by Nick Rowe
If the walls at the Railway Hotel public bar could talk they would have many tales to tell.
In its 133 year history - from being a hotel/institution at the centre of a pioneering town such as Warragul, through to it recently being the centre of the Warragul nightlife for close to 20 years in its guise as "the Sporty", the topics of discussion during its history could fill a whole library.
Whether or not books and literature were a common topic in these discussions over more than a century will be forever unknown - well at least until the past couple of years. Why so? Because since late 2021, 15 to 20 men have been meeting once a month in the front bar as members of the Warragul chapter of the "Tough Guy Book Club" (TGBK).

The Tough Guy Book Club was introduced by Melbourne man Shae Leighton