Bart Bear's Blog

I love trains. All sorts of trains. That is one reason that I like going to Sydney, because it is almost as quick (city centre to city centre) and a lot more comfortable to go by train. The Canberra train is not as big as the one that hauls the Indian-Pacific because it only has a few passenger carriages to pull. This trip I got to do something really special. While I was being carried up the platform to get a picture of the train, the driver asked if I would like to see inside the driver's cabin. Would I and what? I have been on the driver's plate of steam trains before this and they are really cluttered with levers and gauges and things and are pretty grotty with coal dust and soot. This set of controls is very different. It looks more like the dashboard of a big truck and it is very clean. That's important because Mum gets stroppy if I sit in coal dust or soot. Anyhow, it looks pretty easy to drive this train, just a batch of engine instruments, a big red button to stop things in a hurry, and a little throttle joystick to set the speed. The driver says it is actually a bit more complicated, but that's the basics. I could easily have helped drive the train back to Canberra if I was a union member.

Labels: New South Wales, Sydney, train