Sorry I have just reposted since I selected the wrong first photo for attachment.
If dangling 270 metres above a ravine wasn't enough of a thrill, the descent on the Katoomba Scenic Railway, the steepest funicular railway in the world, should satisfy your desire for an 'adrenalin rush' if that's your thing of course!
I was lucky to get the very front seat on this train and take a video of the whole 3-minute descent. Sadly, as you may already know I have never been successful in uploading video to my Blog but hopefully the photos will give you some idea about this unique train journey. Some of you may have seen a travel programme made by Micheal Portillo which featured this ride and televised from the seat in which I sat – just another of those quirky coincidences that have occurred in my travels this year.
The description that follows is from the Great Rail Journeys website: https://www.greatrail.com/trains/katoomba-scenic-railway/#:~:text=The%20historic%20Katoomba%20Scenic%20Railway,glass%20roofed%20red%20train%20carriage.
The historic Katoomba Scenic Railway is the steepest cable-driven funicular railway in the world, with an incline of 52 degrees. This unique journey is taken in an 84-seat glass roofed red train carriage. The train travels through sandstone cliffs, through a rock tunnel beside the tree covered Orphan Rock, before emerging to stunning panoramic views of the lush, ancient rainforest.
The Railway was constructed in the 1880s to facilitate mining in the Jamison Valley, originally hauling coal and oil shale from the bottom of the valley up to the escarpment above. Locals soon began to see its potential as a tourist attraction, and from 1928 to 1945 the train was used for its intended purpose carrying coal during the week, with passengers using the train for leisure purposes at the weekends. After the coal mine was permanently closed in 1945 the Katoomba Scenic Railway remained open as a tourist attraction. The track was modernised in 2013.
YEAR OF INSTALLATION:
- 1878 - original, coal only
- 1928 - steam winch, 12 passengers
- 1935 – electric winch, 23 passengers
- 1952 – 23-28 passenger car
- 1974 – 28-56 passengers, two cars
- 1994 – 56 – 84 passengers, three cars
- 2013 – 84 passengers, four cars
You can just see the break between the rocks through which the train descends in the 4th photo above.
