below the level of the old railway requiring the construction of a new railway yard, island station platform, and a new station building at Tawa. The old station building was used as an addition to a local church. Freight services began using the deviation from 24 July 1935 and passenger services on 19 June 1937. On the latter date, the connection between Tawa and Johnsonville was severed and the double track deviation and the new station entered service allowing shorter journey times and a more intensive timetable. The line through Tawa was
electrified in June 1940, and on 15 December 1957, the
single track north of Tawa was duplicated as far as Porirua. == Replacement of station building==