Broad appeal

Jodie Jones and Steve Carne have turned a disused railway station into a culinary destination.

Story By Sue Wallace

Once it was only hot pies and buckets of chips that were served at the Wodonga Railway Station, but these days it’s all about fresh produce and innovative dishes, with not a train in sight. Talented chef Jodie Jones and partner Steve Carne took over the derelict kitchen of the decommissioned railway station near the New South Wales–Victoria border in June 2013, and have created a great dining space, Broadgauge.
The Heritage-listed red-brick railway station, built in 1873, saw the last train roll through in July 2010, while a new station was opened in West Wodonga in 2011. Jodie, who has many memories of catching trains from Wodonga as a schoolgirl, says as soon as they saw the old station they were smitten.
“It is such a beautiful building that we knew it would work well for our restaurant and it had a great feel about it right from the start,” Jodie says. Steve says they didn’t have to think about it twice and especially liked that they could reinvigorate the old dining area. “We jumped at it as it is such a fantastic venue – we get many people dining here who reminisce about the old station and have lots of funny stories about missing trains,” Steve says. He is also used to train buffs calling in to have a look and has even had to redirect passengers to the new station after they have arrived to catch a train.