When We Rode the Rails

There was a romance about the railways in the days of steam that made legends of the trains and the men who ran them. Little of Australia’s workaday or social life was not affected by the lonesome whistle that winkled its way into every corner of the land. A train whistle; the sound that probably more than any other sound on earth has caused boys to run away from home, to become footloose and long for far-away places. She brings alive the railway folk who were proud to belong to the great family of railway workers: the drivers who only took leave when their engines were due for overhaul, the station masters and mistresses isolated on lonely lines, and the fettlers who took pride in being able to swing a 28-pound hammer when the temperature was 120 degrees in the shade . captures the magic of days when life had more meaning, fellowship and certainty.” pp. 246 Illustrated photographs