The Great Western Railway Adventure (Zig Zag to Bathurst)

[@jace888au]

I love that the novelty tourist attraction train station has better parking/road access infrastructure than the actual train station at zig zag.

[@griffinrails]

I mean to be fair, there is basically no reason for one to park at the actual Zig Zag station...

[@michael_beast]

⁠@@griffinrailsidk why it is there, it serves nobody to be honest.

[@mt-mg7tt]

@@michael_beast Actually, you can access the Zig Zag historic railway from it, and that railway's staff use it sometimes. It's also used by bushwalkers sometimes. With the re-opening of the historic railway it should see more traffic.,

[@mt-mg7tt]

Yes, Clarence station, at the other end of the Zig Zag, has a substantial and refurbished carpark. Zig Zag station itself IS accessible by car, but it is a dirt road, that could do with a bit of improvement. Of course you can catch a mainline train to Zig-Zag station.

[@bananaman9117]

just catch the train there

[@Brannigan_Slaw]

The most feel-good channel on KZbin. The enthusiasm is infectious. Another great vid, keep it up!

[@joannerickard1160]

If you go a little farther west after Bathurst, you find some lines that have been closed down, but the scenery is wonderful. There used to be a line from Blayney through Cowra that isn't used anymore, but most of it is still intact. It goes through historic places like Carcoar, which is truly lovely, and the station is still perfectly intact.

[@michaelcobbin]

I have done Zig Zag Railway before it was burnt down and I’m so glad it’s back. An excellent day trip adventure.

[@ZigZagRailway]

Thanks for coming to visit Sharath, glad you and Amy had a great time

[@arokh72]

As an Oberon local, good to see you in my neck of the words.

[@Chris-wm8hr]

The train at Rydal wasn't a Dubbo train as they use the XPTs for Daily Dubbo services but the train was the weekly Broken Hill train as it is and Xplorer.

[@IonianGarden]

Gwabegar, pronounced gwob-be-gar. There is a video of a train travelling from Coonabaraban to Bugaldie. There is a coach service from Lithgow to Baradine from 10am weekdays that replaces the train on the Gwabegar line. It only goes to Coonabarabran, but on Thursdays it goes to Baradine.

[@IonianGarden]

@@gregc9690 I catch the Thursday coach to Baradine once a year. My dad lives in Kenebri. After Mudgee, the coach is almost empty.

[@glenndarragh4417]

An interesting fact about Lithgow - Lithgow Yard Signal Box is the oldest continually operating signal box in the southern hemisphere. It has been in continual operation since April 1885, there is still a mechanically operated lower quadrant main line signal operated from the lever frame in the signal box.

[@zaarpoool]

Wallerawang Station operated as a cafe until a few months ago and you could sip coffee sitting on the platform. You twice referred to an Xplorer as an XPT. And if you rent the station masters cottage at Rydal (as I have done), you can prebook the Dubbo XPT to stop and take you into Lithgow (cheaper than a taxi) in the late afternoon where you have a bit over 2hrs to enjoy dinner before catching the Bathurst Bullet back to Rydal, as this train always stops at Rydal. Good fun.

[@theaussiebackflipboy]

The train that you filmed at Rydal wasn't an XPT or even the Bathurst Bullet. It was the Sydney to Broken Hill Explorer train.

[@qjtvaddict]

Too bad it’s slow

[@johannesnicholas1568]

Great videos! Love the history!

[@Nath-the-explorer]

Great video you have made keep up the great work! Interesting about Wallerawang station, I am a resident near the train station in Wallerawang, I really hope the station reopens, would be great for the town and people wanting to have a day out here, from the station have a great little supermarket with local butcher meat and bakery bread open on weekends, would be able to buy some stuff for a BBQ and walk down to Lake Wallace where there is fishing, swimming in summer and BBQ facilities, people from Sydney could go for day out in the country and have a bbq, also a great bowling club with great affordable meals and cheap beer walking distance from the Station in addition to to other pubs with meals and a beer garden with an outlook over the Great Dividing Range, would also be great for local residents for travel to Central or Parramatta not having to get a bus to Lithgow! Hope the reopening happens! Also the grass area next to the line at Wallerawang station I was told used to be a live stockyard in the 1950's and 1960's I think then closed down!

[@SYDTrainsFilms]

This is Gold! Glad to see you enjoyed the central West and mountains!

[@froginasock8782]

Interesting fact; The Zig Zag Railway is NARROW Gauge, not Standard gauge like the rest of NSW. This was due to the Commissioner for Railways only making heritage locomotives and rolling stock available to the officially sponsored New South Wales Rail Transport Museum. So the line had to be re-laid to 3' 6" gauge and locomotives and rolling stock sourced from Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania Incredibly short sighted decision by the government of the day.

[@DenisHauvillle]

My father was a railway man working around Lithgow in the 1920s. He was sent to Rydal to relieve and fell for the daughter of the publican of the pub he was staying in. They married in 1926 and had five kids - I'm number 4. Your coverage of the central west was amusing but you need to study town names a bit. it is 'Wol air a wang' emphasis on the 'air'. Tarana is 'Tarra Nah' with emphasis on the 'Nah'. Finally the town is pronounced 'Bath.st' with a schwa instead of 'ur' just like Brisb.ne and Melb.ne. All the best to you and Amy.

