And one decade on, he's still riding that wave.

It was a case of the stars aligning for the former primary school teacher and three-times Bathurst mayor when he finally announced in September 2010 that he intended to contest the seat of Bathurst at the 2011 state election.

Mr Toole had already proved himself an impossibly popular local politician after securing about 50 per cent of the primary vote at the 2007 Bathurst Regional Council election and pulling four members of his five-member ticket into the chamber with him.

And just three weeks after Mr Toole announced his candidacy, his path to Macquarie Street became much clearer when the long-serving Labor Member for Bathurst Gerard Martin announced he was retiring after 12 years in parliament.

At the same time, there was a real smell of decay around a Labor Government that had been in power for 16 years and had completely lost its way.

The party had burned through three premiers in a single four-year term and Kristina Keneally had been left with the task of simply salvaging as many seats as possible at the 2011 poll.

It all added up to a perfect storm for Mr Toole who not only won the seat of Bathurst on March 26, 2011 - he won in it in a landslide.

The 36.5 per cent swing to the Nationals in Bathurst was the largest swing ever recorded in a NSW election and Mr Toole won every booth across the electorate, including traditional Labor heartland booths in Lithgow and Wallerawang.

And it meant the Toole family would finally walk the halls of state parliament after his grandfather Jack contested the seat of Bathurst for the Liberals in 1956 and lost, and his father Trevor fought the seat for the Nationals in 1994 and also fell short.

As he marks his 10-year anniversary in parliament, Mr Toole said he could not have achieved any of it without the support of his family.

While his parents have always been big supporters of his career, Mr Toole said his wife Jo had shouldered a heavy burden during his time in parliament.

"I'm quite fortunate to be in Bathurst because it's not as far to travel to Sydney as some of my colleagues but you couldn't do politics unless you had the support of your family," he said.

"I really have to thank my wife because sometimes she has been like a single mother of three children (Rhayne, Keely and Scout) and I could never have done this without her support.

"I've also been very fortunate that the whole time I've been in parliament we have been in government so there's been a real opportunity to deliver for the people of the Bathurst electorate.

"I've been here 10 years and I will definitely be running again in two years' time. I think I have a few good years left in me yet."

When Mr Toole looks back on what he has achieved during 10 years in parliament, it is his first big win that looms large in his memory.

A key election promise as he contested the 2011 poll was a return daily rail service between Bathurst and Sydney - a project his predecessors had long left languishing in the "too hard basket".

"The first big thing I was able to do was the Bathurst Bullet," he said.

"It was one of the things that got me interested in state politics because I was tired of people saying it couldn't happen, that there would never be enough patronage and that there weren't enough trains.

"So to see that service delivered was very important but to also see the strong take-up from the community showed it was the right thing to do. It has been a success story ever since."

RELATED:

Mr Toole lists $25 million to boost Bathurst's water security; securing on-demand stops for the Bathurst Bullet in Rydal and Tarana; ongoing work on the Great Western Highway, including a $2.5 billion upgrade from Lithgow to Katoomba due to start next year; $150 million expansion of the Bathurst Correctional Centre; new electric trains in Lithgow; and increased investment in Jenolan Caves among his government's achievements in the Bathurst electorate over the past 10 years.

"But sometimes it's the small things that can make a real difference, whether it is visiting someone, handing them a birthday card or securing small grants for local groups," he said.

"People want to see you, they want to talk to you. We are very mindful of that and work hard to make it happen."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: