A land owner along the Wagga-to-Ladysmith rail corridor has slammed plans for a rail trail on the disused line.
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Rowena Brown has lived on her property near the Equex Centre with her husband, Rod, since 1983, and her father-in-law held the property from 1946.
They have been through intense lobbying to create a rail trail through her property in the past.
“We had a meeting with (Wagga Rail Trail) earlier in the year,” Mrs Brown said.
“We explained everything to them. The council did feasibility studies about eight years ago – it was going to cost $6.9 million just to fix the bridges and track through our property.
“My husband and I took them down to the paddock (where the rail line is).
“We showed them the state of the bridges – some of them are just gone.
Mrs Brown said the only way for the track to viable was to go along Copland Street and along Bakers Lane.
“But the bike riders have a mind of their own,” she said.
“It bisects us in half – we are not in favour of it going ahead.”
Mrs Brown said she couldn’t see the rail trails getting the green light from the NSW government.
“I’m not losing any sleep – it’s not feasible, it won’t work,” she said.
“It’s just madness – it’ll end up being a white elephant.”
Mrs Brown said emergency service access would be limited, which is obvious at the moment due to the recent rainfalls.
“We can’t get to the paddock except for 4WD bikes,” she said.
“The head of police told us last time a rail trail was proposed that it would be a nightmare, with the potential of dirt bikes using the corridor.”
Mrs Brown asked how she would benefit from a rail trail.
“They told me I could set up a lemonade stand,” she said.
“Bike riders drink water, not lemonade.”
Mrs Brown said she would like to see a tourist attraction, like the Puffing Billy train in Melbourne, but admitted it would also be an expensive venture.
“I’d rather have a steam train go through,” she said.
“We had one go through our property when we first moved here in 1983.
“Everyone could enjoy that and it would be an attraction to Wagga.”
Wagga Rail Trail chair Lisa Glastonbury has been contacted for comment.