THERE are two things that the Advocate likes to note when attending the annual engineering challenge held at the Charles Sturt University Bathurst campus.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The first is what sort of unusual materials the students are using for that year's series of complicated, creative steps to perform a simple task.
Marbles were on the menu this year, as well as a ping-pong ball and a xylophone.
The second, more important detail is the students' home towns - and this year that included Emu Plains, Wagga Wagga, Leeton and even Rutherglen, Victoria.
Those were four locations taken from quite a small sample size (just those that the Advocate managed to interview), but it was an indication of the course's pulling power.
It was also a reminder of the uni's importance to Bathurst as it continues to draw students to the on-campus accommodation (or to a rental property somewhere in town) as they undertake their studies.
And as anyone who has spent any time at all in Bathurst knows, some of those students will end up staying on in the city long after their course has ended.
If this year's crop of first-year engineering students do decide to eventually make their long-term home here, we might be able to use them to improve the rail line to Sydney.
That was one of the topics at the recent Central West Rail Action Summit held at Bathurst Regional Council chambers, which was the latest example of an increasing interest in that form of travel in this area.
Former regional transport minister Sam Farraway told those at the summit that the loss of funding for the Great Western Highway upgrade could end up being rail's gain.
In truth, though, there seems to be an opportunity for rail regardless.
The Bathurst Bullets continue to be a popular choice for locals, Tarana has enjoyed a revival since it became a stop on the route to Sydney and Orange is agitating for better services.
If you took out a curve here and a curve there, who knows how competitive you might be able to make the journey from Bathurst station to Parramatta or Central.
With the highway closing regularly, even the most determined driver might eventually decide that a trip on the train to the big smoke is actually the better option.
From a rail carriage, you can see all the problems on the highway without actually getting caught up in them: a bit like watching a ping-pong ball roll down a ramp and hit a domino in a CSU engineering challenge.
