Introduction

There are more or less elegant ways to get from Longreach to Brisbane. On my way to Longreach, I took a QANTAS Link flight from Brisbane via Barcaldine to Longreach, which took just under three hours and really pushed the limits of what I can endure in a tiny Bombardier Dash-8.

For my return, I will be travelling by train with what is grandly designated in the published schedule of Queensland Rail as the Spirit of the Outback. The train operates from Longreach twice weekly on Mondays and Thursdays, with a departure at 08h10 in the morning. The journey time to Brisbane’s Roma Street Station is just short of 27 hours.

Getting to the Railway Station

The manager of the Saltbush Retreat has kindly offered to drive us to the station. It’s only about 25 minutes on foot, but I’m carting my luggage with me, so I thankfully accept his offer.

Longreach station is minute and only has the one platform. It’s all rather quaint, with the main station building dating back to 1916.

Check-in

Passengers can check in one piece of luggage free of charge. You don’t have to check in any bags, but once the cabin has been converted to a bed for the night, there really isn’t very much space left in the cabin.

Twin Sleeper Car

I’ve booked a twin sleeper cabin for me and the better half all the way through to Brisbane. The individual berths are quite spacious in the daytime configuration. A twin berth is basically two opposing berths with the divider between them removed.

There’s a washbasin that can be folded out, and they also provide a nice fluffy towel. The water from the tap is potable. A toilet and a separate shower are available at the far end of the carriage.

The cabin is well designed, with a lot of storage space that is conveniently located. There’s also an electric power socket.

Upon entering my cabin, there is a small vanity kit with various creams and soap. There’s also one of those inflatable neck support cushions and a small brochure with information on the train’s route to Brisbane.

There’s also a small card on the door handle. The idea being that if you put the card on the outside handle, they will come and make up your berth for the night while you’re in the dining car for supper.

The Crew & Service

The crew on the train are all just lovely and obviously very used to dealing with the mostly elderly customers on the train. The crew remain on the train all the way to Brisbane, which must be quite exhausting.

Dining on the Train

The train has a dining car and a bar car. The former is referred to as the Tucker Box. Tucker is an Australian word for food, similar to the British grub. Although with an Australian accent it’s ususally pronounced more like tucka.

If you’ve booked a sleeper, four meals are included in the price of the ticket – breakfast, lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning. For the breakfast service there is one sitting and all passengers are served together. For all other meals, there are two sittings. This means that for breakfast you may end up sharing a table. However, for lunch and dinner there are tables available that sit only two. When I made the booking, I was able to indicate a dining preference for a vegetarian meal.

First Breakfast

The first breakfast is served twenty minutes after the train pulls out of Longreach.

The vegetarian option is basically identical to the non-vegetarian, the difference being that the carnivores get bacon instead of baked beans. After breakfast I return to my seat and settle in to watch the Australian countryside go by.

The first part of the journey takes the train along the old railway track eastwards to Rockhampton. For most of this part of the trip, the train hardly ever goes above fifty to sixty kilometers an hour. It’s only once the train merges with the mainline to Brisbane at Rockhampton that it speeds up.

Lunch

I have a reservation for the second lunch sitting at 13h15. The lunch consists of a main course and dessert. For the main, I have the Mediterranean pasta, which is rather nice. For dessert, I have the vanilla flan served with berries and whipped cream.

After lunch, I get myself a coffee from the bar and sit a while in the lounge observing my fellow travellers. I think Hercule Poirot would approve…

At around 17h30 we reach Emerald. There’s a bit of a delay in leaving because, apparently, there’s a spare locomotive here that needs to be ferried back to Brisbane and is therefore being added to the two engines already pulling our train.

Dinner

The second sitting for the dinner service starts at 19h15. For a starter there is a damper, which is an Australian thing that, I think, closely resembles an English scone.

For the main course, the vegetarian option is stir fry Asian noodles with vegetables. This is also quite nice, but it could do with a bit more spice. A lot more, actually.

And for dessert, I have the cheese with crackers and fruit. One of the cheese is a Camembert, while the other is a cheddar. The other option for dessert is apple crumble.

Off to Noddyland

I return to my cabin and my berth has been made up for the night. It’s quite tricky getting into the cabin because there’s so little space that the door doesn’t even open all the way. But I manage to change into my pajamas. I turn off the lights and go off to sleep.

The bed is quite comfortable and the gentle rocking of the train eventually sways me into slumber.

Second Breakfast

I awake just before six in the morning. The breakfast service doesn’t start for another hour. So I leisurely wash up and then change into my day clothes.

The second breakfast is continental style and features a plate of fruit and a lovely hot croissant with cheese and tomatoes or, for the carnivores, ham. And, thankfully, plenty of coffee!

By the time I return to my cabin, the bed has been removed. We now have two hours before we arrive in Brisbane. The countryside along the coast is very different to that we left in Longreach. It’s very lush, with thick and dense vegetation.

Arrival at Brisbane Roma Street Station

We pull into the terminus at Roma Street a full eleven minutes ahead of schedule. Long distance trains arrive and depart from platform 10. For passengers making the journey in the opposite direction, from Brisbane to Longreach, a lounge is available on the platform.

While I wait for the luggage to be offloaded from the baggage car, I walk to the front of the train to take a photo of one of the locomotives that pulled our train all the way from Longreach.

Conclusion

That was really good fun and a very enjoyable journey. I just loved having meals in the dining car, and sleeping on a train is something I haven’t done in a very, very long time.

The Spirit of the Outback is a great way to travel that gives you a much better feel for the immensity of Australia and the challenges the early settlers will have encountered as they attempted to push further and deeper into the land.

Most of the passengers on the train were elderly couples. I guess that’s maybe because most of them are already retired and therefore have the leisure and the time to choose the train over the plane.