Station spruce-up campaign starts

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 466, 15 December 1992, Page 1

Station spruce-up campaign starts

By

Jan

Savell

Waiouru Railway Station is about to receive some tender loving care and Lyn Lumsden believes it is long overdue. She is spearheading a campaign to encourage community input and revitalise the station. "We want the station to appear welcoming, not just one more negative feeling that you get when you arrive in Waiouru," said Mrs Lumsden. At her urging the Ruapehu District Council offered to lease the station from New Zealand Rail at a peppercorn rental. This allows the community to carry out the restoration. NZ Rail have indicated a willingness to provide materials and technical advice as long as the community provides the labour and enthusiasm. Mrs Lumsden sees the building as a community resource. "It will be a chance for people to get involved. We want the resr>onsibilitv

kept away from the Army. The community can get involved and take pride in having such an asset. We want to get stuck in during the summer." "Vandalism isn't really a problem with the Police just across the road." "Different community groups, like the youth club for instance, could be part

of the restoration. It would be good to get some organisations to have their meetings there.- there is a fireplace inside and the building has quite a bit of history associated with it." Lyn Lumsden's inspiration was ignited on a wet winter night soon after the birth of her second child. She dropped her husband

Paul and four year old son off at the Waiouru Railway Station to catch the south-bound train at 2am. The train was 45 minutes late, rushing through the station without stopping just as Paul walked away to telephone NZ Rail to find out what was going on.

"They were booked on so it should have stopped. The whole thing was such a horrible experience. It was on one of those miserable winter nights when the snow was still lying on the ground in the morning." "They were freezin, cold from the long wait. Turn to page 2

Waiouru Stn spruce - up

From page 1 Little Michael was crying and they walked all the way home." she said. "I was so mad. I rang railways to complain about the facilities first thing in the morning. I spoke to a guy who had never been to Waiouru." "He agreed to come up and have a look. The Railways have been very co-operative and supportive throughout" Mrs Lumsden arranged a meeting between two representatives from NZ Railways, Mr Peter Pitts and Colonel Clive Sinclair. "It couldn't have been better. They chose a wet and windy day to come to Waiouru. There was a girl huddled in the comer of the waiting room - no windows, water in puddles on the floor."

" We had to go to the museum for. the meeting because there was nowhere for them to shela ter to talk to us. They only spoke to us for a short time. They weren't keen to stay in Waiouru!" The station is not quite old enough to be classed as historic and NZ Rail had plans to replace the dilapidated building with a bus shelter type arrangement. Mrs Lumsden's work has ensured that this won't happen and now all that is needed are volunteers to begin the clean-up. A public meeting will be held for interested people early in the new year. Work will be started in January. In the meantime Lyn is eager to hear from anyone interested in helping. Her telephone number is 3876 148.