The buzz of Narrogin’s past recaptured in scale model railway of town

Narrogin is being reproduced in all its 1960s glory as a scale model feature piece for the redevelopment of the town’s historic railway station precinct. Model builder Morrie Russell has spent the past two months constructing a 6x2m replica of Narrogin. The replica includes all of the buildings and streets from the era to show what the town looked like in the 1960s. Mr Russell said he hoped the model would recapture the buzz of the town from 60 years ago. “When we were first here we could go to the drive-in on the weekends, there was an old burger bar operating and there were many other things going on around town that gave the place character,” he said. “The main change is that the town now lacks the life it once had but it is starting to move again, slowly.” The 72-year-old fell in love with the southern Wheatbelt town decades ago, and he and his wife finally returned — as they had planned — in 2015 after Mr Russell retired. Mr Russell said the model would include running trains to replicate the train lines that put Narrogin on the map. “Narrogin station was one of the major centres in the State. It had the second largest assembly of locomotives in WA,” he said. “They used to have between 50 to 65 locomotives in the rail yard on the weekends at once in the town. Six lines came through here because it was central to every-thing in the region.” “It is heartbreaking to see the current state of regional trains.” He said the biggest challenge of the project was finding reliable information about how buildings and trains looked. The model is being funded by the Shire of Narrogin as part of the Narrogin Railway Station and Goods Shed upgrades. Shire chief executive Dale Stewart said the Shire was investing in the replica to ensure it was an accurate reflection of the town’s past. “The Shire has developed a partnership with Morrie to accept his gracious offer to use his tremendous talent,” Mr Stewart said.