The Thornlie line opened last weekend. We weren't in a position to go travel it last weekend, but artisanat, Youngest, and I went out to ride it yesterday. We discussed whether to go to the local station and do the loop (three trains) or to drive to Cockburn (the southern terminus; two trains) and go from there. In the end we decided that the local station was the better option. However, we could have timed things better, arriving at the carpark as the northbound train (not the one we wanted) arrived, and still being in the carpark when the southbound arrived.

What this meant was that Youngest had time to top up their smartrider at the station kiosk, and I was tempted by the (extravagantly expensive) GF Belgian Chocolate Cookie (by which it means a chocolate chip biscuit; I'm not sure whether the implication is that the chocolate chips are from Belgium, or there is some specific style of biscuit characterised as being from Belgium/made by someone with the last name Belgium). And then we sat in the sun on the platform for about 10 minutes, and I ate the biscuit (not bad, too heavy on the coconut).

The trip to Cockburn was uneventful, but we did talk about the train line, and the upcoming tunnel. I got to see scenery I don't often, because usually I'm taking the train north.

It is a little frustrating that we arrived at Cockburn to see the Thornlie line train departing (in terms of directions and terminology: both the Mandurah and the Thornlie lines go Cockburn to Perth; the former directly north, and the latter east to the Armadale line and then north-west. For the Mandurah line Cockburn is an intermediate stop, for the Thornlie it is the terminus). It did mean that we had time to explore. Platform 3 has been added north of the combined platforms 1 and 2; it has a fence on the west side, such that the northbound Mandurah trains are Right There. We took a few photos of the information sign with different subgroups, and then I wandered up and took a photo from the north end looking at the points (because there are three tracks at that point)

Our train arrived, and we embarked. The first section, up the freeway, is exactly the same. I haven't looked at the distances, but maybe a couple of km? and then we get to the split, where the Mandurah line goes up and over, and the Thornlie line goes through at tunnel that curves to the east. To my memory, this tunnel has been there since this bit of freeway was built, because the freight trains go through there. And from there we got to see bits of the back end of Jandakot, Canning Vale, Thornlie. We could just about see tiki-wanderer's* house.

The first (most southern) of the Armadale line stops that the line goes through is Beckenham, which gave us quite a different perspective -- this is one of the stations that has been raised, and is very new and swish. The line is raised quite a lot of the way from there to Burswood--this has been the redevelopment project that means that the Armadale line has been closed for roughly 18 months at this point (and it is great. there are zero level crossings in that area making life a nightmare for people during peak hour and school drop off and pick up times). All very exciting and I very much enjoyed the view out on the city (greater metro).

Once in the city we decided to womble a little bit, rather than just going for the next train home (we could have made it; the signboard said 6 minutes, and it is possible to get from platform 3 to platform 1 in that time. according to the journey planner it is about 330m). We had a wander through Forrest Chase, took a detour into Myer to use the loos (because there are zero actual public loos in that space. even the ones we used to use at the west end of the platform aren't there any more, which sucks), and bought a small amount of sushi (passable. expensive. my salmon and avocado appeared to have more mayonnaise per volume than avocado).

And then home again. At which point I needed a lie down. It was exhausting, but I'm glad I did it. I have some photos, and I might remember to do something with them, but I'm making no promises.

(I do not have a train icon. this seems like an oversight).

* I originally had this tagged as a username, but comes up as doesn't exist. Have I misremembered the name? was that their LJ name and they never moved to DW? I do not have the oomph to work this out.