July 11, 2025
Here we go again, time to put it all on the line, excuse the pun. North Dandalup train station.
It’s that time of year again when runners takes on the train. (or this year we take on a bus!) North Dandalup train station, Sunday, 27th July, to leave at whatever time it takes to get to Serpentine train station before 9.44am when the only returning bus departs. (the train line is being upgraded so for the second year we’re racing a bus!)
The premise is simple we leave North Dandalup as late as possible to make the 33k route on the Munda Biddi ( https://mundabiddi.org.au/ ) to Serpentine before the 9.44am Australind bus leaves heading to Bunbury. ( There is a longer version we use to run before part of the track was closed but the 33k route seems to be the route of choice at the moment ? I assume the GPX on the facebook page is the 33km route?
There’s no second chance as there is only one service per day so if you miss the bus it’s either a long run back on the trail or a shorter run , as the crow flies, on the main road. Over the years we have had a few runners miss the train but they have always managed to grab a lift back to the start, a runner on the side of the road crying does attract attention apparently. Note: The Munda Biddi runs to Perth, if you get to Jarrahdale you’ve gone too far !
Last year it was a small turnout mainly because we were racing a bus but it doesn’t take away from the point of this exercise, to test yourself against the clock. You need to leave and give the bus a chance so last year we left at 6:54am, with the bus departing at 9:44am, giving ourselves just shy of three hours. I finished in a few seconds off two hours and forty five minutes, so had ten minutes in the bag for a ice coffee and the photo at the deli.
This meant no hanging about and finished with a sub five minute kilometre average pace, on trails this is moving, at no time did I feel comfortable during the run with the opportunity to miss the train always in the back of my mind, and that’s the point of this exercise.
It was nice of TransWA to put on a bus just for us as it seems this route is now very unpopular, I suppose it’s just as easy to drive if you are forced on a bus ? No worries, we enjoyed the ride back just as much although I did miss my cup of tea.
Ticket purchased and so excited, I’ve attached a few posts from the previous years to get you all in the mood. Also please bring some tukka as the best bit about racing a train is talking about how you beat it afterwards , with good friends while eating cake, simple.
One final word of advice , it’s called ‘Race the Train (bus) ‘ , not ‘Run to the Train’, please make an effort to actually race the train by not giving yourself too much time. Over the years I had a few close calls and that’s the point of the event, we need to give the train a chance. Note: in the eight or so years I’ve been racing, and beating, the train it’s always be late so you could probably factor that in, albeit not TransWA have read this they’ll probably be early ! But joking aside it is actually more fun to have that touch of danger hanging over you. There was talk of a fine for people arriving too early and we’ll discuss this at the feast afterwards, it could involve press ups equal to the number of minutes you arrived too early , multiplied by a factor of X !! Myself and Irwin will discuss this week.
From previous years posts…
It’s the annual runner vs train trail ultra. This is without doubt the most fun you can have racing trains, albeit probably the only race that actually pits runner versus machine, a sort of Terminator type event for runners. The concept is simple, you park your car at North Dandalup train station and then run a 32k (or 34k) trail , on the Munda Biddi trail, ( https://mundabiddi.org.au/ ) to Serpentine train station and arrive before 10:21am where the only returning train departs and takes you back to then start. Simple right, you’d be surprised at the number of people who have miscalculated and missed the train. They are then faced with the drive of shame back to the start or a long walk if no one takes pity on them.
Over the years the event has grown to such an extent the train company reserves a whole carriage for the ten minute trip from Serpentine to North Dandalup. I must admit the returning journey always seem to be shorter than it should be after nearly three hours running, which translates to ten minutes on a train, albeit the train takes a shorter route back of course; as the crow flies so to speak.
Check out the previous years posts for an idea of the event.
https://www.runbkrun.com/2022/07/18/choo-choo-2022-runner-versus-train-sometimes-the-train-wins/
All aboard.. Choo Choo 2022
Last year we left at the latest we have ever left and cut it very short due to the train being on time for a change. I reckon we made it by less than five minutes. Didn’t even have time for my Brownes Mocha, very disappointed. Cedric cut it even shorter and missed the train completely and Jon missed it by a county mile. ! Luckily they both managed to get a lift back to the start. I’m not sure we’ll leave as late this year albeit we could roll the dice and hope the train is late ? This is the whole point of the event, you need to be second guessing yourself the whole time and keep the pressure on, the last few kilometres you really should be under the pump.
