Trains In Sydney, Australia

Posted by David Whitley Sep 25, 2007

Tourist trains

One thing I have never been able to understand is the appeal of tourist trains. By this, I don’t mean great journeys such as the Orient Express, railroads through the Alps or the transcontinental Indian Pacific and Ghan trains in Australia. I mean those little trains that pootle around major tourists sites, with children and adults cramped into the back, knees up to their chins. They generally travel at walking pace anyway, so what’s the point?

Tourist trains in Sydney: Circular Quay and Darling Harbour

Ironically for a city with such a notoriously unreliable public transport system (try a rush hour train to Central Station or Town Hall if unconvinced on this score), Sydney would have to be the world’s tourist train capital. Popular areas of Australia’s biggest city such as Circular Quay and Darling Harbour can feel like Disneyland at times, there’s so many of them, generally getting in everyone’s way.

Tourist trains in Sydney: Bronte Beach

However, the crowning glory is in the stretch of parkland just behind Bronte Beach in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. Bronte is home to possibly the world’s worst tourist train – it just goes round and round in a tiny circle. The driver’s job must be utterly hellish.