Trains roll to rescue drought victims

NSW wheat crop is forecast to be one-third of its annual average

MALLALA, Australia - Until a few months ago, train driver Gavin Slater had never seen anything like it. Five locomotives, with a combined 15,000 horsepower, ready to pull 101 wagons brimful of grain.

The converted coal carriages behind Slater were being loaded in Mallala, a town of several hundred people in Australia's fertile southern wheat belt.