Rail infrastructure - the nitty-gritty detail

Railways are to freeways what socialism is to capitalism.

In 1855, a standard-gauge, steam-powered railway from Sydney to Granville commenced. The starting point was the old Redfern Station. The Sydney city rail network was electrified from 1926, with the gradual introduction of the city stations in preparation for the expansion of the network once the harbour bridge came online.

H is for History

As the wheels clicketty-clack down the iron track, the child in us all is freed. Our legs, no longer rooted to the here-and-now, swing freely in mid-air. Our head, lolling out the window, breathes in the cinders and the gush of passing air. We permit our mind to indulge in whimsy. A shy grin spreads across our face, until our face muscles ache with joy, and we shrug our shoulders in childish embarrassment. We have released our better self to the imagination of the past.


This week is History Week – a chance for me to indulge a passion that is obvious to you, dear reader. The theme for 2010 is ‘Faces in the Street’ (note there is only one ‘e’). This is borrowed from the eponymous Henry Lawson poem which starts

They lie, the men who tell us for reasons of their own That want is here a stranger, and misery’s unknown, For where the nearest suburb and the city properly meet My window-sill is level with the faces in the street –

It is not a light-hearted poem, but is indicative of Lawson’s bitter-sweet life and his socialist leanings. State Records of NSW has produced a reading of the poem on YouTube, read (poorly in my opinion) to the back-drop of images of Sydney’s back-lanes and Alley-ways. The photographs are engrossing.


The steam train day down to the Thirlmere Railway Museum, was courtesy of Historic Houses Trust where our busload of oldies was hosted by some of the most gracious volunteers it has ever been my pleasure to have met! We were dined (and wined) and chatted to. Helped downstairs and over rails, and finally piled into carriages with hordes of young families for a trip down the memory lane of childhood.


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MYM - As the Romans did ...

The city of Sydney lies in a basin atop an underlying plateau of rock known as Hawkesbury sandstone, which is a rock much prized for its ability to be hewn and for its rich mellow colour.


Picton is a small hamlet about 8o kms south west of Sydney. It is rapidly evolving as a dormitory suburb.


With the coming of the first railway line in 1855 from Sydney to Parramatta, the head of the railways of the colony, John Witten, undertook an extensive expansion. Between 1863 and 1867 a viaduct was built over the Stonequarry River to enable expansion to the SW.


The Picton viaduct carries a double railway track. It has 5 arches, is 30m high and 84m in length. It was built using the same techniques the Romans used to build, say, the Pont du Gard in the south of France.

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