A railway from Hamilton to Morrinsville was begun in 1879, and completed in 1884 by a third contractor. The Eureka section was built across the Piako Swamp, and the station site was seen in Eureka as being too far from most of the farms which were situated near the Cambridge-Morrinsville Road, and referred to as ‘Wilderness Junction’. However, the station itself had three rooms, and railway houses were built for the station agent and gangers who worked on the line. Eventually it also had a goods shed, cattle yards and the stationmasters’ house on the opposite side of the line. Although it had a slow start, by 1915 the passenger and goods trains through Eureka were frequent. Goods from the butter and cheese factories and supplies for them came by rail. Secondary students, after completing milking, would arrive just in time to catch a train to Hamilton for school. The station eventually closed in the 1960s when passenger trains were taken off the route. The rail line and road were initially at the same level, but the peat of the road has subsided at least two metres over the years.
Location