Mention rail trail to Tumbarumba’s Bobby Burgun and you’ll get a cool reception.
Feel-good promises of tourists gazing around the sights of his 1000-acre property “Wattledale” doesn’t cut it for Mr Burgun.
Nor does tourists buying coffee at local shops, or the predicted “spend” in the local economy.
He runs 1200 sheep and reckons he’s been “harassed” for 12 years about the disused rail line cutting through his property.
Mr Burgun remembers when trains actually plied the lines, reckoning it’s been about 45 years since the last one rolled by.
He’s the third generation of his family to farm “Wattledale”, says he’ll be the last, and says his main gripe is the bio-security risk opening up the rail line to the public will pose to the place.
“Imagine if I had disease on the place, I’d be quarantined for possibly years,” he said.
He said 23 properties would be affected on a 23km stretch of the disused line and 21 of those landholders had organised themselves into a committee to fight a proposal to rehabilitate and open it up to the public.
“It cuts right through the middle of my place,” said Mr Burgun.
“There’s hobby farmers, there’s large farms and it’s a risk,” he said.
He said rail trail proponents wanted a five-metre corridor along the length of the line.
“At one stage they said ‘we’ll provide the materials and you can fence it’, I’ve got plenty of my own fencing to do.”
Mr Burgun said he would eventually be looking to sell “Wattledale” and he believes, no matter what happened on the property after he’s gone, the trail would devalue it.
Stephen and Julie Roe run 1800 Angus breeders on “Bunloit” along the line that cuts through their enterprise and they’re not happy with the proposal either.
NSW Farmers believes farmers wear all the risks when it comes to rail trails, for questionable reward.
NSW Farmers president Derek Schoen believes the government must engage with farmers and recognise their opposition to the Tumbarumba-Rosewood pilot trail.
“There must be clear mechanisms for government to engage such strong opposition,” he said.
Unless farmers supported the project no money from the public purse should be committed to it, he said.
