Re: Brisbane XPT

[G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (Geoff Lambert)]

rdulin@hotmail.com wrote:

>Dianne Lucas wrote:
>>
>> Does anyone know if car A (the Sleeper car) is at the front or the back of
>> the XPT from Sydney Terminat to Brisbane at 4:24pm.  I know it is on the
>> Melbourne XPT but I am travelling to Brisbane soon and gret sick travelling
>> backwards!!

>This seems to be a common problem, but I'm not sure why... surely the
>sensation is the same, backwards or forwards.

Well, when people can see where they're going, motion sickness is
largely dependent upon a mismatch between what their eyes tell them
what is happening and what their vestibular system tells them is
happening.  With objects in the visual field entering via peripheral
vision and moving towards the centre, instead of the other way round,
there is more tendency for such a mismatch.  However, in the dark or
lying down in a sleeping car, or both, does seem to eliminate these
factors.

The majority of people express a view for travelling forwards,
although someone I knew always booked a seat "with my back to the
engine" (not a push-pull train though).  These preferences are based
on psychological ones- we'd rather see where we're going than where
we've been.... even farmers' dogs in utes seem to show this preference
(remember Larson's cartoon, "On the dog bus").  Rail seems to be the
only public transport mode where backwards facing seats are tolerated,
although staff get backward facing seats in planes (it's safer,
supposedly).

Geoff Lambert