MERRIWA NSW VISITS

Jan 2012 - Look back at my travels to a NSW town - Merriwa located in the far western upper Hunter- around 4hrs drive from Sydney.

I once had a useful connection with the town , due to working on a newly created heritage railway restoration project for 2years during 2009-2010.
As part of my role on the project, I helped lead the project as the elected President and my main role as a Co-ordinator / assorted media work.

MERRIWA RAILWAY PROJECT
As i worked on the Merriwa railway restoration project i managed to over time gather some interesting images showing progress. Name of the project has gone through a variety of changes since i worked on it such as Merriwa Rail Society to Merriwa Railway Society to Merriwa Railway Society Incoparated / MRSI nowadays.

Merriwa Railway Station seen September 2009 - awaiting the restoration to happen - note heavily overgrown weeds and bushes and decay across yard.


Merriwa Railway Station seen September 2010 - minor restoration work was done by this time


Merriwa Railway Station seen December 2011 different angle with only slightly more restoration occurring due to low volunteer turn out


Since i left the Merriwa project in 2010 , i am lead to believe the whole project is in limbo/very very slow progress if any at all, due to potentially low volunteer turn out combined with a few serious senior management problems involving nasty and poorly behaving society members. It is known that people running the project over the last 2years, have been actively involved in stalking and harassing fellow railway enthusiasts across NSW, which hasnt made the project popular to many across NSW...

I am the early stages of planning a rail tour business / company to take people on tours across NSW but i think i will bypass this Merriwa project until it is better managed. Maybe one day in the future, the Merriwa railway society project might get back on track with a change of board and members???

BOW MOTEL
I visited as well in the town, a heritage listed building dating from the late 1800s - Bow Motel .....now Bow House. This motel is nowadays owned by the Merriwa Railway Society Co-ordinator Bryan Baker. I once worked with him on the Merriwa Railway project.

Here we see Bow Motel in 1905


Bow house now in December 2011 taken from exact same angle and location.


Phil Buckley