Great Australian Railway Stories

By: Bill Marsh

Narrated by: Bill Marsh, Roger Cardwell, Christopher Pitman, Heather Steen

Length: 1 hr and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

In these frustrating days of diesel and electric trains it is hard to remember the smell of coal smoke, the hiss of steam, and the sting of cinders flying into your eyes. With his passion for the olden days and his famous ear for a good yarn, Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has brought together another enthralling collection of funny, dramatic, and hilarious stories from drivers and gangers, firemen and guards, their families and everyone in between.

Just as he did in Great Flying Doctor Stories, Great Australian Shearing Stories, and Great Australian Droving Stories, Bill ‘Swampy’ Marsh helps us remember who and what we were as a nation on this journey you’ll never forget.

©2005 Bill Marsh (P)2005 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Critic reviews

"Where explorers and settlers went in Australia, the railways followed. Small towns were linked like beads on a string by the railways: it was the way these communities stayed alive. Bill 'Swampy' Marsh has brought together another enthralling collection of firsthand accounts, of tales from the tracks and the railway sidings, from the engines and the guard boxes, the pubs and the carriages." (ABC Books)

"Beautiful stories; little vignettes of people's lives...and that's what (Bill's) cleverness is, in the way (he) tells these tales, or re-tells them, that, just in a quick listen you get the sense of the person and that person's whole life goes into that one yarn." (Peter Goers, arts critic and broadcaster)