Kissing Gates & Railway

When the first train steamed into Cambridge Station in 1884, it was the nineteenth-century equivalent of switching from dial-up to broadband. Suddenly, connections between towns were quicker and more reliable. Shoppers and travellers arrived in greater numbers, while goods could move faster and further than ever before. For a growing town like Cambridge, it was transformative.

Engine driver A Stewart and Station Staff at Cambridge Train Station, 1911 CM2958/25/20

Before rail, a horse-drawn stagecoach could manage about 16 km per hour. The earliest steam trains thundered along at 50 km per hour—a revolution in speed. Farmers could now get their cattle to market in hours instead of days. Students could attend schools in Hamilton, families could enjoy shopping trips, and tourists came to Cambridge before continuing on to places like Thames, Rotorua, and Auckland.

But progress never stands still. As motor vehicles and roads improved, rail passenger numbers declined. The last scheduled passenger train departed Cambridge quietly in 1946, with no ceremony to mark the occasion. Freight trains continued to roll through until 1999, but the golden age of rail had come to an end.

Lake Street entrance to Cambridge Railway Station, showing the original position of the Kissing Gates, early 1900s, CM2958/25/33

The Kissing Gates and Cambridge Sign

A reminder of Cambridge’s railway past remains at the Lake Road entrance: the station’s original gates and sign. Known as “kissing gates,” they once swung closed to stop livestock from escaping the yard. Now, instead of cattle, they guide people into Lakewood Cambridge, welcoming visitors just as they did more than a century ago.