January 10: School holiday crash. Two buses crashed on State Mine Gully Road, causing only minor injuries to the 68 passengers from St Marys, including 50 children. 

January 24: On your marks, get set, go! Lithgow parkrun off to a great start. 

January 31: Revamped Lithgow Library opens its doors. 

February 7: Shine goes off the jewellery business. Regency Jewellers closed after being a fixture on Main Street, Lithgow, for 27 years. 

February 17: Catastrophic conditions change priorities for firefighting teams. Firefighters from brigades in Hartley, Marangaroo, Wallerawang, South Bowenfels, Portland and Sunny Corner joined the effort to contain the St Ivans bushfire near Dunedoo. 

February 24: 50 years for Sister Anne. Lithgow’s Sister Anne Houston marked a half century as a Josephite nun. 

March 10: Last drinks at Court House Hotel. 

March 10: Demolition changes skyline. The timber frame cooling towers at Wallerawang’s Power station were demolished. 

March 14: NAPLAN, no worries. Lithgow Public School was singled out by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority as one of the top 20 most improved schools in NSW in numeracy. 

March 17: A hundred homeless. Rough sleepers on Main Street were the public face of a rising homelessness issue in Lithgow. 

March 21: Robotics comp contenders. Lithgow High School’s robotics team, the Blast Furnace Bots, was awarded with an Imagery Award, at the First Robotics Competition in Sydney. 

March 21: Portland development boost. A $12 million waste and water treatment plan was announced for Portland.

April 4: Quilts stitch a smile. Wallerawang Public School students delivered specially made blankets to Three Tree Lodge. The blankets were made using items significant to the residents. 

April 7: Walk ‘n’ Talk brings Lithgow together. Close to 350 people turned out for the inaugural community event, which aims to open up the conversation on mental health. 

April 14: Lithgow City Council’s byelection winners announced. Councillors Darryl Goodwin and Deanna Goodsell are successful in their bid to occupy the two vacant seats. 

April 14: Lights, boardwalks, action: Furnace revamp. A plan is announced to revitalise Lithgow’s iconic Blast Furnace park. 

April 18: Corriedales win big at Royal. Cheetham Flats breeder Rick Hoolihan was named best exhibitor in the Corriedale section of the Royal Easter Show.

April 25: Lithgow stars in ‘My Pet Dinosaur’. Scenery from Lithgow, Portland and Rydal were used as the backdrop to the movie, which was released on April 22, 2017. 

April 28: Stolen rhino returns to Zig Zag Public School. A chance find in the bush led to the beloved statue of the rhino being reunited with the thrilled students after it had been missing since October 2016. 

May 2: Heat woes. Financial counsellors reveal that an inability to pay heating bills was a “very prevalent problem” in Lithgow. 

May 2: Staging an impossible rescue. Lithgow mechanic Corey Gurney staged a salvage operation in Queensland to save a floating excavator worth $250,000 as Cyclone Debbie bore down. 

May 5. Cullen Bullen mine to reopen. Manildra Group applied to the Department of Planning for permission to re-open Invincible Mine with an extension to the site. 

May 5: Two ticketing systems and double the cost. Lithgow pensioners were slugged with a double fare following the introduction of the Opal system, which meant they had to buy two daily pensioner tickets, one for the bus and one for the train. 

May 9: Portland woman conned $5400. A Portland woman was scammed more than $5000 in two separate transactions with phone-based scammers claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office. 

May 16: Debutantes glitter at Swan Lake inspired Catholic Ball event. 

May 16: Lithgow comes out for its rainbow residents. Lithgow hosted its first ever celebration of International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHOT Day) at the Lithgow Library Learning Centre. 

May 30: Bender-Rushworth Walk for Cancer marks 10 years of giving. The annual 11km walk from Wallerawang to Portland raises funds for the NSW Cancer Council.

May 30: New aged care beds. Lithgow Aged Care was granted 73 new aged care beds, allowing redevelopment plans to go ahead. 

June 2: All aboard! New express train for Lithgow. It was announced Lithgow would get another express train service to and from Sydney.

