Community
Tuatapere's 110-year-old railway station is open again — this time as a café, bakery and visitor hub.
The refurbished station was officially reopened on Saturday, with Southland District Mayor Rob Scott, Tuatapere Te Waewae Community Board chair Anne Horrell and Tuatapere Railway and Heritage Trust member Wayne Edgerton cutting the ribbon.
The station was built in 1915, the end of a line from Invercargill that began running in 1909. The railway closed in 1976 and the building sat largely idle for decades. Edgerton was among those who started tidying the site and doing restoration work before the Tuatapere Railway and Heritage Trust was formed.
The trust's revival got serious funding behind it in January 2023, when the community board secured up to $310,000 in Better Off funding to develop a rail tourism precinct. The trust was the only compliant applicant when Southland District Council sought proposals. The community board approved the plan in August 2024, once the trust gained charitable status. Work began in January 2025.
Heritage trust chair Jason Christini-Crawford singled out Edgerton for driving the project forward. The result includes The Station café, Slinky's Sourdough bakery, an information centre, and a static display in the grounds — headlined by a 1968 Bagueley-Drewry diesel locomotive that once worked on the Manapouri No 2 tailrace tunnel at Deep Cove.
Horrell told guests the board was incredibly proud of what the trust had achieved. "It has been a real privilege to be part of this community and to see step by step the growth from a very broken-down old building into this majestic place of beauty and also of wonderful memories of the grand railway days in Tuatapere," she said.
Mayor Scott thanked everyone involved. "To everyone who's been part of this restoration, thank you. You've not just repaired a building, you've restored a landmark, honoured the legacy and created something that will welcome locals and visitors for years to come."
"In the end it turns out this building didn't need a match, it just needed a spark."
The formal opening was followed by an open day. The Waimatuku Southern Scenic Highland Pipe Band played while a crowd huddled on the platform in the rain.
