The secrets of Sydney's railways
Everyone from trainspotters to urban explorers will find something railway-related to fascinate them in Sydney.
1. Sydney Festival (sydneyfestival.org) lights up the city this month and Carriageworks is at the centre of the action. This huge shed is a former manufacturing and repair facility for Australia's trains and puts on everything from art to fashion shows these days. During the festival you can see an Aussie version of Fleabag, the play that spawned a BBC sitcom. There's also Mad Max with a live score by Morricone Youth. And Gotye presents a tribute to Jean Jacques Perrey on Jan 16 and 17. (carriageworks.com.au)
2. For a stylish lunch that doesn't involve a Vegemite sarnie or a Tim Tam, foodies flock to the new Tramsheds (tramshedssydney.com.au). Located in Rozelle Tram Depot, the old tram storage and maintenance building proffers Belles Chicken, bakery Dust and Japanese grub from Osaka Trading Co.
3. Forget Stairway To Heaven – this is the real thing. A new sculpture, Interloop, made from old 1930s escalators, has been installed at Wynyard Station in Sydney's business district. The five-tonne, 50-metre work by Chris Fox gives suited commuters (and tourists) something novel to enjoy.
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4. You won't find any trains stopping at the ghost station of Woollahra anymore. Found on the Eastern Suburbs line, the station never opened after residents living nearby stopped its construction. You can see the empty platforms when the train passes between Edgecliffe and Bondi Junction.
5. If you fancy a Sunday stroll check out the Goods Line – Sydney's answer to New York's High Line – which threads along an old railway through the Ultimo neighbourhood and past Frank Gehry's new building for the University of Technology in Sydney.
6. While picknickers pull beers from Eskies in Hyde Park, below their blankets lies a huge network of abandoned tunnels. They starred in the 2011 horror movie The Tunnel – where a journalist with an interest in railways (er...) ends up uncovering some far scarier than they imagined.
7. Sydney Central Station is at the centre of the city's rail network and has plenty of historic architecture to admire. In June they run heritage trains, like the famous Tin Hare. And there's cracking places for coffee here too, like Haven (havenspecialtycoffee.com.au).
8. Wondering what all those jackhammers making a racket and tracks being laid on the streets of Surry Hills are about? Yep, it's Sydney's new Light Rail line, which will have trams running on it down to Randwick Racecourse in 2019 – and the Sydney Cricket Ground, useful for the next time England get clobbered in The Ashes.
9. Sydney's underground stations will remind you a bit of London's – with their 'Roundel' logos and heritage posters advertising pomade and Persil. The best posters are preserved at Museum station, which feels like a time machine – or a film set (sydneytrains.info/about/heritage/historic_advertising).
10. We'll end where the future was supposed to begin. If you're a fan of The Simpsons' Monorail episode, you'll be singing the 'Monorail song' as you spy relics of Sydney's former Downtown Monorail, which was scandalously torn down in 2013. You can spy bits of where the track used to swoop through buildings high in the sky.
