Christmas comes early for railway volunteers

An expensive Christmas gift has made life easier for the volunteers of Gayndah Heritage Railway.

FORGET THE SLEIGH: Paul Nicol, Peter Russo and Peter Hawe from Isis Central Sugar Mill present a new ride-on mower to Gayndah Railway's Tony Humphrey, Russell Kemp, Des Randall and Veronica Andrews. Picture: Felicity Ripper

AN EXPENSIVE Christmas gift has made life easier for the volunteers of Gayndah Heritage Railway.

On Monday Isis Central Sugar Mill presented the group with a $7300 mower purchased from Gayndah Rural and Veterinary Supplies, better equipping them to maintain the grounds around the Gayndah Station historical buildings.

ICSM Chairman Peter Russo said Gayndah Heritage Railway volunteers did a fantastic job preserving and maintaining an important part of local history, for locals and visitors to enjoy.

"They've been using their own domestic lawn mowers to maintain the precinct,” Mr Russo said.

"We've gifted a ride on lawn mower to Gayndah Heritage Railway to make their work easier and more efficient.

"We wanted to put our money where our mouth is and support the local community by buying the mower locally and not bringing it in from somewhere else.”

The sugar mill own the land adjacent to the historical railway buildings, and allow Gayndah Heritage Railway to use the space for various endeavours, including the restoration of carriages and 24 hour caravan sites.

"We look after their land and it creates a good relationship between us all,” Gayndah Heritage Railway board member Veronica Andrews said.

"We can use the space and it saves them sending a workforce out here to do the job o maintaining it.

"The new mower will help us make it more inviting and safer in regards to snakes.”

This year the sugar mill conducted a feasibility study into water storage, supply options and irrigation development of up to 6800 hectares around Gayndah, after receiving a $1.23million under the Australian Government's National Water Infrastructure Development Fund.

"ICSM is committed to supporting the Gayndah community and expanding local sugarcane production, through projects like the Gayndah Regional Irrigation Development and sugarcane frost varietal trials,” he said.