Northern Beaches NSW how is it for railways?

I am flying off to Australia next week and staying in Mona Vale New South Wales, but with relatives in Deewhy. Can anyone tell me if there are any railways in the area worth visiting, if not how far would I need to travel. Many thanks in anticipation.

Hi, the northern beaches has no rail, many proposals over the last century though. Closest line is the North Shore Line.

There's a frequent special bus service (B1) from Wynyard station in Sydney CBD to Mona Vale, via Dee Why, integrated into the Opal ticket system.
They are also upgrading the route (one of the bumpiest concrete roads I have ever experienced!).
https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/projects/b-line-bus/about-program#Ten_B-Line_stops
https://transportnsw.info/documents/timetables/36-B1-B-Line-Mona-Vale-to-City-Wynyard-20171126.pdf
The coast around Mona Vale round to West Head in the national park is very attractive, very popular with hikers and boaters.
You can get to Newcastle on the coast further north fairly easily by rail from Sydney via Hornsby (half-hourly, 2-3 routes), but the route keeps inland.
Opal fares are pretty cheap.

peterinsurrey said:

Hi, the northern beaches has no rail, many proposals over the last century though. Closest line is the North Shore Line.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. How far away is the North Shore Line, and what station is nearest to me, and is it worth visiting from an enthusiasts point of view? It would be nice to have a mixture of passenger and freight.

The North Shore line crosses the Sydney Harbour Bridge and then heads north west to Hornsby where it meets the main line to the north.
I think Chatswood is your nearest station but it's a fair way with no easy route as far as I can see.
You might be best heading for Sydney Central, which is where most of the rail action is (and where the XPT starts from - mostly leaving early and arriving late).
Bus B1 will put you off at Wynyard with frequent trains to Central and Circular Quay.
The network is relentlessly suburban (double deck EMUs), and is mostly underground in the city centre.
Freight tends to stick to its own segregated routes through the suburbs to the port terminals, but there is certainly some at Hornsby on the Newcastle line.
This is just a sketch from a visit I made in August (having family there).
Anybody with local knowledge will know a lot more.
The journey planner is very good.
https://transportnsw.info/trip#/

There are no rail services to the northern beaches.
Last November the bus routes were all re-organised. There is now a Limited Stops service between Mona Vale and the City with a frequency of about every 10 minutes. This is the B1 Busline. It is operated by a fleet of new DDeckers. Departure point in the city is Carrington Street above Wynyard underground station. The intermediate stops are well marked with expected waiting times for the next service continually updated. At the stops, changes can be made to local services.
To visit your relatives at Dee Why from Mona Vale just take a B1 service. The alternative is route 199 which serves all stops from Palm Beach to Manly ferry wharf.

Bus services from the beaches to the North Shore rail line are few and infrequent. I suggest that you do not even think about them.

The suburban rail network has a minimum 15 min frequency on all main suburban lines off peak. Some lesser used lines have 30 min frequency.
Suggested rail trips include:
1. Central to Kiama on the south coast (2h45min). Hourly from Central with hourly departures on the return.
2. Central to Gosford, or if possible Newcastle and Maitland. Change trains in Newcastle for Maitland. In Maitland you will be able to see plenty of coal trains; usually up to 10,000t, gross. These run about every 10/15 minutes as both full inbound and empty outbound.

Both of these trips can be unreservedly recommended.

Majority of visitors choose to go to the Blue Mountains and the trains to Katoomba are always very full. Being overly familiar with the Blue Mountains I am not impressed by them and consider the 2 coastal trips far superior.

You will need an Opal card. Buy this at the airport rail station when you arrive. It operates all bus, train, ferry and tram services. 60 minutes is allowed for transfers. 5 hours for overall journey time. Operation is the same as Oyster except that you MUST touchoff on all services except the Many ferry. There are NO ticket offices at rail stations. Topping up an Opal card can be done at a TVM using either cash or credit card. Topping up with cash can be done at many offline agents, particularly newsagents and convenience stores. They are usually well marked. The system is currently experimenting with credit card touchon but this is available at only a few locations.

I will be happy to answer any specific questions you may have.

Many thanks for all the replies, there is some very useful information there.

