ON THE RICHMOND LINE

In my mind I still see those shining rails,

Parallel up close, joined at a slight crest,

Invisible beyond that spearhead point,

Expressing workers worldwards from the west.

Before carriages came out of the east

I sensed their rickety rhythmic rattle;

I felt the diesel motor's vibrations;

I heard cries of freight cars' sheep and cattle.

And I recall smoky locomotives,

Vapour spirals whirling like Dervishes,

Soot defiling my then tender nostrils,

Steam hissing like snakes locked in skirmishes.

Always the antique station waited still -

Gateway to the floodplains near Richmond Hill.*

* The first British settlers in eastern Australia referred to the area around the modern town of Richmond as Richmond Hill, a reference to a prominent feature of the landscape near the floodplains at the confluence of the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Grose Rivers.  The Richmond railway line begins at Blacktown and travels through Marayong, Quakers Hill, Schofields, Riverstone, Vineyard, Mulgrave, Windsor, Clarendon and East Richmond before terminating at Richmond.  A secondary line once ran from Richmond to Kurrajong in the foothills of the Blue Mountains.  The picture shows a 1960s steam train descending the gentle incline from Schofields on the approach to Riverstone.