Dining Car

Dining Car

The Southern Aurora soon gained a reputation for having the finest on-train catering in Australia. There really was not great competition, as Station Refreshment Rooms provided the mainstay of Railway Catering into the diesel era on most Australian Railway systems. The notable exception was the Trans-Australian, on its long and lonely desert crossing. But the early menus on the Southern Aurora had some quite sophisticated items, such as the Lobster Mayonaisse. Another difference was that meals on the Trans-Australian were included in the fare, while those on the Aurora were a la carte.

Prior to the standard gauge services, only the Spirit of Progress ( Melbourne-Albury, and incidentally, Australia's fastest train) had a Dining Car. The New South Wales connections Melbourne Express and Melbourne Limited had no on train catering at all.

So the Southern Aurora' s all steel Dining Car seating 48 was somewhat of an innovation. Below is a selection of menu cards. Note that the first was printed with the Limited Express names, rather than the Southern Aurora, which name was kept secret until it was announced at the Inauguration ceremony. Note too the prices and the range of dishes, and what was offered fro breakfast in 1962. Australia adopted decimal currency in February 1966, and one menu has the new prices in dollars and cents .

**Lounge Car**
The *Southern Aurora* also carried a Lounge Car, marshalled next to the Dining Car.
This car was also an innovation on this route, although the *Spirit of Progress* did have an extra-fare Parlor Car, and the *Brisbane Limited Express* did convey a Lounge Car ( converted from a clerestory-roofed Pullman Sleeping Car) for part of its journey in NSW in the mid 1930s. ( Lounge and Dining Cars were a necessity on the Trans-Australian Railway which was opened in 1917 and ran for over 1, 000 miles through desert and semi-desert.)
However, the Aurora's Lounge Car did have a Bar for the service of drinks, as well as light refreshments. Service finished before 11 pm as the crew on the southbound train alighted at Goulburn, and spent the night there before returning on the northbound train in the morning.
Another innovation was the supply of named stationery in the writing desk, while a free telephone service was provided in later years within an eighty kilometre range of the termini.
The bar was decorated with representations of three eras of inter-capital travel: an A class of Victorian Railways of 1883, a streamlined NSW 38 class of 1943, and the modern train of 1962. The Lounge Car was divided into distinct areas with glass panels on which were etched fauna such as brolgas and kangaroos.