In December 1884, the newly formed Hutt Park Railway Company approached the Petoni Town Board (yes, Petoni with an "i") for the right to lay a railway line from the main line along the beach to the river. Permission was granted on condition that a 15 metre strip was left clear for a future roadway along the Esplanade. This railway was duly constructed, and was used for race traffic, although the majority of its use was actually by the Gear Meat Company.
The line was first proposed and requested of the Royal Commission on New Zealand Railways in 1874 but was turned down. However competition from the new Island Bay Racecourse (built in 1883) spurred a renewal of the idea. The company was formed and the capital of £4,000 (roughly $840,000 today) was raised in a single day. The land along the foreshore was given free to the company and the 3.2 kilometre track, a 120m platform here and a small ticket office at Beach station was built in 38 days. Construction took place without actual authorisation; to resolve a legal dispute in the High Court, section 137 of the Reserves and Other Lands Disposal and Public Bodies Empowering Act 1915 legitimised the line. The railway station and end of the line was here, at the published coordinates, to save the cost of having to build two railway bridges paralleling the existing road bridges onto Goat Island and then across the main arm of the Hutt River to the racecourse. The small arm of the Hutt River has since been culverted - Goat Island is an island no more.
Near the end of 1889 this station was given a much better name: Racecourse Platform. There are some references that suggest that the name was changed yet again, to Hutt Park, however I think this was confused with a later station that was built nearby. Certainly none of my authoritative references give any indication of a name change after Racecourse Platform.
On race days NZR ran the trains from Lambton Station in Wellington and from Upper Hutt. The return fare from Lambton Station was 4s 6d for first class and 3s 6d for second class, which included the entry fee into the race grounds. During the entire life of the railway this fare did not change. However the line had its problems - heavy seas regularly damaged it, personal cars were becoming more available and in 1906 Hutt Park itself was taken over by the local authorities when the Wellington Racing Club shifted operations to the new course at Trentham. The demise of Racecourse Platform occurred in 1915 when the line was closed and removed, apart for the first 900 metres to Petone wharf which was sold to the Gear Meat Company (see The lost stations of the Hutt: Victoria Street for more on this). The remaining line was finally pulled up in the mid 1970s.
But this is not the end of the story...
Incidentally, the Island Bay racecourse only survived seven years. It had its last meeting in January 1890.
To find the cache you have to be the passenger! Get off the train and head off across the bridges towards the race course.
At the published coordinates is a four digit number, xx-xxxABCDxx, and two more below, xx-xxxEFGHxx and JKLM. Use these to find the cache, which is located at:
S 41° 1 (D+J) . (B+H)(F+L)(F+H)' E 174° 5 (B+D) . (G+H)(L+M)(A+J)'
Good luck!
Petone foreshore in 1948 showing the remains of the line to Hutt Park, now only servicing the Gear Meat Company and Odlins Timber.
The old pipe bridge spanning the Hutt River, 1955. You can see the large water pipe under the roadway at the far end. In the foreground is Goat Island.
References:
maps.nzrailmaps.nz
ngairedith, "PETONE, Hutt Valley becomes a town - 1881", www.familytreecircles.com
"Hutt Park railway station, Petone", Wikipedia.org
"Hutt Park railway station, Gracefield", Wikipedia.org
Evening Post, 20 May 1887, Pg 4
NZ Truth, 9 July 1910, pg 4
Scoble, J: "Names and Opening and Closing Dates of Railway Stations", published by the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand, 2010.
Parsons, D: "Wellington's Railways Colonial Steam to Matangi", published by the New Zealand Railway & Locomotive Society, 2010