Rail village for Junction

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 5, Issue 27, 1 December 1987, Page 1

Rail village for Junction

A Wellington property development company, KM Developments, has applied for planning consent to build a 'railway village* a t Ohakune Junction, which would 1 use refurbished railway carriages for visitor's accommodation. The planned village would be built where the Junction shunting yards are now, with the carriages radiating out from a central reception area. It would have recreation, sports and boutique facilities as well as bars and restaurants.

The complex would include conference and business facilities, and would use existing buildings including the station goods shed and the railway station itself. As well as keeping the existing platform, a new one would be built on the north side of the line with an overhead walkway to enable guests to pass freely from one side of the tracks to the other, The accommodation units would be mostly redundant guards' vans, linked by covered walkways, with planted areas and parking in between. Two restaurants would be avail.able to guests, one

seating 120 people and serving 'reasonably priced high quality food with fast service ... with a New Zealand rail theme, based on the food chain "Armadillo's" of Wellington and Auckland. The other restaurant would seat .25 in a refurbished wagon and serve high quality Chiriese food. This unique railway hotel would be fully licensed with public bar facilities. The nature of the development would assist with marketing and promotion, according to the developers. Having a rail theme would associate it with such famous tourist attractions as the Orient Express, say K.M. Developments. The houses in Railway Row would be relocated and upgraded and used as apartments, some being fitted for handicapped access. Other features of the village would be adventure playgrounds, games rooms, video facilities, several small shops and, in stage two of the development, a heated pool, tennis courts, squash court, disco dance hall and indoor cricket facility. New Zealand Railways would be directly involved with the project if it were to go ahead, and the developers say that all sports, recreation and bar facilities would be available to the local community.