The website for the train tickets is https://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/
For all runners popping along make sure you all bring some tukka for post run, as you know the only thing better than running is eating great food and talking about running.
Over the years there have been some classic stories including Barts running out of puff on the first hill and getting left like a bad rash. Then as we waited for the train he miraculously appeared , albeit coming from the wrong direction. To this day he has never revealed how he achieved this but the word Uber comes to mind, albeit I’m not sure they even have Uber in Serpentine, actually I’m not sure they have invented cars yet in Serpentine. ? There was also the first runner to miss the train completely by following the Mundi Bindi blindly forgetting to take a left turn to get to Serpentine, ending up in Jarrahdale before he realised his mistake. Adam had left his group which contained a runner with a GPX route on their watch and just kept on running, albeit he was joined by a few other runners. Needless to say he suffered at the post race tukka-fest, being forced to stand alone in the naughty corner, while being ridiculed from afar. Last year Cedric was running with us when he made the fatal mistake of running ahead with a couple of fitter runners who decided to run the longer version of the course, unbeknown to Cedric. The other two runners caught us and made the train, Cedric unfortunately didn’t. Jon ‘Trailblazer’ Philips also missed the train last year despite starting very early, luckily for him I took pity on the poor soul and sent a car for him before he stumbled off the scarp.
I wonder who’ll join this illustrious group of train no-shows this year , to find out you need to book yourself a train ticket, get yourself to North Dandalap train station early Sunday morning and get running, what could possibly go wrong ? All aboard…
Choo-Choo 2020 , this time the train managed to beat a few runners !
Recently we had the 6th running of the ‘runner versus train‘ Choo-Choo race. The concept is simple, you leave North Dandalup station then run 33k (35k?) over mostly trails to Serpentine station to catch the 10:21am train back to the start. The game is deciding how late you leave North Dandelup. Over the years the record for the latest departure time was around 7am but this year, due to part of the course being shut and thus 2k shorter, we decided to try and break the sub 3 hours and leave at 7:22am. It was Mark’s idea and although I was onboard Jeff was none the wiser to our plan having never ran the Choo-Choo before. So we let the last few runners start their journey and held firm, waiting for 7:22am to come around.
Jeff was a tad confused when the last group left just after 7am and myself and Mark continued to pontificate and make no effort to move away from the station. Eventually we let him in on our plan but he was less than excited, expecting a relaxed amble from one station to the next , stopping for selfies and rose smelling. He knew if we left at 7:22am it would be on for young and old and if you stopped there would be a good chance the train would be well gone when you eventually arrived at Serpentine Station. Of course he was in a catch 22 situation as the last group had left and he had no idea where he was going , so would need us for directions. There was much head shaking and grumbling but all this served to do was to gee up myself and Mark , who then took great pleasure in talking up the challenge ahead. We can be a cruel lot us runners !
So at 7:22am precisely we set off for Serpentine Station, giving ourselves 2 hours and 59 minutes, assuming the train was on time. From past experience I knew we could make the 35k version of the course in 3 hours, including a 5 minute drink stop. Having a nasty 2k loop taken out due to storm damage would probably give us 10 minutes , so we should have 10-20 minutes to play with. As I said earlier Jeff had not ran the Choo-Choo before , where as myself and Mark were old hands and knew what to expect. As you can see from the graphic below the run starts with about 8k of serious hill, as you rise onto the scarp. It then undulates, mostly uphill , until the 25k mark at which time it’s all guns blazing to the best finish ever !! Knowing this is coming it allows you to do the numbers in your head factoring in the fast finish. Jeff did not have this prior knowledge and at every kilometre got more and more discouraged as our pace dropped due to the terrain ahead of us. Again Mark and I did nothing to alleviate his angst and just kept on, knowing we were on track but not divulging this to Jeffrey.
The run itself was pretty uneventful as we had the GPX of the route on Mark’s Garmin (what did we do before GPS watches ?) so the couple of time we wondered of course we were made aware by the watch and we turned around and continued on the right track. Not having this would prove to be the undoing of a few runners because although the course is predominately on the Mundi Bindi bike trail ( https://www.mundabiddi.org.au/ ) eventually you have to leave the trail and return to the road and ultimately the train station. Some runners missed that turn and ended up in Jarrahdale , luckily the two runners in question where able to blag a lift to Serpentine and still made the train in time, after running over 40 kilometres, outstanding job ladies. Some runners thought were less fortunate and my mate Adam was unable to make the train in time, missing it by nearly 10 minutes. He was given a left back to the start and had to endure a slow clap as he arrived , rightly so of course. He was eventually allowed to take food from the tukka table but there was grumblings of discontent from the runners who had completed the course, these was talk of banishing him to a separate part of the park, as I said earlier we are a cruel lot us runners .
