Train Tripping Around Sydney

Sydney has long been a favourite city of mine, and having lived just north of Sydney during my childhood I have many fond memories of visiting the city by train on day excursions. But that was almost 30 years ago. A lot has changed since then, especially when it comes to Sydney's trains. So for the third installment of my Train Tripping Series, I thought it was about time to revisit Sydney and see how much I could explore by train over a 3 day period in February, 2015. And this time I took my wife along for the adventure!

Thanks to Wyndham Vacation Resorts, we were provided with 3 nights free accommodation, and some cheap discount fares with Tigerair soon had us landing at Sydney Domestic Airport for 3 days of riding trains around the city. Playing tourist on a strict budget saw us pre-ordering an Opal card online a month before our trip and loading it with just $60 which proved enough for the journeys I have outlined in my book. Visiting places such as Hawkesbury River, the Blue Mountains and Kiama by train saw us stepping off at some of Australia's best known landmarks and discovering some budget savvy ways to explore Sydney. From the world's steepest railway, to the ghostly cobble-stoned streets of The Rocks, we packed 3 days with enough memories to last a lifetime!

With my previous adventure Train Tripping Coastal Queensland already nominated for a 2015 Global eBook Award, my Sydney railway adventure ended up being a much longer book thanks to the many different places that we visited. In total we covered 574 km by train in just 58 hours. Whether you are only dreaming of one day visiting Sydney, or a local keen to see what is waiting to be discovered in your own backyard, this self-guided railway adventure will provide you with enough information to make this adventure your own, yet still reads like a great book.

So what happens when you cross Skippy the bush kangaroo, a mysterious Aboriginal legend, the ghost of Sydney's Harbour Bridge and a man they couldn't hang? You get this funny yet informative 574 km self-guided railway adventure that is the perfect travelling companion for exploring Sydney from the comfort of a train. So welcome aboard my third Train Tripping adventure. Train Tripping Around Sydney. I'm sure you're going to enjoy the ride.

 

Available now through my Books page

Colebrook: A Tasmanian railway story

Colebrook is a tiny village of just 373 people located just 53 kms from Hobart along Richmond Road between the Midland and Tasman Highways. Taking the road as a shortcut while on vacation in 2011, I stopped at Colebrook to photograph the railway station, but managed to take only one photograph before the batteries in my camera went flat!

The Tasmanian Main Line Railway Company first built the 3 foot 6 inch narrow gauge line through Colebrook as part of their Hobart to Evandale (11 km south of Launceston) Line in 1876, and ever since the line has had an interesting history of ownership. By 1890 the Tasmanian Government had bought the line. In 1978 Tasmania's entire railway network became part of the Australian National Railways Commission under the Whitlam Government and was renamed TasRail. In 1997, TasRail was sold to the Australian Transport Network (ATN, a joint partnership between New Zealand based Tranz Rail and US railroad company Wisconsin Central). ATN was then purchased by Pacific National in 2004 before in 2009 the Tasmanian Government purchased back the entire railway network under a state-owned company called Tasmanian Railway Pty Ltd, trading under the name of, you guessed it, TasRail.

With Tasmania's railway history seemingly going around in circles, I found myself wishing that I had spare batteries to take some more photos of one of Tasmania's last surviving mainline railway station buildings. In my defense however, I had just taken 200-300 photos that morning of the Don River Railway in Devonport. The impressive sandstone St Patrick's Catholic Church in the background (above) dates back to 1856, and if I'm ever passing through Colebrook again on a trip south to Hobart, I'll be sure to call in and take an up close photo of the interesting Gothic-Revival structure, along with some more photos of the railway station.

See also; Devonport: The Don River Railway and Maydena: Rail-track riding in Tasmania

Bowen: Train goes where Mangoes

Bowen is 1,149 km north of Brisbane by train on Queensland's North Coast Line. When travelling to and from Cairns for one last time aboard The Sunlander in 2014, the train made a late afternoon stop on its trip south at this town famous for its mangoes. And although Bowen Railway Station is situated a few miles out of town, there was just enough time to step off the train and take some photos of this little railway station on the edge of North Queensland's fruit bowl.

Bowen Railway Station is hidden away on the outskirts of town among the fields of tomatoes and capsicums, 2014.

Bowen Railway Station itself is only a modern concrete block affair. The station consists of nothing more than a platform approximately five carriages long that has been erected alongside a single stretch of track on a quiet backstreet, despite the lines to the Abbott Point coal loader and the Collinsvale-Newlands-North Goonyella GAP Line being situated just to the north of town. Even putting the significance of tourism in this area aside, the modest station building hardly seems fitting for a town of such international export importance.

Bowen Railway Station in far north Queensland with The Sunlander about to pull away into the sunset during its last year of operation, August 2014.

The town of 10,240 people lies to the east of the railway line by the sea and was chosen as the production site for the movie Australia starring Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Bowen is also famous for its 10 metre high Big Mango that stands beside the Tourism Information Centre. The mango made headlines across Australia in 2014 when the 7 tonne structure was stolen right from under the nose of locals. It was found the very next day hidden on the back of a truck in nearby bushland. As for the culprit? Well, let's just say it turned out to be a publicity stunt. Maybe the mango wanted to go where the train goes. After all, the train already goes where mangoes. Ah, that's terrible!

Although The Sunlander is now gone, its replacement train the Spirit of Queensland is now in full operation hauling three round trips per week between Brisbane and Cairns. There is a lot to see from the window of the train, and Bowen is just one of the stations that the train calls at on this 1,681 km journey along Queensland's coast. The best way to appreciate the history, fun and facts on this epic Australian rail journey is to grab a copy of my award-nominated book, Train Tripping Coastal Queensland. This window seat guide will turn your train trip into a real railway adventure of your own.

Available now through my Books page

See also; Mackay: The Sunlander by night