[4] Makerua was opened as a flag station[5] by the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company on Monday 2 August 1886, when trains started to run between Longburn and Ōtaki,[6] though a special train had run from Longburn to Ohau in April 1886.

[7] The first through train from Wellington to Palmerston North ran on 30 November 1886.

[9] Palmerston to Wellington trains started to call at the station from 1910.

[11] The Makerua Swamp was to the north west of the railway, where 11 mi (18 km) of tramway had been laid by 1903.

[16] An anemometer installed at Shannon in 1937[11] now checks wind speeds.