Students from Carnegie Mellon University's Entertainment Technology Center (ETC) and the University of South Australia's (UniSA) School of Communication have collaborated with the National Railway Museum in Port Adelaide, Australia to modernize the museum's Tea and Sugar Train exhibit, opening May 29, 2009.

"The Australian National Railway Museum proved a perfect client for an ETC edutainment initiative. The Tea & Sugar Train is a significant part of Australian history. Furthermore, the train was virtually intact at the museum," said Don Marinelli, executive producer of the ETC. "It became an effort then to bring the stories contained within the train to life. Thanks to our partners at the University of South Australia and the railroad museum archivists, visitors to the museum will experience what life was like in the Australian Outback throughout the 20th century."

New audio, video and computer graphic displays now help tell the history of the famed Tea and Sugar Train, which transported urgently needed supplies to railroad workers laying track in the Australian desert between Port Augusta and Kalgoorlie in the early 20th century.

The team used the Synthetic Interview technology patented by Carnegie Mellon and incorporated touch screens throughout the train calling up stories and images. Visitors can purchase goods from the provisions car with pounds, shillings and pence currency used in Australia years ago. In the relay car, visitors can grasp the vastness of the Outback as it passes by outside the car's window.

The new exhibit is part of the National Railway Museum's 20th anniversary celebration.

"The technology enabled us to bring the stories of the train's resident butcher, bank teller, grocery manager, engineer and crew back to life in an accessible, palpable way," said Marinelli.

The exhibit is the first project of a partnership between the schools that aims to combine the ETC's graduate program in interactive digital media with the University of South Australia's communications degrees. The partnership will include incorporating ETC's "Building Virtual Worlds" course into the UniSA's Media Arts curriculum, establishing a joint visiting faculty and student exchange program.

More information on the Tea and Sugar Train exhibit visit.