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'As it was 100 years ago -- Platform 1 at Sydney's Central Station' posted by Rodney Harrison


'Mind the gap - enthusiasts get the shot in country NSW' posted by Rodney Harrison


'Doesn't every kid want to be train driver at least once?.  Train-spotting at Exeter, November 2004' posted by Rodney Harrison


Riding on the 3801

an experience of travel

An exceptionally Australian experience is a steamtrain ride behind the famous 3801 steam engine that, for years, has been running excursion trips from Sydney to places all over New South Wales.
 
There is something entirely charming about the era of steam: an age of gentility and struggle when railway operating rules that keep us safe today were written in the blood of workers who died on the job years ago. Certainly, for some, the era serviced by steam trains might well be an era best forgotten (kerosene heat, no electricity, coal stoves, spoonfuls of caster oil for misbehaving children). It was also a time when the railway was the 'Internet' of the time, when people were grateful for human contact brought by the train and who relied on the railway line for the news of the day.
 
One day in 2003, I took a trip to Bundanoon from Sydney behind the 3801 when it was operated by 3801 Limited out of Eveleigh . Fantastic views, scones and cream served up en route. And the scent of Eucalypts in the air through the windows. Most quaint are those little signal boxes that still survive, like the one at Exeter. Modernisation hasn't completely taken over the scene.
 
I understand 3801 runs fairly regular excursions organised by the New South Wales Rail Transport Museum in Thirlmere (www.nswrtm.org).
 
Most people think train buffs are insane. But in fact many relish the reconnection with something past and something lost, a feeling of connection the railways promised when they were all there was to knit the nation together. A truly Aussie experience is a train ride into the country behind one of these steam-powered beasts.

 
Thanks to
Rodney Harrison
from Batemans Bay
on 23/06/2008 send a message to Rodney Harrison

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