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cmtoo 31-Aug-19, 15:47 |
 Riding the rails and dreaming with TimNo congested traffic, not even a steering wheel. Hours ahead to read a book, listen to a podcast or snooze. And when it is over, you will be somewhere else. I took the train from Melbourne to Albury this week. It wasn’t quite London to Paris, or the Orient Express to Venice, but it was special enough. I was heading to Tim Fischer’s state funeral. Taking the train seemed the right thing to do. Tim, as just about everyone knows, was Australia’s most prominent rail enthusiast. His ABC podcast, The Great Train Show, was one of the national broadcaster’s big hits more than a decade ago. He rode almost every train of note in more than 60 countries, right up to the Trans-Siberian, and a lot of rail routes that were so obscure you’d be hard pressed to find them on a map. In the end, he rode the train between Albury and Melbourne - too many times - to endure treatment for the cancer that took his life. Like a lot of us raised in Australian country districts in the 1950s and '60s, Tim was captured early by the enchantment of steam trains and their haunting whistle, and by the clickety-clack of little rail motors bringing visitors and the mail. He knew also that train trips gave you time to think. And dream. From The Age - Tony Wright is the associate editor and special writer for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. en.wikipedia.org |