Last Train to Grafton

It's hard to believe that this is the 15th book I have released. I've always thought of myself as a writer who was taking a break from finishing his next novel to dabble in writing some railway articles and indulging in some model railroading. That was four years ago however, and Last Train to Grafton now becomes the 7th railway book I have released since 2013.

The second instalment in my Last Train series follows on from Last Train to Brisbane, only this time heading across the Brisbane Border Ranges and into the hills of the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Once more there are 56 full colour pages of hauntingly beautiful photographs and accompanying poems, thick with nostalgia for both train buffs and those who just like to reflect on the good ol' days. The 8 x 10" premium colour book is again available in either hardback or softcover.

As for the cover? That's the original 1930 Glenapp signal hut that stands approximately 100 km south of Brisbane on the Sydney to Brisbane Interstate Line. The fact that the signal hut is still standing is a testament to the hard work of two terrific blokes that I'm honoured to have met. Rob and Dennis Sibson, more affectionately know as The Glenapp Boys, grew up alongside the railway line when their father Reg was stationed there between 1948 and 1960. Now retired on the Gold Coast, the brothers can be found camping alongside the signal hut on weekends, and tending to the former station's surrounds with ride-on-mowers and brush-cutters. To have sat in the sunshine with them on a Saturday morning while listening to their stories over a cuppa tea was a reminder that the Australia we once knew is still alive and well. Only these days you have to venture a little further off the beaten track to find it.

Some of the places featured in this book will be familiar to those who remember travelling aboard trains such as the Gold Coast Motorail along the now abandoned Murwillumbah Line, others like the mountain line to Dorrigo a little less-so. Or what about a little dot on the map situated north of Kyogle that is simply called The Risk? Thanks to Google Maps, the satellite imagery showed me that something was still standing alongside the mainline. Thanks also to Google Maps, I almost became bogged on what was supposed to be Risk Road. Talk about a road that lived up to its name! Heavy rain had reduced it to nothing more than a two-tyre cow track with deep ruts, flanked on either side by slippery wet grass with nowhere to turn around. It was hardly what my seventy-year-old parents had in mind when I asked them along for a nice drive through the country! Continuing over a single car lane wide timber planked bridge that also happened to be missing a plank, and through a corrugated iron road tunnel beneath the Sydney-Brisbane railway line, I soon found what I came to see. The 1930 steel water tower that is still standing where The Risk Station once belonged, became one of my favourite photos featured in this book. I'm glad that the photo will live on in this collection, because there's no-way I will ever risk driving there again!

From ghostly railway relics, to lively railway stations that have since found a second purpose, Last Train to Grafton is a book I have been planning for the past decade. Taking a poetic romp across the Brisbane Border Ranges, through the hills of the Northern Rivers of New South Wales and onto the mountain town of Dorrigo, all in search of what remains of the towns and places where you could once board a train to Grafton.

After spending the past 6 months writing and producing this book, I am now left with only 6 weeks to research and gather all the information I can before flying to the other side of the country to write the next instalment in the Last Train series. Last Train to Bunbury will see me set off with my wife of 25 years Denise to explore the towns and places in the far south west corner of Western Australia where it was once possible to board a train to Bunbury. We'll be taking The Australind train from Perth to Bunbury before collecting a rental car to explore the far flung back roads and forgotten railway lines of this amazing part of the world. And just in case we encounter any roads similar to Risk Road, you can bet I've taken out extra insurance!

 

Available now through my Books page

See also; Last Train to Brisbane