The steam train's whistle sounded at the station. Unbelievable excitement set in. His mother was struggling to corral him inside the pedestrian barrier, but as the train passed his whoops of joy brought back to me the thrill I felt when I was a little boy seeing a 59 Class oil burner on a goods' train passing through Liverpool.

When the 59s were undergoing their early trials, our retired-engineer neighbour took me to the station at about 9pm and I still remember the burnt-oil smell as this engine passed.

Australians were nervous after WWII. The Communists were threatening to invade South Korea.

The 59 class oil-burners were ordered by the NSW Government when 23,000 coal miners in the Communist-controlled Miners' Federation staged the seven-week coal strike in 1949.

The miners starved NSW of coal. All electricity generation, all railway engines, needed continuous supplies of coal. NSW was crippled.

Queensland had been crippled the year before by a similar coal strike. Depending on which history you read, Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley, himself a former engine driver, was sympathetic to the miners' demands, but the Communists in the Miners' Federation refused to negotiate.

The anti-Communist Australian Railways Union agreed to drive the trains, so Chifley broke the strike by sending troops into the mines.

The strike was finally settled, but the Communist threat was enough to sweep Bob Menzies' new Liberal Party into office at the 1949 election.

The 59 Class oil-burners were built by Baldwin in America. With the first few 40 Class diesels, they were meant to be part of a fleet that would thwart any more coal strikes.

By the time these oil-burning engines were delivered in 1952, the Korean War was almost over, and the coal threat had passed.

So the steam engine we saw a week ago was part of a very momentous time in NSW's and Australia's history.

I'll bet that the children riding behind that beautifully restored engine wouldn't have known its history, but many of the grandparents would have remembered the Communist threat, and exciting events like Mrs Petrov being snatched from a plane in Darwin.

Mr Menzies won elections by reminding voters about subversive Communists - "reds under the bed!".

During major maintenance in 1961, most of the 59s were converted to burn coal. With high-quality coal now abundant, converting these engines to coal was just common sense.

As oil burners, the 59 Class engines worked mostly in the Metropolitan area and the North because there were oil-filling facilities. An exception was the "fruit express" from Griffith, scheduled for an oil burner when one was available. Once converted to coal they were occasionally seen on the "South" as far as Goulburn.

Steam engines were withdrawn from Southern Line services beyond Goulburn in 1964, but one 59 Class remained at Bethungra for "push-up" duties through the Bethungra Spiral.

Steam finished in 1972, with 5917 retiring in August. Luckily for 5917 some members from the Lachlan Valley Railway based at Cowra saved the engine from the scrapheap.

The steam train's visit to Wagga was part of a "Cruise Express" charter. The vintage diesel 42103 brought the train to Goulburn, then the steam engine headed the train to Junee. The charter train went to Victoria for more heritage trips, with the passengers rejoining the diesel engine in Griffith for the trip back to Sydney via Parkes. The steam engine headed the train from Junee to Lithgow.

Most of the Wagga trips were booked out online, with 3000 passengers enjoying a ride.

"The area came out in droves once the steam engine arrived in town and everyone heard it's distinctive whistle," Picnic Train bookings officer, Richard Whitford said.

Australia has never fully appreciated its rail heritage, but if you had been in Sydney this weekend you could have ridden all types of old trains during "The Transport Heritage Expo".

Vintage trains are great to watch, but much better when you are actually riding on the train.