Station friends show support

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 7, Issue 341, 26 June 1990, Page 1

Station friends show support

Friends of the Ohakune Junction railway station building gathered on Saturday's bleak morning in a small, nowgrotty waiting room to show their support for retaining and upgrading the station.

No decision could be made on the future of the station because the ownership of the building is still in question, nor were there expected to be any decisions made. Waimarino Community Board chairman Colin Webb said the meeting was called merely to gauge public support for retaining the building. About 24 people attended the meeting including Mayor Carrick Workman, RSBA bhairperson Sue Allomes and Chris Allum who claims to still own the building. There was no Railways representative present. He told the gathering he disputed Railways' claim on the station saying he had paid a deposit on it, was the legal , owner of it and was entitled to sell it for removal. He said Railways were yet to entirely fulfil their side of the sale contract. Removal tomorrow "What they (New Zealand Railways) have done is repossess a building that they don't own," said Mr Allum. Later he said "if Railways want to buy it

back off me, that's fine."

He said he was willing to work out an amicable arrangement to see the station retained but that if that could not happen he had a buyer that was ready to remove it tomorrow.

Mayor Workman said Railways were definitely of the opinion they were the legal owners of the building. He said he was to meet with Railways officials this week to discuss the matter. He said Rail-

ways would be willing to donate materials to help upgrade the building and that the council may be willing to help upgrade the approach road and to carry out replanting and landTurn page 2

Station support

From page 1 scaping work. Mr Webb told the gathering that the council was not in a position to put money into any project, but would be forced to place a demolition order on the building if something wasn't done to upgrade it. RSBA chairperson Sue Aliomes outlined the work the association had done prior to its sale on feasibility studies on uses for the building. She refuted Mr Allum's claim that Railways would not have sold it to the RSBA because they

wanted NZR to help fund the sale. She said that was just a suggestion by the consultants at the time. Catalyst "At the time we wanted to act as the catalyst in upgrading the building so were pleased Chris had bought the building because he had plans to use it." She said she represented the RSBA's 55 members in supporting any plans to upgrade the building and that the group included a number of tradesmen who were keen to offer help. There were at least two commercial enterprises interested ia renting parts of the building, she told the gathering. However, she said the RSBA was not able to become involved in any legal investigation. Chris Allum replied to complaints that the station was a terrible greeting for tourists by claiming just 109 tickets had been sold to

people stopping at Ohakune this year, to which someone replied that the busy ski season was yet to start, and someone else asked who would want to stop when the station looked the way it did. Who needs it? At this stage of the meeting a nearby resident, Clyde Olsen, who had arrived late, asked if there was any need for the station building at all. He said he thought the meeting was just waffle and that schemes suggested were "pie in the sky". He said money to pay for the upgrade would have to come from ratepayers or taxpayers and that there were better things to spend money on. He said hg wanted to see figures on what an upgrade would cost as well as maintenance cost figures. Mr Webb repeated his statement that the purpose of the meeting was to gauge support for the retention of the building, and Ruapehu District Councillor Bill Peach asked Mr Olsen if he would be willing to gather some relevant figures for a future meeting. Further points Other points made during the discussion were: Chris Allum said he had offered the building for sale locally and even free to some peo-

ple and that there had been no local support; Mrs Norma Cranston said she could not remember him ever calling for local support; Mr Olsen said the building was in a bad site in that it was an easy target for vandals; Mr Allum said it may be better to resite the building somewhere within Ohakune for better commercial use. College support After the meeting, Ruapehu College deputy principal Graham Parker told the Bulletin that a group of college pupils were keen to work on upgrading the station. He said the pupils were disgusted with the state of the building and had made the offer themselves.