West by
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nnn | The south western line has not been well
treated by time or the elements. For me, ir was a key part of what I had
come to call Quirky Rail, that collection of services run by QR that set
it apart from other rail operators. With the steady rationalisation of Quirky
Rail's character, its existence more and more relied on grain and cotton.
And with drought a seemingly permanent feature of the landscape through much
of the 2000s few trains ran at all. But...at the south western line's very
extremity, a twice weekly train continued to run, serving the town of Dirranbandi
and its modest population of around 600 people. With so few trains motivation
to visit the line was low but, with time running out for the Dirranbandi
service, I eventually got out there in mid 2007 to observe the train one
last time. This gallery is organised chronologically over the three days
I used to chase the train.
Many of the following images, and those in South by South West 2, appeared in my Railway Digest article which can be downloaded from here.
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