The RRR - 1 (Railway Refreshment Rooms)
In days past, before trains had dining cars and nowadays, well before there were hardly any long distance passenger trains, timetables were set up so that at appropriate times, the trains pulled up in a town with a Railway Refreshment Room (RRR). There would be a rush to the bar (if they weren’t a Temperance Room) and the tables in the dining room for the weary, dusty, thirsty and hungry traveller could get a meal before the train proceeded on. You could even go to a nice clean toilet and get some coal dust out of your eye!
Toowoomba had a massive RRR and it was famous for very good service and meals. Toowoomba’s RRR still exists and caters for special trains only these days (only two passenger trains pass each way to and from Charleville each week at unfriendly hours) plus is open for locals and still serves food and drinks in the opulence of yesteryear. You can even eat at tables on the platform, secure in the knowledge that a long distance train is not going to pull up and disgorge a hungry hoard.
My two photos show the RRR early on a quiet weekday morning, before the morning tea rush. If you are in Toowoomba, give it a go.
The RRR - 1 (Railway Refreshment Rooms)
In days past, before trains had dining cars and nowadays, well before there were hardly any long distance passenger trains, timetables were set up so that at appropriate times, the trains pulled up in a town with a Railway Refreshment Room (RRR). There would be a rush to the bar (if they weren’t a Temperance Room) and the tables in the dining room for the weary, dusty, thirsty and hungry traveller could get a meal before the train proceeded on. You could even go to a nice clean toilet and get some coal dust out of your eye!
Toowoomba had a massive RRR and it was famous for very good service and meals. Toowoomba’s RRR still exists and caters for special trains only these days (only two passenger trains pass each way to and from Charleville each week at unfriendly hours) plus is open for locals and still serves food and drinks in the opulence of yesteryear. You can even eat at tables on the platform, secure in the knowledge that a long distance train is not going to pull up and disgorge a hungry hoard.
My two photos show the RRR early on a quiet weekday morning, before the morning tea rush. If you are in Toowoomba, give it a go.