Opened in October 1902, Dumgree was renamed to Dashwood in June 1906, and closed for good in November of 1985. It is a prime example of a station installed to service the farming community, especially those in the Awatere Valley, as a means to get their wares to market. Now there is no evidence of the shelter shed and the large goods shed that once stood here. Just a bit empty space.
Here we are starting to see the stop-start progress of getting the line south. Blenheim was completed in 1880, Riverlands in 1893, Dumgree... nine years later. The problems were of course, related to funding. In the 1880s the Government was increasingly under pressure to fund public works, but in 1888 they decided that loans would no long be used to provide funds. 1888 saw a proposal to disband the Public Works department, which managed the spending of the £10M Vogel loan from 1870. Public Works survived, although in a reduced form. Another complication was competition with funding for roads - but it was not till the Labour Party came to power in 1891 with a land policy that favoured the railroad encouraged its further construction. Seddon, the new prime Minister, provided funds for the maintenance of the formations, but not for laying the rails until the the large estates were broken up. So although the contract for the basic formations (embankments and cuttings) were completed in 1892, it was not till 1902 that the line was officially opened.
Dashwood is named after an explorer who, with Mitchel in 1850, was the first to travel from Benhopai, in the Waihopai valley, to Hanmer Springs via the Acheron River. Dumgree is named for the the large sheep station here.
References:
Merrifield, R: "Beyond Dashwood", published by the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, 1990
McGavin, T.A.: "A Century of Railways in Marlborough 1876-1976", published by the New Zealand Railway and Locomotive Society, 1977.
Scoble, J: "Names and Opening and Closing Dates of Railway Stations", published by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, 2010
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