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The State heritage listed Angaston Railway Station building has been returned to its former glory thanks to a $735,000 restoration by The Barossa Council.

The upgrade completes the first stage of a $2.3 million project to re-activate the railway precinct.

Stage 2 includes a destination play space, mountain bike trail and picnic and market spaces, with preliminary civil works now underway.

Council’s Manager Community Projects, Rebecca Tappert, said the interior and exterior of the 1910 station building have been refurbished in keeping with its original form and function.

It is hoped the building will attract a retail or hospitality tenant during 2020.

“The real reward has been taking a neglected building and re-purposing it for contemporary uses while keeping the bones of the building intact,” Ms Tappert said. “We anticipate so many uses for this landmark building, as a community, events, heritage and retail space as well as a landing place for visitors to the precinct.”

Ms Tappert described the restoration project as particularly unique. “The building itself was physically jacked up in order to reconstruct the platform, which threw up some challenges,” she said.

“Restoring a building of this calibre has been a rare opportunity, and we hope the community is as proud of the end result as we are. It makes best use of what was an almost derelict building to support tourism and the local economy.”

The Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure has invested over $1.1 million to the project and Council was also successful in securing a $20,000 grant from Heritage South Australia to support the restoration of the station roof.