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Baked Earth and Stainless Steel – Three days in rural NSW
During early January, due to track work around Sydney, the normal Cootamundra-Sydney-Maitland route of the Great Southern was denied it, and instead the luxury cruise train was diverted via NSW’s interior, where it introduced itself to some more remote parts of the state. Following the diverted stainless-steel passenger train appealed to Chris Walters and close friend Trent Nicholson as a way to tour their state’s back-blocks and drive a compelling arc from Cootamundra to the Hunter Valley. And so, they made plans to meet the train and follow it along parts of its journey.

Sydney Station Stories – Dulwich Hill
In the latest instalment of his Sydney Station Stories series, Chris Walters looks at Dulwich Hill. Opened in 1895 as Wardell Road – a station on the Sydenham to Belmore line (extended to Bankstown in 1909 and to Regents Park in 1928) – it also hosted a two-track goods line from 1916, and in 2014 it became the terminus of the L1 light rail line from Lilyfield. In the not-too-distant future Dulwich Hill will become part of the Sydney Metro network when the Sydenham to Bankstown line is converted.

South Geelong – Waurn Ponds duplication project update
The August 2022 RD contained an article by David Campbell outlining the upgrades being undertaken on the Geelong – Warrnambool line in southwestern Victoria. Most of the work covered in that article was being carried out between the Geelong suburb of Waurn Ponds and Warrnambool. At Waurn Ponds a new station that had been opened in 2014 was expanded through the provision of a 1,200-metre loop and second platform with lift access, commissioned on 29 May 2022. John Hoyle reports on the current state of play, particularly on the major work being undertaken between Geelong and Waurn Ponds.