HINERANGI VAIMOSO Northern Hawke's Bay could soon become a miserable place for train buff Kevin West. As president of the Keirunga Rail Model Club, Mr West was saddened to hear that time may be up for the Napier-Gisborne railway line. He said he knew the closure was inevitable, but felt the Government shouldhave invested more in the line. "Why they haven't promoted it rather than think about destroying it, I don't know," Mr West said. "The railways are only interested in bulk stuff and we need to make it more viable by dragging freight and not leaving the one off stuff to the trucks." Mr West believes upgrades to the track could be made with funding that would otherwise be spent upgrading the roads to cope with freight trucks. "I still think it should be utilised to keep the traffic off the roads because the roads can't handle what is happening now," he said. Mr West recalls a time when he travelled the track in a steam train in the 1980s and remembered the track was in bad condition then. "I have talked about it with other guys in the club and it's just a shame to see that great facility go down the drain and not being used properly," Mr West said. He ruled out the prospect of using it as a tourist venture because of the lack of interest but suggested a passenger carriage be added onto the end of a freight train.
