Closure to all traffic came in 1988 after improvements to local and regional roads contributed to a decline in the patronage of passenger rail services.

The official party aboard the train included the Minister of Public Works (Edwin Mitchelson), Minister of Lands (George Richardson), Commissioner of Railways (J. C. McKerrow), Speaker of the Legislative Council (William Fitzherbert), a former mayor of Wellington (S. Brown), as well as several department heads and spouses.

[3] The station enjoyed a period of intense activity as the terminus of the line including the shipment of large quantities of timber, wool, and butter in season.

[5] Timber was the most significant source of freight traffic during this period, as the surrounding hinterlands were still largely covered in forest, providing much work for the sawmillers.

It was only after the land was cleared following the fire that agriculture rose in importance and replaced timber as the dominant source of business for the railway.

He had only time to cross one track before the departure signal was given and had to quickly rejoin the train as it left the station yard at speed.

In 1922 it was requested that the cattle-stop on the stockyard siding – which crossed a public road at the north end of the yard – be planked between the rails to enable the use of horses to place wagons at the loading bank.

A new passenger-only service was provided from 1936 with the introduction of the RM class Wairarapa-type railcars, which supplemented and later replaced the Wairarapa Mail in 1948.

[12] Railcar RM 132 came to an ignominious end on 24 August 1975 when it was gutted by fire between Hukanui and Eketahuna while running a southbound service to Wellington.

[4] An inspection of railway infrastructure in Wairarapa carried out in February 1960 reported of Eketahuna that the station building was old but in reasonable condition and was last painted in 1951.

The importance of livestock traffic at Eketahuna required numerous modifications to facilities to improve the transfer of animals to and from rail and augment capacity at the station.

They were located to the east of the main line, north of the Eketahuna station yard on the other side of Alfredton Road.

This space was divided into three parts and was a short distance from the existing stockyards at the north end of the station yard on the south side of the road.

A similar request for a cattle loading race was made and recommended in 1956 at which time it was pointed out that around 90% of livestock trafficked through Eketahuna were transported by lorry.

[16] Track renewal work in the Eketahuna station yard prompted a request to dispose of the stockyards in 1979 to simplify the new layout.

At Eketahuna, it was decided to retain the vats at the south end of the yard in case of a requirement to use a relief steam locomotive.

Provision of the shelter was requested by commercial operators transferring goods at the station, which at the time handled mainly casein (outwards) and superphosphate (inwards).

3, 4, 5 on the PNGL in Q3 2008, and thus the removal of the impediment to using hi-cube containers through the Manawatu Gorge,[21] the Wellington – Napier freight services were redirected to their original route.

Passenger excursion trains operated by local rail heritage organisations occasionally pass through or stop at Eketahuna.

[24] The station was officially re-opened on 10 May 2014[25] and in 2015 the group’s efforts were recognised by the Rail Heritage Trust with the awarding of a Certificate of Merit.