This image was taken for a story that ran in the Manawatū Evening Standard on 19 January, 1967. “A man was seriously injured on Saturday evening when he fell 10ft into the old subway on the disused railway land. He is Mr R. G. Wallace, aged 22, of Kent Terrace, Palmerston North.”
From 1890 a level railway crossing ran across the Main Street end of Pitt Street. In 1903, due to Railway Station alterations and platform extensions, this section was closed to through traffic and accessed via a pedestrian subway constructed under the railway lines.
After the opening of the new Railway Station in Tremaine Avenue in 1963, trains ceased travelling through the city centre. The subway was filled (apart from the entry stairs and ramp), and Pitt Street reverted to its former length.