Pigeon Bush railway station Pigeon Bush railway station Pigeon Bush railway station was a single platform, rural railway station in an area of the South Wairarapa district known as Pigeon Bush, about south-west of Featherston, in New Zealand’s North Island. The station was between Featherston and Cross Creek stations on the Wairarapa Line. The station was bypassed when the Rimutaka Tunnel was opened. During work on the Incline Contract for the Rimutaka Incline, land was taken just north-east of Lucena’s Creek (known today as Owhanga Stream) for a road diversion around what was to become the yard for a station identified on plans as
Otira Tunnel tunnel in the world and the longest in the British Empire. The Midland Railway Company investigated options to a long tunnel; but a line over the pass with gradients of 1 in 50 on both sides was not practical. Other options for a line over the pass were a cable-hauled system or a line of 1 in 15 gradient using either the Fell system or a rack railway using the Abt system (or even a S-shaped tunnel under Mount Rolleston). However the government did not favour the Fell system as used on the Rimutaka Incline which was expensive to operate.