A second siding ran back to the Ministry of Works Depot, which was on the site formerly occupied by the former Central Institute of Technology campus.

This is appropriate because World War 1 saw the major development of Trentham Camp and thousands of soldiers trained there before they left for the battlefields of 1914–1918.

Chailak Dere Barracks commemorates an action by the men of the Wellington Mounted Rifles on the night of 6/7 August 1915.

Passechendaele Barracks are Named after the 12 October - 10 November 1917 Battle which was the greatest disaster in New Zealand Military history.

During World War I over 30,000 New Zealand soldiers marched between military camps at Trentham, Upper Hutt and Featherston via the Rimutaka Hill Road, in a three-day trek of 27 miles (43.5 km), There were 23 marches of 500 to 1800 men between September 1915 and April 1918, at the end of their training as reinforcements for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force.