Lee Cass, Byron Bay.
Whilst waiting for the terrific tourist train to get its new electric motors, I had a look at the main station near Elements Resort.
With an enquiring look on my face I caught the 637 bus into town and wandered over to the Elements Byron station and then the old Byron Bay railway station.
I would have thought that Elements’ desire to have a heritage train on the old tracks would have meant heritage-flavoured stations. Yes the Elements new station supports solar panels, and yes it has to house the poor old, shivering train on cold, rainy nights and keep it cool in summer, but surely both stations could have reflected the years of their train? Why not build them with a bit of period-influenced architecture?
These are metallic, glassy modern functional buildings. I looked at Byron’s heritage station, which is perfect for the cause. Surely it’s not too hard to add a heritage facade to both new stations up to give them some old-fashioned flavour? Like, add a bit of fun? Otherwise we will have the incongruity of a 1940s art deco train pulling into 2017 glass and metal stations.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
