Living in a Railway Atmosphere

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article81993068

LIVING IN A RAILWAY 

ATMOSPHERE

SCHOOLS ON RAILS.

Children at Darnick and Kaleentha Loop, which places are on the Broken Hill line 547 and 586 miles respectively from ney, and 40 miles from the nearest school town, can be said in very truth to be living in a railway atmosphere. Not only are their homes in close proximity to the line, but they are being edu- cated in railway carriages fitted up as school rooms.

At the request of the Education Department, the Commissioner for Railways, Mr T. J. Hartigan, made available at Damick an old rail mo- tor trailer at a nominal rental. Portion of the carriage has been fitted with desks, seats, blackboard and other school equipment, whilst a smaller section has been furnished as a sitting room and bedroom for the school master.

The pupils at tending the school are practically all children of railway fettlers stationed at Darnick. A second carriage has now been brought into use at Kaleentha Loop. During a recent tour of the Bro-ken Hill line, Mr Hartigan took the opportunity of inspecting the carriages, and he had a cheery word for the children.

To mark the occasion one of the Commissioner's staff took a photograph of the school and the pupils at Kaleentha Loop, and a framed copy of the picture has been for warded to the teacher, and copies distributed amongst the children.

A number of railway vehicles are in use as mobile workshops for technical education, but the carriages at Darnick and Kaleentha are the first to be used as primary schools.