Christine King, Castlemaine
I write re the article on the steam train near-miss (Midland Express, August 7). It does sound as if safety upgrades are urgently needed at the Bendigo/Maldon railway crossing. Some people’s hearts must have missed a few beats that night.
I’m curious about Mr Reynolds’ choice of words when he says motorists are placing “themselves” at risk, as well as “priceless heritage trains”. Is a person not worth as much as a heritage train? Of course he didn’t mean to make it sound that way, but it made me think, as I have thought before, about Victorian Goldfields Railway’s priorities. As Mr Reynolds also states, the heritage trains run “any day of the week” and sometimes “quite late at night”. Living close as I do, I know exactly when they run. I’ve been woken up at midnight by “excessive whistle blowing” several times and I’m not talking about for emergencies or following the rules. I mean toot-toot, toot-toot, toot-toot, tooooooooooot over and over again!
I totally get it, OK! I do. It’s a steam train, that’s what you do. But remember that scene in the Blues Brothers when Jake asks “How often do those trains go past?” Elwood replies, “So often you don’t notice”. They can’t have been heritage trains. Of course because of the revenue steam trains generate in Castlemaine, we just have to put up with the toot toot toot toot toooooooooooooting, for the sake of our precious (priceless) tourists! As an epileptic who needs a decent night’s sleep may I suggest a further change? No toot toot toot toooooooooooooting after 10pm, unless necessary to alert heritage, inexperienced, priceless, foolish or drunk drivers?
