It is full steam ahead for the restoration of the  Mataura Railway Station. 

Railway Heritage Trust executive officer Barry O’Donnell announced on Monday that work on the project would begin this month.

It comes just over a year after Rail Minister Winston Peters visited Mataura to announce the transfer of ownership of the station from KiwiRail to the Rail Heritage Trust of New Zealand.

The station, which was now in a derelict condition, was worth saving, Mr Peters said at the time.

“This is a building that wants to be seen.’’

“When we make a promise, we keep our word,” Mr Peters said, in a statement, on Monday.

“The locals called for this building to be restored for a decade and a-half and nobody listened, but we heard them and got this sorted out by allocating a budget for the Mataura Railway Station.”

“The Rail Heritage Trust has spent the last year on careful planning and works will start shortly on the exterior restoration before interior restoration starts next year.”

 Mr O’Donnell said while there had been little change to the outside of the 1921 building, a lot of work had been going on behind the scenes.

“Repairing a heritage structure requires a lot of planning before work can begin.

“For example, there has been ongoing engagement with Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga over materials to be used to repair the grade two listed building and we’re in the process of sourcing appropriate replacement materials.

“This includes the 1300 or so rhomboid roof tiles needed to replace the original asbestos cement tiles and to ensure the old tiles are safely removed and disposed of.”

Contractors were in place to complete the first stage of the exterior renovation work and they were going through the consent process, Mr O’Donnell said.

“All going well, we hope to start work sometime in September with the aim of completing most of the exterior work before Christmas.

“We’ll then focus on completing the interior renovation.”

The first stage will see the station building scaffolded and tented, the asbestos cement roof tiles removed, the old sarking removed and any damaged roof timbers repaired or replaced, Mr O’Donnell said.

Work will also include cleaning and repointing the chimneys, and placing new tiles to match the diamond pattern look and colour of the original roof.

“Our intention is to return the station to how it looked when built and if we find paint samples of the original colours under the window hinges or door locks, these will be used as the basis for the new colour scheme.

“Our aim is to tenant the railway station, so that it can continue to serve an active role in the community it has been part of for more than 100 years.”

The station building, which opened in 1921, was designed by New Zealand Railways Department architect George Troup, most famous for the Dunedin Railway Station.

Mataura councillor Neville Phillips said he was happy “there will finally be some action” and thanked the trust for getting on with the project.

Cr Phillips said Mataura Community Board member Laurel Turnbull had also created a voluntary group to help alongside the project in any extra work which might be done and called for those interested to contact either him or Mrs Turnbull.