Site of the Takapuna Tramways Carbarn (490 Lake Road)

From 1910 to 1926, the Takapuna Tramway & Ferry Company operated steam-driven trams between Bayswater on O’Neill’s Point and Milford north of Lake Pupuke. Two carbarns were built to store and service the tramcars and locomotives, a mid-sized structure at Bayswater and a larger structure here on Lake Road. The carbarn and its support facilities occupied about a third of the current carpark, and multiple tracks broke off from the main tramway to enter the barn and its adjacent sheds and spurs.

When the tramway shut down in early 1926, the North Shore Transport Company took over the public transportation franchise with bus service. Its yellow buses continued to use the old tramway barn and the land around it to service buses and park them overnight until 1964. In that year, a new bus depot was opened on Diana Drive in the Wairau Valley and the old barn was demolished to make room for the current carpark. A plaque was later installed by the North Shore Historical Society to recognise the barn and the important role it played in Takapuna history.

Walk back toward the roundabout and enter Potters Park.