Lee Fisher wants the community to dress up and celebrate the 100 years since Ōtorohanga railway station was rebuilt in 1924.
Ōtorohanga Railway Station’s big birthday bash will go ahead following an approved road closure of the section of Wahanui Crescent beside the tracks. Roading manager Paul Strange said there were no objections to the application by the Ōtorohanga Railway Station 100-years event volunteer group for the road closure. A traffic management plan for the event will include provision for the bus routes and stops to be relocated into the main street. The 100-year-old building was one of the last Troupe stations, designed by New Zealand Rail architect George Alexander Troupe. It replaced the station built in 1910, which burned down in December 1923. The railway station was rebuilt promptly following the fire because a railway station was really the heartbeat of a town 100 years ago, Origin Coffee owner Lee Fisher told the News in March. “Through contact with the museum, we’ve learned Ōtorohanga got just about all essential goods via its railway station: newspapers, letters, groceries and industrial supplies came in, while most livestock was exported from here too. “It was really the nerve centre of town in this regard. And from a calendar produced at about that time, we know the local telephone number for the station was number 8, just a single digit. “So, we would like to get as much community help as possible to celebrate 100 years since it was built. We would like to involve the kindergartens and schools, by getting the children to draw pictures which envision what the station would have been like in 1924, and to predict what it will be like in 2124 – 100 years past and 100 years forward.”
