The OETT excursion of January 1988 to Makareao is seen here at Palmerston about to depart for Makareao. The station building was on the other side of the line at this location. As the junction points were just north of the station the train would have run only a hundred metres or so before turning to the left to cross State Highway 1. Palmerston at this time was little used apart from storing stone train wagons between trips up the hill to the limeworks; these days the yard is full of traffic from Reefton, where gold ore is loaded to be transported to the Macraes mine inland from Palmerston for extraction.
