One of the original owners of the historic Wauchope railway station, housed at Upper Rollands Plains, has praised firefighters for saving it from repeated bushfires over the last couple of weeks.
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Judith London, now living in Albury, and her late husband Barry, transported the structure to their 100 acre property at Upper Rollands Plains in the early nineties.
The station formed the base of their beloved family home.
"My husband and sons put a huge amount of work into the building so we are thrilled they managed to save it," she said.
The piece of history had been relegated to the tip in 1990.
"They were going to dismantle it and take it to the tip and we wanted to keep it because we knew it would be a beautiful building with beautiful timber," she said.
"There were whisperings it would be filled with white ants.
"Barry and I were not daunted."
Their instincts proved correct but transporting the building to Upper Rollands Plains was no easy feat.
"Firstly, the small separate signal box were moved and taken to a new site," she said.
"The next stage was dividing the main section into three sections, including the ticket office," she said.
"The buildings were removed from their foundation after a huge job of removing masses of Bougainvillaea from all over the station building.
"After a long difficult journey all the buildings were placed at the front of the property at Rollands Plains as we still had to complete a bridge across the creek."
It took a further six months for the bridge to be completed so the station could be taken across.
"The station was finally in place sitting proudly on top of the new concrete piers, " Mrs London said.
Over the next few years the couple painted the building, added a new bathroom at the rear and built a new verandah the whole length of the station as well as adding decorative railings.
"We all loved our time living at Toolangi as we had named our property and made a family home in the old Wauchope Railway Station," she said.
The couple sold the property to Ray McInerney in the mid-nineties.
Mr McInerney added his own flavour to the property on Littles Loop Road decking it out with a bar and covering it with Marilyn Monroe photos.
Fittingly, the property is now a focal point for the tight-knit Rollands Plains community and the designated party house too.
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