Romantic? Certainly. Comfortable? Forget it.
One of the drivers of both the steam trains which ply down the line from Canberra on fun trips over Easter and of the regular diesels says steam was hard work.
"They are physically taxing, even for the driver," driver James Rumble said.
"They are very hot in summer and, believe it or not, they're very cold in winter. They are not particularly well enclosed so you've got a lot of cold breezes going up the Molonglo Gorge in the middle of a Canberra winter."
And there are a mass of heavy levers and steel wheels to turn. It is not a job for a weakling.
"You've got to hold the regulator open and you've got to use the big reversing wheel. The brake valves exhaust into the cab which is quite loud. The fireman has to shovel quite a lot of coal - about eight or nine tonnes of coal in a full tender-load."
And despite the perpetual complaints that the current Sydney trip - at just over four hours - is one of the slowest comparable journeys in the whole of the wide world, steam was worse by about two hours.
"You have to add things like water stops in. You'd have to take water at Bungendore, probably again at Goulburn, probably again at Moss Vale, probably again at Campbelltown," Mr Rumble said.
"You might get some coal on the way. Otherwise, you'd have to stop to shovel forward in the tender so the fireman can reach enough coal to put into the firebox."
Mr Rumble knows what he's talking about as one of the drivers on the Easter steam excursions running on Saturday, Sunday and Monday from the railway museum down through the Molonglo Gorge (and through three tunnels) to Bungendore and back.
The locomotive - 5917 - was built in 1952 in the United States for the New South Wales Government Railways and entered service in 1953. It was originally meant to be powered by oil but as the price of oil rose, it was converted to coal.
Steam buffs would want to know that the engine was part of the D59 class with a wheel configuration of 2-8-2.
Although the D59 class was capable of running throughout NSW, it had to be confined to lines which could fuel it with oil.
The locomotive on the current run was used for hauling freight and the occasional local passenger service. It was also equipped with larger buffers for shunting trains.
On 16 August 1972, 5917 was withdrawn from service and placed in storage.
Rail enthusiasts then took it over and refurbished it for trips like the ones running this weekend from Canberra.
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