[3] The Wanganui Heads, or later, Castlecliff Railway Company had a station in Whanganui on Taupo Quay from 1885.

[5] On Monday, 4 August 1884 the first sod of the railway was turned[6] and a temporary siding took sleepers and rails to stack on a reserve.

The first passengers were carried in wagons on 3 April 1885 and by July 1885 the line was complete, with a certificate of inspection issued on 29 September 1885.

Weekday trains stopped opposite Murray's Foundry,[4] where a ticket office and platform were built in December 1885.

From 1901 67 ch (1.3 km) of the line from Wanganui was realigned to take it off the road,[4] work which was finished in 1903,[9] when a new station, built by Russell and Bignall,[10] opened on 4 May 1903, opposite the gasworks.

In May 1961 the line was again moved to run in a subway below the government funded motorway to Cobham Bridge, which opened on 18 November 1961.

A record dated 27 April 1878 said an engine derailed at facing points at Havelock station on the Wanganui-Patea railway.

[14] The station may have opened when trains started running on the Wanganui Town Branch to Turakina on 21 January 1878, but Havelock was not shown in the timetable.

[15] A record indicates Havelock closed in 1881;[16] St John's was first shown in the timetable from 1 February 1881, with two trains a day to both Palmerston North and Waverley.

A trolley line ran across London Street, allowing the Fresh Food Co.[4] to move churns of cream and its butter and cheese to and from the platform from 1912[18] to 1935.

[19] St John's closed to all traffic on Monday, 28 March 1960 and on 23 July tenders were invited for removal of the building.

By 1 February 1877 G M Chalmers had built a temporary station on an unused bit of Churton Street.

[4] On 19 July 1877 William Rowe got a £4795.6.8 contract to build Wanganui Town Branch, which was finished by 4 November 1877.

In 1877 and 1878 housing and offices for a stationmaster and public works (PWD) staff were bought and a 50-ton coal store built.

[4] In 1989 the 21.3 m (70 ft) turntable on Taupo Quay was disconnected,[24] but it has been restored by SteamRail Wanganui,[25] which has a shed on the wharf.

[57] On 1 January 1956 the Town Wharf was closed due to competition from Castlecliff,[58] a proposal which had been made as early as 1932.

[59] Large crowds greeted a British rugby team when they arrived at the station in August 1959,[60] though regular passenger services had ended on 3 May 1959.

By August 1976 a new gantry was in use for lifting bulk flour containers and on 7 April 1983 a new Road Services terminal opened.

In 1987 the locomotive depot and car & wagon block were demolished and replaced in 1988 by an $8,000 fuel point at East Town.

By October 1989 the station, platform and sidings had been removed,[4] replaced by a new site further west on Taupo Quay.