Re: Country(link?) - try walking instead

["Jack" <bd107@tsn.cc>]

Hi Nobody...

nobody wrote in message <38171724@pink.one.net.au>...
>Recently we drove to Port Macquarie for holidays.  My son followed us up on
>the XPT from Sydney to Wauchope, then countrylink bus to Port Macquarie on
>the following Tuesday.  We booked the ticket for him a few weeks in
advance.

which service did he travel on and on what date?  Sounds like NT 1

>
>Anyway, the ticket arrived in the post and my son eventually caught his
>train.  My wife and I waited and waited and waited and waited at the Port
>Macquarie bus terminus for the bus that didnt arrive.  This was late at
>night... of course.  The locals told us that the bus was "always late" and
>half an hour to an hour late was the normal arrival time.  There wasn't
even
>a phone number in the bus shelter where we could call country link to find
>out what happened to the train.  The bus was near to an hour late.

You could always ring Taree station.... or Wauchope for that matter, they
are both manned and the number is in the phone book... they would have
provided u with the information u required..



>
>A week after we got home my wife had to go to the Port again.  Again the
bus
>was very late getting into Port Macquarie because the train was late
getting
>into Wauchope...

again, what date and what service?


 I'm not impressed.

without knowing what actually happened, how can U be unimpressed..

 On the way home, she tried to order
>some scones with her morning tea but was told she couldn't have scones
>unless she'd pre-ordered them - you see they had to be ordered well before
>the train got to Wauchope because they had to cook them, so those who get
on
>at Wauchope have no hope of getting scones.  Why would anyone WANT to catch
>a train anywhere when faced with this kind of treatment is what I don't
>understand - unless there's no alternative.


Well that is your perogative to use other means of travel.... But with the
scones, unless they had run out which quite often happens particularly in
the holiday season, they would ahve put a serve on for her if they had
any...  If they had none and U still have a problem contact the private
contractor, or Countrylink catering manager and ask why they send services
out with not enuff stock on board...

I think that if you had the information as to why the trains were late and
why there were no scones available on the service, you may be a little less
unimpressed... Countrylink does not intentionally run their services late,
it has a lot to do with the lack of priority Countrylink Services are given
by train control, and the preference shown to other operators, particularly
on the North Coast..

Cheers
Jack
Queensland: Perfect One day
Beautiful the next
And wet for the other 363 days of the year