Those two locations were listed on the timetable, but I assume the stations were on the other side of the train. There was no other way of telling. Unless you managed to catch a glimpse of a place name on a pub, store or other business that chose to be place-specific in its nomenclature.
A glance in the Platform magazine suggested we weren't that far north of Clare.
An unexplained pause wasn't all that long.
In most cases, we got an announcement and a potted history over the P.A. if we were stopping to let somebody on or off.
Since we didn't, I guessed that within the necessary limits it operates under, the timetable is relatively flexible. So from time to time if the train's running ahead of time, it stops to let the schedule catch up.
I'd started on the trip under the belief that the Indian Pacific was an express coast to coast service. Once you were on, you were on for the duration.
Still, it was becoming obvious there weren't many passenger services operating along the route, so there was an element of the milk run coming into things.
Under those circumstances, a particular run might have no one to collect or deposit en route, while another might have a dozen.
With a certain amount of time lost at every pick up or set down, you're probably okay if the train's running late. At least, that was my guess. I'm open to correction.