You’ll notice in the image above no sign of Jeff, we had left him to his own devices about 5k from the finish as it was every man for himself at that stage and me and Mark fancied a Mocha before the train. Jeff did make the Serpentine Train station show below (far right) but was still smarting over the whole affair and will probably leave a lot earlier next year, a lesson learned.
The train ride itself is a bit of an anti-climax due to a number of factors. One, it takes an ‘as the crow flies ‘ approach to travel between the two stations, funnily enough, and two, it is a lot quicker than us runners ! The journey itself takes about 12 minutes for the 18km or so distance. Thus you just about sit down , get comfy, before it time to get up again and leave the train, not even time for a cup of tea from the buffet (which was actually shut this year anyhow?) No worries, we had organised for everyone to bring tukka for a post run debriefing because we all know that runners love talking about running as much as running.
I need to give a big shout out to Irwin Swinny who kick started the Choo-Choo this year after a leave of absence in 2019. He set up the Facebook page and, with his influence, we had a record turn out. With Irwin’s help I feel this event can go from strength to strength with more and more people experiencing the stress of racing a train. He has an excellent podcast, Stimulate Run, that is well worth a visit ( https://anchor.fm/irwin-swinny ) ,you’ll be surprised who you can listen to.
Man versus Train, again !
Right a quick post on the 2018 man versus train race where we leave North Dandalup train station and run the 35k to Serpentine train station and catch the only return train back to the start. Miss the train and you have a 18k run on a busy road or a 35k trail run back to North Dandalup. !!
The Serpentine train leaves North Dandalap at 10:20am so we decided this year to leave a tad earlier than previous years due to the various running injuries we were all embracing. Calf strains, Achilles issues, carrying too much weight (I’m not sure this is an injury Barts!) and good old Plantar Fasciitis to name a few. Thus at 6:40am we set off up the scarp, mainly due to Bart’s insisting we get a move on as he really wasn’t ready for a 35k sprint to the finish. He had got lost last year when he was dropped halfway up the scarp and had to run a lonely thirty or so kilometres to the finish. This year he was determined to stay the course and refused to leave a key hidden on the car so if he got lost he knew I’d have to find him and my lift home. Little did he know I had arranged alternative transport if we ‘lost’ him. In the end he made it and ran a large proportion of the run with us, complaining most of the way of course. I don’t think Bart’s like any hill in any direction, up or down, as both seem to set him off on a tirade of abuse. This from a man who loves trail running ?
The photo below shows the starting line up for 2018 taken at North Dandalup train station, funnily enough we were the only people about early on a Sunday morning in the country. I managed to persuade five ‘newbies’ to join us and supplied all of these with a GPX file of the course as I didn’t want them to suffer the same fate as Bart’s from last year, bless him.
So off we went up the scarp, which is a road section and probably one of the hardest sections of the run as you’re in danger of getting collected by mad country drivers cutting corners. Thankfully this year it was very quiet and I don’t remember seeing any cars, which is unusual, they were probably all still in bed after the West Coast Eagles, a local footy team, managed to sneak into the Grand Final the day before. As you can see from the elevation below the start is a challenge but the finish is ‘to die for’. It was a this point last year we lost Bart’s (the start not the finish.) and history repeated itself with Mark, a new runner from Brisbane, dropping off the pace early and, in Choo-Choo tradition, left to fend for himself. I felt a small amount of guilt but this was quickly forgotten when I realised the task ahead and I had supplied Mark with a GPX file of the course , so he had no excuse to get lost.
