Architecture
Pukerangi is a timber-framed structure with shiplap weatherboards and a corrugated-iron roof. The form of the building is an unusual one, with a 1930 gabled addition to a simple lean-to structure. The ladies’ waiting room (1913) were demolished in the early 1980s. There is a varied collection of windows, from four-paned casements to double-hung sash. There is little or no decoration. Inside there have been few alterations from the original.
History
Pukerangi opened to coincide with the opening of the Otago Central Branch as far as Middlemarch in April 1891. It was known as Barewood until January 1911. Early in the 20th century the branch was converted to tablet working following a head-on collision in 1902. Pukerangi became a signalling and crossing station, and a hut was built to house the tablet machinery. From this point the station was much added to. A closet and urinal were added in 1903 and in 1912 a "sound-proof” telephone booth attached to a shed (probably the tablet hut) was erected. A ladies’ waiting room was added the following year. In 1930 the tablet hut was removed and a further addition, presumably to house the tablet machinery, was made. By 1966 declining train movements led to the decision to convert it to a Holiday Switch Tablet Station. The station building was used as a gang shelter from then on. In 1980 the stockyards closed, and in 1986 the station closed to freight traffic but was retained for operating purposes. It was restored in 1994.
Architectural Significance
Although greatly added to, Pukerangi is the finest remaining example of a small tablet station. The main additions necessary to convert it from a shelter shed have produced a curious but highly authentic structure. The unusual form appears to be a local idiosyncrasy.
Historical Significance
Pukerangi is most closely associated with the early introduction of tablet working on the Otago Central Branch. Originally housed in an outshed, tablet working was later incorporated in the station building proper. It was otherwise a small but important rural station on the Otago Central Branch, used by excursion trains from 1978 and regularly by the Taieri Gorge Railway since 1995.
Town / Landscape Value
Pukerangi is a small structure in a somewhat dramatic rural landscape. Occupies a rural situation, with no other buildings in the vicinity
