Desperate bid to save building

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 33

Desperate bid to save building

PA Hamilton Time is running out for Bruce Bennett in his fight to save Frankton’s 67-year-old signal box from destruction. Built to service the Bay of Plenty and central North Island passenger routes, the old workhorse has been superseded by Main Trunk electrification.

Mr Bennett, a Hamilton locomotive engineer, has worked for the last two years to save the building. “They would be preserving the last remnant of what Frankton (railway station) had. The loco depot has been bulldozed down, the station master’s house has been moved, even the footbridge has gone now. This is the only thing left”. When the line is electrified, signal contnolwlll go to the new Te Rapa station. Mr Bennett expects a decision on the fate of the unwanted Frankton signal bbx soon.

With 70 track change

levers the building was certainly the largest and most complex of its type in New Zealand, possibly in the southern hemi-

sphere, he said, and so it was worth preserving. But he is struggling against the belief that the signal box, with its peeling paintwork and ageing frame, is beyond repair.

“What I say is, if you can bring an old locomotive out after 50 years and restore it you can do the same with this.” He has approached the Hamilton City Council, New Zealand Railways Corporation, and the Frankton Businessmens’ Association for help. They had all expressed support for the preservation idea but none wanted to be responsible for it, Mr Bennett said. Now he appeals to the public, hoping that somewhere there is a new home for this piece of Frankton’s heritage.