Tilt Train into Tropic Thunder

Roma Street railway station Brisbane 

Greetings from the Spirit of Queensland train, at Mackay, Queensland. We left Brisbane yesterday afternoon and traveled through the night, past flooded fields. There is Tropical Low 30U in our path ahead and it is unlikely we will reach our destination of Cairns (lows do not get the romantic names of cyclones). This tilt train is comfortable and well equipped. 

First class seat 

I am in first class, with lie flat beds. There is a large video screen for each seat, but with a very limited selection of video & audio entertainment. The seats are comfortable with power adjustment. However, to convert to a bed the staff have to plug in an extra hand controller and manually unfold part of the chair. 

There is one USB & one mains power socket for each seat and a place for a bottle of water (with a complementary bottle in it). There is a pillow, doona, blanket and towel in an overhead locker. There is a toilet and a toilet shower at the end of the carriage (a very large shower by railway standards). The food is good (and included in the ticket price). There is a cafe car in the middle of the train.

While a tilt train, it is not particularly fast, due to the narrow winding track. But the ride is comfortable. We have had to divert around Gladstone due to flooding and there is water lying in the cane fields around Mackay, but the train is only one hour behind schedule. 

The train has no WFi but Telstra's mobile coverage works most of the way. Queensland's tilt trains (there is an electric one to Rockhampton, as well as this diesel service to Cairns) have been remarkably uncontroversial. While other attempts to provide higher speed trains have faltered, the electric tilt train has been running for 28 years. 

Postscript: Train arrived in Cairns only two hours late, with the bonus of another dinner onboard.

Queensland Tilt Train Like an Aircraft on Rails

If you don't have time for the Spirit of Queensland from Brisbane to Cairns, there is another Queensland tilt train, from Brisbane to Rockhampton, simply called the "Tilt Train".
The Tilt Train has an interior which looks like an airliner. The economy seats are a little firm, but larger than aircraft seats. There are overhead lockers which hold an aircraft size bag for each seat. The "tilt" effect is barely noticable. 

To complete the railway experience stay at the Denison Boutique Hotel, located adjacent to the Rockhampton rail yards. The heritage building was previously the administrative railways office. Across the road is what was the Railway Cafe, now the Denison St Diner & Take Away, and still serving a hearty engine driver's breakfast from 5am Monday to Friday. But you have to really like trains, as there is a rail line down the middle of the street between the cafe and hotel, with trains going past your hotel window all hours of the day and night. For an evening of large steaks (with the heads of the cattle they came from mounted on the walls) there is the Great Western Hotel across from the Denison. What looks like a typical outback hotel has a rodeo area out the back. When the rodeo is not on there is live music (both kinds), or line dancing.