If you haven't done so, visit the city circle in the city, particularly St James' and museum stations. They are pre war and very similar to London transport deep tube stations (they even have the roundels..) I also used to love the wooden escalators at wynyard, when I lived in Sydney, but these were recently replaced...

If you are into trams, you could also waste half a day on the "Sydney Light Rail" (ie tram) line from Sydney Central through Pyrmont and Glebe to Dulwich Hill.
This uses CAF trams and largely utilises the old Sydney Goods Line which once linked several port areas to the main line.
Dulwich Hill is in the western suburbs where you can come back directly to Central on the main line.
They are building a second light rail line through the CBD towards the eastern suburbs.
In fact much of the CBD has major construction works for this and other rail expansion.
Another nice feature of these works is that the hoardings often display old photos of the area, including the original tram network.
As you admire the Sydney Opera House, you can reflect that its site was previously occupied by a tram depot!
Another attraction on the tram route is the Powerhouse Museum which has some old steam locos (it's rather like the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerhouse_Museum

If you get chance to go south, do. The 1500v DC electrified line to Wollongong has a real feel of the Woodhead line around Stanwell Park, with all sorts of sharp curves and steep gradients as it negotiates the steep sided hills that crowd up to the coast. Robertson - at the top of the spectacular Illawarra Escarpment - has a nicely restored station which (I think) sees some excursion traffic. The town itself could pass for somewhere on the prairies in the U.S. and has an epic pie shop: http://www.robertsonpieshop.com.au/. Also, I'd guess that catching a heavy train on the climb from the climb from the coast would be pretty spectacular. I was sad that I'd missed freight hauled by electric locomotives, but Australian freight hauling around Sydney still features a beguiling combination of massive coal and grain trains double, triple and quadruple headed by locos equipped with screaming EMD 645 prime movers. Here's a taster from back in 2000, filmed at Como in south Sydney:

I can recommend the trip south to Kiama, beyond Wollongong and at the end of the 1.5kV DC system.
It's a very nice seaside town with a "blowhole" (dramatic with a SE swell running) which is easily walkable from the station.
As it happens, an EMU at Kiama station is my current avatar at left [not any more!]...
And there are several good pie shops.
I didn't see any freight around Wollongong on my trip, but it's a major port for the steel industry.
The National Park forested stretch leading to the sea is magnificent, followed by coastal scenery all the way.
Hourly limited-stop services from Central.
Opal fares only AUD 6.08 each way off peak from Central (120km), or 8.79 from Mona Vale.

Please post your photos on here when you get back Condor7 - It's been great reminiscing about my own trip down that way over the last day or so. Agree with everything LNW-GW Joint has said above about Kiama by the way.

Here are some awesome vintage railmotors at Robertson, looking for all the world like runaway LNER camping coaches:


And here's the sort of thing I saw when I looked in at Robertson - a massive long grain train:

Belatedly found the photos that I took when we stopped off at Robertson:

Condor7 can you please give us a report on your visit and of your travel experiences.

Hi LesS

Thanks for asking, although I am afraid things did not go to plan.
The reason for the visit was because our daughter, who lives in NSW, was getting married.
As they have two cars we had no plans to hire a car as between them they could run us around. Unfortunately we hit the fairly long period of bad weather that was unusual for that time of year. I’m not sure how in touch with the area you are but it was certainly well publicised over there with frequent news report updates especially some of the spectacular storms, in which regrettably some died.

Therefore the opportunity, and to be honest the desire, to venture out was limited to only a relatively small number of days when the sun was out, fortunately one of those days was the wedding which went perfectly.

In the end my only train related visit was to Central station in Sydney which was enjoyable especially the Indian Pacific trains, both the powerful locos and the attractive carriages. The platforms for these trains are very long to accommodate all the carriages. The platforms are open to the weather but have a long canopy to protect more from the sun than bad weather. While I was there they were preparing the carriages after all the passengers had departed, and as time went on and the new passengers arrived waiting to be boarded, they were directed to a section on the platform where table and chairs had been brought out. Their luggage was taken from them and they were served champagne and wine with a lovely table spread with nibbles, plus a singer/guitarist to entertain them.
This could only be done in countries with normally good weather, as it was this day.

Sorry it’s not as exciting as I had hoped, but thanks everyone for the help.

Steve.