Peterborough and Quorn

So apparently I married a railway nuffy. Who knew?!? I had my first inkling at the Railway museum in Broken Hill, but it was confirmed when we went to Peterborough. 

“Steamtown” is choc-a-block full of railway stuff and we went there TWICE. We first saw the sound and light show at 8pm, which was really quite entertaining. I’m so glad I saw it first as the movie it contains really put the trains in context for our visit the next day. And yes. We were back there the next day. It was manned by yet another older gentleman volunteer who kindly extended the 1.5 hour tour to a full 2 hours. Dunc was rapt. The rest of us… not so much! Steamtown has a fantastic visual quiz for kids, so Lexie and Angus were kept busy trying to find all the answers they could – we love it when places have activities for kids!

 My concerns regarding Dunc’s railway interests escalated when we decided we had to stay an extra day to allow us to catch the Pichi Richi Railway in Quorn. The best bit was that we had to leave Peterborough bloody early and it was the first time we were on the road before 9am. We were even on the road before 8am! The kids got to stay in bed, and in fact, Lexie even stayed asleep – that girl will sleep through anything! Bertha loved the early morning weather and we loved the early road conditions, so our plan is the head off just as early again tomorrow.

We made it to Quorn with plenty of time to find a (very large) car park and catch the train. Sadly it was still too close to the fire danger season for the steam locomotive, so it was the diesel train for us. We were seated next to a TRUE train tragic, so in addition to the conductor (and the conductor’s child) telling us all about it, we also had this guy. Upon reflection, Dunc is not sooooo bad…

The train ride was lovely and we had 20 minutes to stop and explore the old Woolshed Flats homestead before turning around and heading back to Quorn. Lexie spent most of the ride finishing the 6^th Harry Potter book, and Angus spent it watching out for roos and camels, so both kids were entertained. LOL. Just quietly, I think Dunc enjoyed it the most.

After our ride we wandered through the little town of Quorn in search of some lunch. We found it in the form of enormous toasted sandwiches and croissants, all with railway names and accompanied by HUGE milkshakes at the local café. Yum!

Then we were off on the road again, heading up to the Flinders Rangers and through the little town of Hawker to Rawnsley Park Station.