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From the time the railway reached Helensville in 1875, speculation was rife among Mahurangi settlers as to the route chosen as it headed north to service their settlements. Some favoured the lines cut by surveyors, while others felt the ancient Maori tracks must be more direct.
Without machinery, building the railway was of necessity labour-intensive, and more than 160 men were employed on the line. Tunnels were bricked and in places streams had to be diverted.
Thirty frustrating years passed as the impatient farmers waited for a more efficient way to transport their produce to market. Slowly the line crept north to Tahekoroa and then to Ahuroa and Woodcocks.
The red letter day, November 17, 1905, finally arrived, when Premier Richard Seddon arrived at Kaipara Flats to declare the extension open. He spoke to a large crowd made up of locals and excursionists who had travelled from Auckland and Helensville on the first train to Kaipara Flats.
In answer to the cry “A mile a year”, he promised to return every year to open a new stretch of the railway north. The Royal Mail travelled by train, and Kaipara Flats became an important mail centre connecting with the coach service to Warkworth. In summer the coach was drawn by four horses and in winter a leader was added because of the awful mud encountered on the road, which was not metalled until 1923.
