July 2024
In the 1960s there were just five trains a week to Milang. Each one consisted of a Brill railcar, for the passengers, pulling one or two vans for freight. That freight comprised of incoming supplies for the township and the properties around the lakes. On the return journey, fish, cereals, dairy products and other produce was carried for the Adelaide market. There was no refrigeration so, if it was a hot day and the train was delayed, then the produce was ruined and the local producers we’re very unhappy.
The Brill railcar car was nicknamed Barwell Bull, Barwell being the premier when they were introduced in 1926 and bull because horn sounded like a bullhorn.
On arrival at Milang, the driver, Arthur Creeper would go fishing with his dog for a couple of hours. When departure time got near, he would drive the railcar down to the turntable where the town kids would push it around.
We tell that story to visitors every weekend in the course of the free train rides at the station. But a few weeks ago a new twist occurred. I was telling the story to two ladies on the train when they announced that they were the kids who used to push the train around on the turntable. They were Yvonne Cooper and Wendy Michell. Yvonne lived in Rivers Street where her father, Rolly, used to cut men’s hair in his garage. Wendy’s father, Harold, was a baker in Cox Street.
Like many Milang residents, Yvonne and Wendy used the train on Saturdays to go shopping in Strathalbyn. During the outgoing journey they were often delayed near Nurragi when Arthur Creeper would stop the train to check his rabbit traps. On one occasion, his dog ran off and disappeared. It eventually turned up at Arthur’s house in Strathalbyn some three weeks later.
We also know of other people who, as teenagers at the time, were allowed to drive the railcar while Arthur put his feet up.