June 6: Fashion meets fabulous head gear at the charity Beanie Ball. The first Lithgow ball, to raise funds for brain cancer, was a huge success. 

June 13: A lifelong volunteer honoured. Meadow Flat’s Maisie Scott received an Order of Australia Medal. 

June 13: First time playwright awarded. Lithgow Theatre Group took home two awards from the Port Macquarie one act play festival. Playwright Sandra James won the award for best unpublished play and Greer Ashworth won best female actor. 

June 13: Lean & Bennett wins major award. The Lithgow dealership was named President’s Dealer of the Year. 

June 16: Music festival tackles suicide prevention. The Resilience Festival 2018 was launched, aiming to bring the community together to confront the issue of suicide. 

June 23: Workies chefs battle it out for best club cuisine in the state. Lithgow Workies chefs Nicholas Dowler and Melanie Quinn were selected to showcase their talents at the Chef’s Table Competition, cooking against 27 club chefs from around the state. 

June 23: Energy, jobs secured. A $100 million water treatment facility and pipeline for Springvale Mine was approved. 

July 4: Cold meets bill heat. It was a day of extremes in Lithgow as the coldest temperature recorded in July met a price hike in heating costs in New South Wales.

July 7: Water turns to gold. ASX listed gold mining company Regis announced a draft agreement with EnergyAustralia and Centennial Coal to pump treated mine water from Springvale to sustain a new mining operation in Blayney. 

July 11: Portland police officer carries out daring rescue. Portland police officer Roger Taig played a critical role in saving a young woman who was threatening to take her own life near Hassans Walls lookout.

July 18: EPA wins record fine. The Land and Environment Court handed down a $1.05m fine to Clarence Colliery after an overflow of coal slurry which impacted the Wollangambe River. 

July 21: A stronger community. Lithgow received $1.7m in NSW Government’s Stronger Country Communities Funding to build sporting and community facilities.

July 25: Capertee receives racing boost. Racing NSW announced a property at Capertee would be used for retired racehorses to allow them to be rehabilitated, rehomed and retrained. 

July 25: Program gives away food for hungry bellies. Lithgow Information and Neighbourhood Centre partnered with Coles to deliver the ‘Second Bite Food Rescue’ program. 

July 28: Road section complete. $70m upgrades along the Great Western Highway at Hartley Valley were completed. 

August 1: Holistic hub boosted. A $300,000 grant from the federal government made Dr Sornalingam ‘Haran’ Kamalaharan’s dream to transform his general practice into a holistic health hub possible. 

August 1: Joss Arkley-Smith appears solo on the Opera House stage. When schools from around the region gathered to perform the Jon English composition Six Ribbons at the Sydney Opera House, Lithgow Public School’s Joss Arkley-Smith was featured as a soprano soloist. 

August 1: Tempers high at rally. Sydney-based groups Party of Freedom and Antifa clashed in Lithgow’s Queen Elizabeth Park in an expletive-laden shouting match at an anti-Islamic rally. 

August 4: Mine appeal upheld. The NSW Court of Appeal found in favour of environmental group 4nature, in its court case against Springvale Mine’s extension approval. 

August 4: Power Station jobs to be axed. EnergyAustralia has announced a restructure of its workforce in the Lithgow region, with 25-30 jobs to go early next year. 

August 18: Whyte behind bars. Karlene Whyte, the subject of Lithgow’s biggest theft case, was sentenced to 11 years in jail for a $2.9m fraud. 

August 18: Vale: A life of care and insight. Lithgow legend Dr Judy Whyte OAM was remembered as a caring doctor, councillor and volunteer.

August 22: Council: Lithgow “deeply affected” by youth suicide. Council made a submission to the NSW Parliamentary inquiry into the prevention of youth suicide and pushed to have a hearing held in Lithgow.  

August 29: Funds for emergency hall. Glen Alice’s emergency relief centre was allocated $207,000 in state funds to carry out improvements. 

September 1: Charges laid for manufacturing firearms in Mort Street home. 

September 5: Fled cops on foot. An innocuous traffic stop led to a foot chase and the seizure of drugs from a car. 