The conditions this year was perfect and we had given ourselves more than enough time to finish by leaving probably half an hour earlier than the year before. This certainly made the journey less stressful than previous years and we settled into a good rhythm with enough pace to complete the task at hand but not enough we couldn’t natter away discussing a plethora of topics and generally putting the world to rights. We as a group splintered early which seemed silly truth be told as it wasn’t a race and there seemed no point running a few hundred metres infront of each other. I ran with Jon, because he had the GPX route loaded into his Garmin 310, and Liam for conversation. (with Bart’s always a few hundred metres behind us complaining about something?) The three of us eventually caught up with the two Mark’s at the ‘drinks stop‘. I say drinks stop in italics because there was no drinks. Simon had hidden a carton of water and a box of Gu’s behind a tree but it seems these country people are resourceful with good eyesight because there was no supplies to be seen. Not a problem though but it did the make the last 5k or so a challenge as we were into the ‘dead zone’ (over 32k) with little water and no nutrition, a good test of your bodies capabilities to survive on it’s won internal fat resources I suppose. Luckily the last 10k is predominantly downhill so you can sort of ‘fall‘ to the finish line. ( It is to be noted this year Trish refused to bake for us which made the return trip to Dandalap a bit of an anti-climax as the reward of Trish’s baking (which is awesome by the way) would not be there to greet us, in the end we made do with McDonalds pancakes but thrust me they ain’t the same!, anyhow I digress.)
After regrouping with the two Mark’s the group of five set off to the finish and the conversation continued to improve with numbers. The highlight of the last part of the run was most of us falling prey to the only puddle on the whole course, how does that happen ? Mark C,. attached it with gusto (he’s Scottish you know and use to large expanses of water !) and nearly went in, this made me more cautious but it was to no avail and I ended up in the same situation, soggy socks and shoes for the last 10k or so.! Once we started to descend of course it was ever man for himself and Mark C. probably set the record for the fastest kilometre with a 3:10 down the steepest part of the hill. He was very excited and reported feeling a runners high as he snowballed down the hill at speed, more probably he was just totally knackered as we had all just ran just about 35k on a few sips of water.
It’s hard to put into words the run itself as it really was just about the perfect day. A good distance, beautiful trails and great company rounded off with Brownes Mocha and a danish at the Deli. Chuck in a train ride where the guard announced to the whole train of our adventures as we boarded and departed and the day really couldn’t of got any better. Talk at the Deli (see below) centred on next years departure time as we had plenty of time to relax at the deli before the train, well most of us that is. If you remember at the start I mentioned Mark from Brisbane getting dropped at the 3k mark, you’ll see he’s not in the photo below. We all thought he was gone and I had even arranged at the Deli to let him know we’d drive back and pick him up, save him the 18k walk back to the train station. Well he made it with 3 minutes to spare, albeit the train was late as usual so he could have probably stopped at the Deli for a danish.
As you can see from the photo below taken at Serpentine train station Mark is back into the fold and happy to be there, he currently holds the record for cutting it closest to missing the train, probably beating Trailblazers record set a few years ago. I’m sure Jon can get closer with a bit of effort ? Honourable mentions must go to Allister Caird who set a course record running the route in 2hrs 27 minutes, thats a 4:11k average, sub 3 pace for a hilly trail run, Boom! He could have left nearly as hour after us and still made it. Nigel also went well considering he twisted his ankle at 15k and ‘hobbled‘ to the finish in good time, a big call as if the ankle had given way completely it would have been a long night on the trails. Of course Mark gets a mention for running the whole route by himself under the stress of a potential long walk back to the car. He looked relaxed when he finish and puts his time down to this was his first trail run back in Perth, he’s from Brisbane you know. Bart’s also went well after we dropped him just after halfway, we actually dropped him earlier but always made sure he could see us, sort off. At least this year he ran the whole course after his miracle run last year.
Right that’s the Choo-Choo for another year. I’ll try and drum up some more enthusiasm next year as if you live in Perth you really need to do this run. We all agreed we’d leave later next year but the departure time is personal to your ability and general fitness and also if you want that added bonus of really ‘racing a train’ and trying to cut it closer tham Mark, from Brisbane’s, valiant effort of three minutes to go. Up for the challenge ? All aboard…..
Choo-Choo run 2017, man against train.
The Choo-Choo run was an idea of Simon Coates a few years back. Basically we all drive to North Dandelup Station (and I use the word ‘station’ in the broadest sense of the word, it is actually a small raised platform and a car park.) and run to Serpentine train station to catch the only train back to the start. Miss the train and you are faced with either a 10k walk back via the road (and in the country running on the road is suicide due to the drivers all believing they are Michael Schumacher, before the skiing accident !) or worse, repeating the 35k trail run in reverse. (Now there’s a thought ? )
It’s not a race as such, more of a man versus train type run with friends. Everyone leaves at different times with the idea being you’ll all arrive together at the finish, a handicap run I suppose. There was talk of a prize for the last person to leave North Dandelup and make the train but this, for this year at least, was shelved. As it was I have attached a photo of the runners who left last @ 7am, this was 30 minutes after last years leaving time so we’d given ourselves little margin for error . Its a 35k testing trail run which should take around 3hours and the return train leaves Serpentine @ 10:20am.
