Kakariki railway station

In 1889 an urgent want of ballast land at Kakariki was described and by 1892 there was a ballast siding 1⁄4 mi (0.40 km) north of the station.[12] The ballast pits either side of the river, which excavated river shingle, seem to have been mainly named Kakariki, but also Greatford.[15]

Kakariki railway bridge after 1897 flood

The railway crosses the Rangitīkei River on a truss bridge[16] with five 120 ft (37 m) spans and a 40 ft (12 m) abutment,[17] built in 1939. The piers are 46 ft (14 m) to 54 ft (16 m) deep.[18] Just upstream is a 1968,[19] or 1970, bridge carrying Halcombe Road.[20]

The original rail bridge was built in 1877.[10] Three spans of the bridge were washed away in June 1882.[21] The 1882 temporary bridge included 30 tons of cylinders[22] and wooden piles.[23] It was back in use in August 1882.[24] A permanent replacement was being built in October 1882[25] and completed in June 1883.[26] The railway bridge was swept away again in 1897.[27] It was converted to a road rail bridge[28] from 5 March 1900.[29] A loose beam on the bridge hit a train in 1933.[30]

Kakariki railway bridge in 2021

In 1939 the road rail bridge became a road only bridge, when the present railway bridge was built. That former rail bridge was demolished in 1970.[31]

To ease the climb to Halcombe from 1 in 53 to 1 in 70,[32] a deviation was built in 1915, with a new girder bridge over Rangitawa Stream and a 3 span 60 ft (18 m), reinforced concrete bridge carrying Halcombe Road over a new 30 ft (9.1 m) deep cutting.[33]

The factory at Kakariki has had a variety of uses. A sawmill closed in 1879, when the bush had been felled.[34] Work started on a flaxmill about 1882.[35] By 1889 flax was being railed from Kakariki to Feilding.[36]

The Wellington Meat Export Co freezing works had a siding from 2 April 1917[12] and had three sidings when it opened in 1918.[37] The works was said to have brought the company close to bankruptcy[38] and it closed in 1923,[39] though it was mentioned as in use in 1924.[40] The machinery was removed in 1935.[41] In the 1940s it was used for Air Force storage.[42] From 1945, it was used for cool wool storage, having been re-equipped in 1940[43] for dairy products, with freezers from the Port Bowen, wrecked at Castlecliff in 1939.[44]

In 1948 Feltex converted the factory to a wool scour plant using machinery moved from Melbourne; the then Managing Director owned a nearby farm.[45] In 1980 the Feltex siding could hold 18 wagons.[12] According to its later much litigated prospectus,[46] the Kakariki plant employed 47 in 2004.[47] In 2006 Feltex went into receivership. Godfrey Hirst took over and closed the plant.[45]

In 2007 the site was sold to Kakariki Industrial Park.[48] It is now part leased to Kakariki Proteins as a rendering plant[49] to produce animal feed.[50] In 2019 the site was identified as a potential source of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl contamination of the Bulls water supply.[51] A 1940s report had said, “There is ample water available from wells sunk on the banks of the Rangitiki River and drainage into the Rangitiki River basin is assured for the disposal of industrial effluents.” Most of the 1918 works remains, except that the brick chimney has been replaced by a metal one.[52]

1.7 km (1.1 mi) east of the station[53] is the small Catholic church of St Joseph, built on Te Hiri Marae in 1914 for Ngāti Rangatahi and designed by John Swan. It was registered by Heritage New Zealand as a Category 2 heritage item, with registration number 7188 on 23 June 1994.[54]

Just beyond the church,[55] a school opened between 1898[56] and 1899.[57] It closed[58] in the 1970s.[55]