Onehunga
Manukau Harbour
Ship's bell and gulls.
- O-WOnehunga-West line
- Onehunga family
- Bells signature
Why Onehunga sounds like this
A ship's bell strikes twice, pauses and strikes twice again over a low harbour rumble, then gulls cry. Onehunga was Auckland's port on the Manukau, busy with ships well before the railway arrived in 1873. A ship's bell is struck in pairs to count off the watch, and at the end of the Onehunga-West line it rings you ashore.
Inside the chime
Onehunga's chime runs about 5 seconds, in three parts. Every station's chime ends on its family's signature, so you can tell roughly where you are by ear.
- 1
Onehunga's own motif 2.9 s
Ship's bell and gulls. No other station plays it.
- 2
The Onehunga family's bells 1.0 s
Three bell notes falling down a major chord. Only Te Pāpapa and Onehunga have it, on the short branch down to the Manukau Harbour.
- 3
The end-of-line bell 1.5 s
Onehunga is the end of the Onehunga-West line. On that line's trains its chime finishes with a bell, to tell you this is as far as the train goes.
On the network
End of line
Te PāpapaTowards Henderson
The Onehunga family
2 stations end on the bells: Te Pāpapa and Onehunga, on the Manukau Harbour.
- Te Pāpapa
- Onehunga