Crossword Genius

Rural rail line a fine thing at first (7-6)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

cracker-barrel

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'rural' is the definition.
(similar in meaning)

'rail line a fine thing at first' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'rail' could be 'barre' (I've seen this before) and 'barre' is found within the answer.
'line' could be 'l' (used when specifying particular lines from a poem) and 'l' is located in the answer.
'a' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?

I've seen this clue in The Times.
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