A Backblocker's Pleasure Trip

We left Adelaide late in the afternoon, and so much of the daylight was spent in going through long, dark tunnels and narrow cuttings, numerous in the Mount Barker and Mount Lofty country, that it might as well have been night. There was nothing to be seen in a tunnel, and the cutting was a device that shut out all the countryside.

We were locked in like prisoners before starting, and only released at places where there was at least three minutes' interval between the arrival and departure of the train. Then we were locked up again for safe custody. On the Melbourne end of the line we enjoyed more freedom. A passenger could lean out through the open window without fear of having his thinking end dashed against a junk of rock, or something equally unpleasant; and he might break his journey if he felt that way inclined by taking a dive on to the swimming ballast without hindrance. There were people who did that sort of thing, and it was a thoughtful Government that ukased that railway passengers should be kept securely under lock and key. It was necessary for their own well-being and the good of the country.