Since it’s invention, the railway has attracted photographers.  Projects such as Bruce Davidson’s Subway, Mike Brodies images of freight train riders, and Paul Fusco’s fleeting images of Robert F. Kennedy’s Funeral train, have all cemented themselves as important documents of modern photography. The railway has its own set of both enforced and unspoken rules; a culture which moves with the times whilst being firmly planted on the two rails that often carry centuries of history and change. In London, you’d rarely see office workers drinking beer from a can in public, but if you board a Southern Railway service from London to Brighton you can watch society equalise as passengers from all walks of life happily sip their 4-packs or bottles of Pinot Grigio at any time of the day without judgement from passengers nor rail staff.  In Australia, The CountryLink trains of NSW carry their own unique culture. The moniker CountryLink was was coined in 1989, given to the new government-backed corporation which brought together a bevy of existing regional railway services. In 2013 CountryLink was dissolved and replaced by NSW TrainLink who currently operate services, but CountryLink had a ring to it, the name stuck, and the word itself paints a picture to any Aussie familiar with these trains. The current fleet entered service in 1993 (the year I was born) and are due to be replaced by a new fleet in 2023.  Starting their journey from Sydney’s Central Station, these trains service remote regional areas, going as far as Brisbane to the north, Melbourne to the south, and Broken Hill to the west. The diversity of towns and passengers between these points is vast; racially, culturally and economically. There are 4 major cities on the network, but for me the most interesting places lie in the expansive distances between. Often these towns are so remote that they have by force majeure retained their own unique heritage, cultures and problems in the current age of connectedness and globalisation. Broken Hill, the furthest location from Sydney, was once a frontier mining town, and home to the biggest silver deposit ever discovered. In Menindee, a nearby agricultural town, I was told by a local woman that it can get so hot in summer you sometimes hear huge whip cracks made by boulders splitting in two. Of course, 35,000 years earlier, most of these places were inhabited by First Nations Peoples, and a significant percentage (around 1 third) of the population in towns like Menindee remains Aboriginal. In 2009; when I was 16, myself and two friends took a CountryLink train north from Sydney, en route to Byron Bay some 800km away. We travelled independently and there was no shortage of drama onboard to keep us entertained during the 14 hour journey. Coincidentally, prior to this trip I’d been given my first proper camera, a 35mm Canon passed down from my photographer grandad, and I photographed my first roll of black and white film during our railway adventure. Fast forward 4 years, and I was headed to London, my birthplace, to pursue photography as a career. Whilst working as an assistant, I was constantly photographing. The quality of the light in the northern hemisphere, especially England, is soft and beautiful; quite different to where I grew up, and a great help for any new photographer. Years passed, and with improved technical skills I began to think about how I would photograph a project in Australia; which techniques I'd use to render the harsh light and unique colour palette in the best way possible. A travel story on the CountryLink railway was the subject matter I had in mind, my experience as a teenager had shown me a unique culture, and I couldn’t find any previous examples or attempts to capture this visually. Plus I find few things more enjoyable than a solo, unplanned adventure with a photographic motive. In January 2022, after visiting family, I bought a 2 week travel pass for $210AUD, packed 2 cameras and covered ~3500km of the railway network over 6 days to start the project.