Re: [TAS] Penguin

[ben_scaro@my-deja.com]

After being down in Tas over Christmas, this posting is interesting.
There are currently moves to restore railway stations to a few
Tasmanian towns, and even to revive the withered ends of branchlines,
such as the one to St Mary's which currently terminates a few kms out
of town.

I'm wondering whether this is a good use of money- as I think in some
instances, State funding is being sought to restore the stations.  The
idea seems to be a bit of a cargo cult one- eg if we restore the
station, then trains full of cashed-up punters will arrive to spend
their hard-earned in our town.

This can be a bit problematic though, if things are not thought through.

The worst example I've seen of this was a trip to the town of Parattah.
The station in this Midlands town was never knocked down, Parattah
being a loop and change over point in TGR and AN days.  There is also a
log loading gantry there.

Now the station has been restored and trains actually operate there.
The trouble is, there is, umm, not a lot to do at Parattah.  No hotel,
no restaurant, no takeaway even.

The name I think means 'cold, windy place', and it's pretty much in the
middle of nowhere.  The time I travelled there on a Derwent Valley
Railway excursion, we got off the train and looked around for a shop to
buy a box of matches.

Going into the only shop in town, which seemed to sell craft items, the
reception was pretty frosty, with this shrill voiced local harpie
yelling after us in a voice that would have stripped paint [not that
there was much left on the remaining buildings in the place] 'You can't
buy matches here boys, yer in the country now . . .'

Umm, great.  So much for local entrepreneurship . . . The point is that
there actually needs to be something in these towns worth spending
money on for the station to be viable.

The money being spent on Parattah- they are apparently putting in a
triangle - I would invest in improving rail facilities further down the
line at Ross, which *is* actually a tourist-focussed town with
bakeries, restaurants, accommodation, nice old buildings, churches and
a charming sandstone bridge.

The Derwent Valley Railway people themselves were very hospitable and
our time on the train was great.  But on the return trip, there were
more than a few comments of 'godforsaken hole' about the town we'd
visited and determinations not to go there again.

Cheers

Ben


>
> The station has now been placed back on the original site.  A new
> platform has existed there for sometime, mainly for the use of the Don
> River Railway.
>
> There are plans to re-roof the building, and it seems to be, from all
> reports, pretty much in original condition.  There is some concern as
to
> whether a cafe/restaraunt will be established in part of the old
> building.
>
> The main crossing loop is also to be relaid, although, from early
> reports, it looks like it will be about 50 metres shorter than the
> original.
>
> Hopefully TasRail will be encouraging more charter passenger runs, and
> the re-establishment of stations such as Penguin, and Ross (in the
> Midlands) is a precursor to such activities.
>
>


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