So off we went full of the joys of spring bounding up the first 6k which is all uphill and on road. As I mentioned earlier this is testing for two reasons, one, the hill is large , unforgiving and long (as all good hills should be) but there is also the threat of getting cleaned up by the ‘country drivers’. In the country life may be slower but the driving is anything but. There’s a reason that even Kangaroos get wiped out on a regular basis. Faced with slowing down country drivers decided to speed up and fit ‘bull bars’ to their cars, so rather than avoid Kangaroos(or runners!) they accelerate into them . Bless ’em.
We managed to get to the top of the road section intact after one close call when three cars cut a corner and we happen to be on it, you certainly feel alive when that happens trust me. Once we regrouped a quick headcount indicated we were one short (literally!) . Bart’s , who had driven me down to the start, was missing so I volunteered to run down the ‘hill of death’ and find him. After a longer run that I had wanted to take on at such an early stage of the adventure I found Bart’s ‘huffing and puffing’ up the road in a world of pain. This after 6km’s into 35k challenging trail run , racing a train. Not a good start and I indicated the best thing he could do was return to the car and wait for us or at least give me his car keys (as my bag was in his car, it wasn’t about the bag though , honest ?) Bart’s insisted on carrying on and asked me to come back and check on him during the run. Due to the time constraint we had set ourselves I told him in no uncertain terms this was not going to happen and once I left him he was on his own. Surprisingly he was ok with this and, with no prior knowledge of the route and less than 3 hours to run the remaining 29k, was happy to take on this adventure , alone. So Barts was dropped quicker than Hilary Clinton endorsements after the American Election, never to be seen again, or so we thought ?
After dropping Barts like a bad habit I caught up with the back markers and eventually the main group. We continued on our merry way commenting how enjoyable trail running was and how we should do it more often. Please note this is the same conversation we have at the beginning of every trail run, unfortunately our views on trails can sometimes be a tad different by the time we finish; and that’s be nice about it ! Anyhow we made it to the 21k mark where our ‘race director’ Simon Coakes had dropped water and gu’s, it was the least he could do after DNS’s the previous evening due to umpiring his son’s footy game and pulling a hammy. (He’s getting old Si, bless him.)
The last 14k after the drinks stop is the best part of the Choo-Choo run as you run off the scarp which means some wicked descents into Serpentine. Last year I was able to take advantage of the terrain and put in some seriously fast splits but this year, due to it being 2 weeks after the Perth City-to-Surf marathon, my hammy’s had tightened up so every step was painful as I hobbled (and that’s being nice) down the hill. No worries. reached the Deli and tucked into my first Brownes Mocha for probably 6 months, man did that taste good !!
We had 20 minutes until the train arrived so just enjoyed telling tales of the day when all of a sudden who comes into sight, walking the wrong way to the Deli, but Barts. ! Unbelievably he had somehow managed to get to the finish in time for the train, albeit running 3k less , somehow ? At the time of writing this post it has to be noted we have not seen any Strava evidence ( http://www.strava.com) of Barts and whatever trail he did run but assuming he said he did what he did I am in awe of the man.
Funnily enough the train was graffitied at the main depot so was cleaned before it set out on its journey, resulting in a 45 minute delay. We could have started at 8am, not 7am, and still made it easily. When the train did arrive at the station there was no sign of any graffiti and maybe next year this could be a cunning plan for a lie-in, just got to persuade someone with a spray can to get the train before it leaves ? That’s wrong, right?
The photo below is all the crew who made the finish including a few runners who left before the 7am sweepers. There has already been lots of talk of leaving even later next year but we’ll see; no one has actually missed the train yet so there will be a first. One thing for sure it won’t be Barts, if he can recover from near exhaustion at 6k and then still finish less than 3 hours later after running 32k I reckon the man could fly if he wanted to. Running gives you so much and on that Sunday it allowed me to witness a miracle, how does one go about nominating someone for a sainthood ? Saint Barts of lost causes, it has a nice ring to it, if only he was taller…..
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