Barry was interviewed by the Australian Missionary News anchorman Mark Tronson on IPTV (Internet Protocol Television).
Mark Tronson had caught up with him at the Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) annual conference, and it was there that he discovered that the Inside Rail E-News has been running for 10 years and now has hundreds of recipients; moreover, readers pass it on and is probably read by thousands of people.
However, railway matters are not Barry Blair's only interest. He is also the editor of the Link magazine, the Anglican quarterly newspaper for the region covering New England and North West of New South Wales, and he was thrilled to have this paper acknowledged at the ARPA annual awards in Sydney recently.
Barry told Mark Tronson his interest in railways developed when he was growing up in Gosford, and a family visit to aunties and uncles in Sydney meant a railway journey.
"There are some 300 online news sites in Australia which I scan for headlines in relation to railways, light rail, trams, ports and mining as they all inter-relate," Barry Blair explained to Mark Tronson in the interview. "I collate this information for the Inside Rail E-News."
He went on to explain that membership is free for this newsletter, as it is his hobby, and that he also uses what members write to him about as his source material. He finds the responses from members phenomenal; they come from throughout Australia and from the whole spectrum of railway workers from guards and drivers through to senior management.
This grass roots nature of Barry Blair's Inside Rail E-News is its secret of its success, as readers are getting a version of the news that has not been massaged by management or editors. This is one of the astonishing realities of the internet for all news areas.
Photographs are also a major part of Barry's communication to his members. The variety of images span the years from the golden age of railway steam right up to the new diesels, and also cover topical or newsworthy events such as railway accidents.
"I also receive the Footplate Padre article once a month," smiled Barry Blair, speaking to the Footplate Padre himself, Mark Tronson. "My readers enjoy reading these very interesting stories."
Barry Blair, who lives in Tamworth, was also involved in 2005 with the establishment of the Australian Railway Monument and Rail Journey Museum at the railway centre of Werris Creek, 40 kilometres south. This museum won the recent Inland Tourism Award sponsored by Country Link.
"The monument and museum honours all those who have been killed while working in the railways over the past 150 years. Two thousand names from NSW alone appear, and we estimate there have been 10,000 railway workers killed across Australia," Barry Blair noted.
This 'Television on the Internet' live interview with Barry Blair can be found at tv.bushorchestra.com and www.safeworlds.net