the Silver City Comet

The "Silver City" was a reference to the mining town of Broken Hill in the New South Wales outback (see an earlier post) and the "Comet" wasn't a heavenly object but a train.

Introduced in 1937, it was proudly proclaimed to be "the first completely air conditioned all-diesel train in the British Empire"!  The sets were built by Ritchie Brothers of Auburn NSW and powered by two Harland and Wolf 8–cylinder diesel engines. During the next 52 years the Silver City Comet provided passenger services between Broken Hill and Parkes with special services to Sydney (1,160 km from Broken Hill).  All sets were based in Parkes during their lifetime. In the 1940s the train also provided regular services to Canberra and Newcastle during coal shortages.

At the top is a set on a trial run from Sydney to Moss Vale at Moss Vale in July 1937, second is an undated view of the servery, third is an interior view from March 1938, and fourth is a set on its way from Broken Hill to Parkes arriving at Ivanhoe in 1985.

Although rail passenger services after 1989 became a political football, it was not until June 2002 that a regular service to Broken Hill was reintroduced using a CountryLink Xplorer train set.