But Harry's has changed hands and the new owner has messed with the famous hotdogs that over the years have been served up to people like Frank Sinatra, Elton John, Richard Branson, Brooke Shields and Pamela Anderson.

Local patrons like Erin Molan, Larry Emdur and others aren't happy with the switch to sourdough and stone-baked buns and that's made headline news in the Sydney press for several days.

That was followed by rating the city's best specialist hotdogs including Harry's continental Viennese smoked frankfurt served with mushy peas, chilli con carne and garlic onions with cheese and chilli sauce.

So what about Orange? We're the self-proclaimed food capital of the west but there's few outlets here who specialise in these delicious snacks that are eaten around the world and deserving of more respect. We once had Davo's Diner. And Davo's, operating from a converted bus kitchen parked in a Summer Street petrol station driveway, turned out hotdogs as good as the up-market Sydney outlets.

It was the only late-night oasis for hungry travellers, people who'd just knocked off work and drinkers who wanted to soak up their evening's fill.

It was also the venue for a dust-up or two and the then Magistrate Harry Ayling suggested Orange City Council build a boxing ring there for tanked patrons to settle their differences. But Davo's Diner remained a popular beacon year-round for all sorts of people who stood patiently in a queue to buy their hotdogs and then cheerfully head home long after the up-market takeaways had closed for the night.

Phil Kelly also had a late-night hot dog stand that was another popular stop-over.

Orange people who want to enjoy this unsung snack during the footy finals can find everything that makes up the great hot dogs of the world in your supermarket.

You can buy six extra soft jumbo hotdog buns in Woollies for $3.50 and six Don Famous Football hotdog skins for $5.85 and then add your own toppings to suit your wildest imagination.

Maybe one day, though, Harry's Cafe de Wheels will open an outlet here and then we can really call ourselves a genuine food capital.

The new XPT, XPLORER and Endeavour replacement trains ordered by the State Government can't come quickly enough. Our clapped-out XPTs are breaking down about every 200,000km and in the latest problem cracks have been found in a critical component that connects the body of a locomotive to its driving wheels. This has forced the cancellation of XPT services between Sydney and Grafton and could extend to Sydney-Orange-Dubbo.

The trains will be replaced by buses. The government admits the fleet have other recurring problems with brakes, wheels fatigue and corrosion of electric ducting in the diesel-electric engines.

The rail cars, some going into service in 1982, have travelled an average of 9.945 million kilometres, the equivalent of nearly 13 times to the moon and back.

They were designed to travel 7.5 million kilometres before being retired.