Well, after a very bumpy ride overnight which made sleeping very difficult, we arrived in Broken Hill at 6.40 this morning. It was very cold (1.8c) and I decided to walk along the platform and count the number of carriages on the train.
This turned out to be difficult to do as the train was too long to fit into the station. We stopped with the first half in the platform while they refreshed the water supplies in each carriage, and then the train moved forward so that they could service the rear of the train. So, what do you you do in this situation – simple, ask someone. The train manager told me that the train was 26 cars in length. Each carriage is 25 metres long. Add two locomotives and two car carriers to that and this makes the train 750 metres long. I’m glad that I’m not having to walk that length many times each day.
There were some enterprising ladies who had set up some stalls on the platform and were selling knitted articles. They reminded ma little of e old ladies selling food on the Russian platcorms. I couldn’t find any of the cuddly toys in pink, so I didn’t buy any for Audrey. She’s probably a bit old for that sort of thing now anyway.
Breakfast began just after leaving Broken Hill and we are now heading south across flat saltbush country with the occasional emu and kangaroo to be seem out the window. We are on our way On our way to Adelaide.
