The ‘big smoke’, a big bridge and a big wait

There are some things that just have to be tried at least once.

On Saturday night, at 11:45pm, I was waiting patiently on the Culcairn train station platform, and the Melbourne-Sydney XPT (think British Intercity 125 HST, but ‘Australianised, whatever that means’) was pulling into the station. What lay ahead was a 7 hour overnight train trip, the train timetabled to arrive at Sydney’s Central station at 6:55am Sunday morning.

This was a first for me – first time on the XPT and first over-night train trip. In retrospect the ‘over-night’ train trip idea might not have been the most wise decision, especially as I was going to be active on Sunday! But it was the only way I was able to get to Sydney and back in the time constraints I had. You may well ask ‘why didn’t I fly’? Well here are a few reasons:

• I enjoy train travel much more than aeroplane travel,I reckon it’s a safer than air travel too. If a train runs out of fuel the train just stops! And besides, the journey should be part of the experience when going somewhere, not just the quickest way to get to where you want to go. As I was going to a model railway exhibition getting there by train was in sync with the theme of the event of was attending in Sydney.
• It’s good to look out at the passing scenery (just like television, only real) – can’t do that in an aeroplane. This might seem a bit of a strange comment to make about an over-night train journey. But the moon was full, and with the lights in the carriage off it was amazing the amount of detail that could be seen of the scenery.
• The train is far more convenient. I had a 5 minute drive to the nearest railway station compared to a 45 minute drive to the nearest Airport. And then I would have had to go from Sydney Airport to Central station to get the train to where I wanted to go anyway whereas the XPT stops at Central – uber-convenient! And getting of the train at 3:40am the next morning and having to travel 45 minutes with the possibility of little or no sleep on the train didn’t sound like a wise thing to do.

The train arrive in Sydney on time, and then I had to get a suburban train out to Liverpool where the model railway exhibition was. While I was waiting for the train to Liverpool I had some breakfast. And then a bloke who was obviously a little tipsy sat down next to me and struck up a conversation with me. He told me about his wife who had told him off for staying out all night, and said that he ‘was in big trouble’, I assume with his wife. It was a bit dejavu-esque talking to him, as he asked me the same questions about 4 times. But he was pleasant and friendly enough so I didn’t mind.

It turned out he lived in Liverpool, and when we got on the train he promptly fell asleep. So I thought I would do my good deed and wake him up when we got to Liverpool. Which I did. But I noticed after I got off the train that he didn’t get off. Maybe thats a good thing as it would have given him more time to sleep off his drinks before he had to endure another talking to by his wife.

The description of the model railway exhibition will be covered in my blog on my Jims Model Train Site, if your interested. I stayed at the model railway exhibition for about 4 1/2 hours, then decided to go back into central Sydney. I looked at the train booking for the over-night XPT back home and noticed that it didn’t leave Sydney till 8:40pm. So I had about 6 hours to kill. What to do?

I had a bit of spare cash, so decided to become a tourist and visit the Sydney Harbour Bridge. So I purchased a ticket to North Sydney and got on the next train. I had never been over the Sydney Harbour Bridge before. I didn’t realise how high off the ground it was! I got off the train at Milson’s Point station and had a look around. Here are some photos of the bridge, from various angles.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is quite an amazing site. Built in the 1930’s, it’s design was influenced by the Hells Gate Bridge in New York and is apparently the 5th longest arch span bridge in the world and the tallest at 134 metres from top to water level. It carries a highway, trains, pedestrians and cyclists between Sydney and the north shore and suburbs. There is a park underneath the bridge, which would have been quite tranquil if it wasn’t for the almost constant noises the bridge made as traffic and trains travelled along it. The pillars themselves are stone.

While the pillars are obviously very strong, they are also quite pleasant on the eyes – the stone blocks are rough-hewn, and there are cornices, patterns and symbols here and there. A bit of a strange mix of art and strength.

Not far away is possibly the most scary face a child might see. Especially when coupled with them hearing the screams of people on rides inside the park, and watch people walk in through the open mouth. And the eyes look a little crazy, don’t you think?

From the park under the bridge, there is a great view of the Sydney Opera House.

The bridge and the opera house are very iconic of Australia. Just take notice which buildings are used to identify Australia in movies and other media and you will see what I mean. Out on the harbour there were the ferries…

… and a sailing ship.

And near the bridge offers a good view of the central Sydney skyline as well.

After doing the tourist thing for a while, I hopped back on the train and was soon back in Central station. But it was still a number of hours before the XPT was due to depart, so what to do? I read some magazines for a while and then had a look at some modern metal art on display in the station concourse.

After having some tea, and with the daylight disappearing, I went over to the platform to wait for the XPT. When the daylight was gone, all the lights came on and I started noticing things. Let’s get some perspective.

Off in the distance there was an interesting contrast of the station signals and darkness.

Eventually the XPT arrived, and I got on the train. And at about 3:50am on Monday morning I got off the train at Culcairn station. It was very cold as I got off the train and there was a frost. The car windscreen had frozen over, and there was no water in the window washer so I scrapped the ice off the window with my fingers. About 10 minutes later I was back home and it was good to get into bed and have a decent sleep.