Each night, a train with steam locomotive, three passenger carriages, and a freight caboose would travel from Adelaide, arriving in Naracoorte about 6am, and then proceed to Mount Gambier. It was common for teachers, with their home in Adelaide, to catch the train Sunday night, get off at Naracoorte and go to their ”digs” (room rental for the week). Then they would spend the week at school and travel back on the Friday night or Saturday.

This service ran from 1950 to 1985

Steam train leaving Naracoorte c1980. Steam Ranger 520 – The Sir Malcolm Barclay-Harvey

Embers from the steam trains were a cause for concern. This was one of the reasons they were eventually replaced by diesel engines.