September 12: Fire completely destroys Bowenfels home. The vacant house on Andrew Street was gutted. 

September 15: Firies climb for a cause. Lithgow firefighters signed up to climb all 1504 stairs and 98 storeys of Sydney Towers in full gear to raise funds for Motor Neurone Disease research. 

September 19: Full marks. Hampton and Capertee Public Schools were given the Secretary’s Award for Outstanding School initiative at the Department of Education’s Awards of Excellence. Lithgow Public School was recognised for its improvements in numeracy and literacy. 

September 22: Mine fight. Bathurst MP Paul Toole confirmed the state government would use special powers if necessary to intervene to keep Springvale Mine and Mount Piper Power Station operating. 

September 29: Watered down: Council ups water restrictions. The changes came in the wake of low rainfall and breakages in the system delivering drinking water to Wallerawang and Portland. 

October 6: Oz daffodil champion. Rob Slarke won the Australian Open Daffodil championship with 12 perfect blooms.

October 6: Land sale. Lithgow business Timberfix entered negotiations with Lithgow City Council to purchase 16.8 hectares at Wallerawang for the purposes of building a private school. 

October 10: Guaranteed future: New legislation to secure 600 jobs at Mount Piper and Springvale. The state government legislation changed the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act to clarify that projects seeking to expand would have to maintain or improve water quality compared to their existing consent. 

October 13: More fish for Lake Wallace. About 800 brood stock were rehomed in Lake Wallace in time for the Wallerawang Gone Fishing Day.

October 17: Two daily trains to Westmead: Residents to commute directly to Westmead on weekdays.

October 20: The Doyle archive: The family of comedian John Doyle contributes a piece of history. The pieces were given to the Lithgow & District History Society.  

October 20: Plans to dump waste at Bell. Plans revealed to dump Sydney fill at the old quarry at Newnes Junction. 

October 20: Man dies from crush injuries. A 65-year-old man died after an incident at a workshop at Marrangaroo. 

October 27: New X-ray tech. The new technology at Lithgow Hospital was hoped to reduce patient waiting times. 

October 31: Haunted circus. Thousands of people gathered in Lithgow’s Main Street to celebrate Halloween. 

November 3: A world first design. A commuter train updated to run on solar power by the Lithgow Railway Workshop is transported to begin its new life as a tourist train in Byron Bay. 

November 3: Artist Ted Wale dies, aged 107. Ted was the oldest living apprentice from the Lithgow Small Arms Factory, where he had worked as a fitter machinist. 

November 7: Best food forward. The inaugural Lithgow Stars Dance for Cancer event raises more than $40,000 for Cancer Council NSW. 

November 7: Reopening. The Department of Planning recommends that the Invincible Mine be reopened and extended. 

November 10: Portland forms a business chamber. 

November 17: Dumping disgrace. Car shells, electrical cables and other rubbish was dumped at Dobbs Drift.  

November 17: Let’s vote. Calare returned a 60.2 per cent ‘yes’ answer to the same sex marriage postal survey. 

November 21: Golden ticket back. Pensioners had access to $2.50 all-day travel once again, with Buslines agreeing to waive fares for pensioners connecting to a train service. 

November 21: Lithgow and District Workmen's Club marked 130 years.

December 1: Council to end not-for-profit child care centre Gumnut’s lease. A tender was awarded to a new provider, which will begin operation from the Proto Ave site in February. 

December 1: Man hospitalised after crash. A car crashed into a house on Methven Street. 

December 8: Walking for Simon. Hayden Way, 9, walked 7km and raised more than $13,000 in memory of his friend Simon Williams. 

December 15: Murder charge. A Portland man was held in custody over the 2015 death of John Burrows, who died as a result of an improvised explosive device detonation. 

December 15: Talented group blitzes HSC. 

December 15: Drumming with rockstar royalty. Highland drummers Mel Besley and Stephanie Durie played on stage with Sir Paul McCartney in Sydney. 

December 19: Stunned at 99.75. La Salle’s Callum Woodrow’s fantastic HSC success. 

December 22: All we want for Christmas is a refund. Lithgow wonders when it will receive its own Earn and Return point for recycling.