[@darrenrodneysales5973]

Zig Zag, Wondabyne, Wirragulla, Wallarubba and Bell are on demand stops. and these are the four smallest stations on the NSW Trainlink Network

[@ziggybadans]

There's also Kembla Grange Racecourse and Lysaghts, with both being a request stop and Kembla Grange Racecourse similar size to Bell.

[@suebailey4263]

The train you filmed at Rydal was the Broken Hill Xplorer, not the XPT. The Dubbo XPT usually has 4 or 5 carriages. As for the pronunciation of Wallerawang, it's Wal-er (as in air) -a-, wang, or as we used to call it - Wang.

[@Dobuan75]

Love that you are bringing your own quirky humour to your videos now.

[@rmoz2729]

Wonderful. As a Bathurst local this makes me happy. Hope you enjoyed the town.

[@AlphaGeekgirl]

00:20 As a local, could you please confirm whether Bathurst is indeed pronounced Bath-Hurst, or Ba-thurst?

[@rmoz2729]

@@AlphaGeekgirl Bath est not bath uuurst!

[@billeves4627]

Baffust

[@bassbegruven4727]

And, if not mentioned already elsewhere, Wallerawang is not Wallara-wang, it's actually pronounced Wal-lair-a-wang with the emphasis on the lair, though there are not many of those in this quiet town, to be fair. Love your videos, all of them. You should go to Millthorpe next time you are out in the Central West.. Request stop for the Dubbo XPT and a great little town. It's an easy day return trip by train from Sydney. The train will drop you off at 11.48 in good time to explore the town and have lunch and will then pick you up again at 16.11 to take you back. Best done during Daylight Saving to enjoy the Blue Mountains views in daylight. Spoiler alert : when Millthorpe Station closed a while back, the track was moved out away from the single platform, presumably to make maintenance easier for the track tamping machines etc. So when it was re-opened a few years ago, did they move the track back? No, they built a new platform further out to match the track alignment. They did the same thing, realigning the track away from the platform at Molong too, which has a beautiful station and was once the junction for a second cross country line to Dubbo, but so far the passenger service has not come back there, and probably never will. Speaking of Building Beautifully, if you've not yet done a video featuring Mt Victoria you need to. I think there has never been such an impressive station built for such a minor town. Arriving there on a V Set when it is snowing is a special treat.

[@ErinFromSydney]

♥ Came here to help with the Wallerawang pronunciation, you beat me to it.

[@easyesky6646]

Rydal Station was at time the terminus of the Western Line. So brief window in time, the station was a major interchange of goods/produce and passengers. In September each year there is a Daffodil Festival at Rydal. In 2022 heritage trains (diesel) ran during the Festival, early 20 Century styled carriages between Lithgow and Bathurst. Looks like you skipped Sodwalls, before Tarana. Just next to the first single lane bridge (Driving East from Tarana). that crosses over the railway, is an vantage point. What is interesting there, is to observe the massive almost hairpin loop that the railway goes through. In the distance (be a great drone shot) is a disused aqueduct rail bridge - which looks just the those found outside of Lithgow.

[@PlanesTrainsEverything]

It was cool to see Bathurst station had both the large (boring) rectangular station signs as well as the older (stylish) 'London Tube' style station signs. Since I lived in Sydney up until 1991, I'm guessing these signs are now few and far between?

[@bvq330]

You can see these signs in the City Circle iirc

[@MatthewSpong]

Great video! As a local from Portland it was lovely to see some familiar stations on your channel. BTW Wallerawang is pronounce "Wull air a wang" but the locals usually shorten it to just Wang. On the other hand congrats on getting the pronunciation of Tarana right, with the emphasis on the first syllable. If you return this way you should check out the abandoned rail tunnel under Tunnel Hill near Wang which was used to store mustard gas during WW2.

[@7ismersenne]

Yeah, I noticed the slightly non-standard pronunciation too. Never mind, it's a nice informative video.

[@davidmcdonald3314]

Out of curiousity, there's a few disused tunnels in the area... The Tunnel Hill tunnel you refer to, is it the one under the road turn-off to Wallerawang? I think there may also be a turn-off east of the current main line there on. The permanent way still exists leading behind the prison to an old colliery near a camping area and Army training area, though the rail is gone I was never sure which tunnel was the one that was used to store the WMD but imagined the one closer to the training ground might have been it

[@qjtvaddict]

Imagine an express tunnel with more direct service to orange and high speed to Adelaide with some intermittent stops like lithigow and another one in between like Lawson and blaxland creating a true express route to st Mary’s via blue mountains now they get a true local/ express service 😅

[@thebiggesttrainnerd]

Hi Sharath!!! I love your videos.... been checking every day for them... you're my favorite youtube channel... Looking forward to all your future videos.... Your Best Fan, Dillon

[@marknolan5182]

At 20:33... the building would have been the signal cabin. You can tell because there is a gap in the platform face where the mechanical rodding and wires would have been.

[@sjdtmv]

You miss a great bit between Rydal and Tarana and that was a Sodwalls realignment where the line was redirected due to the incline of the track, and the track was lengthen a few kilometres there is still an old large stone bridge and ramping similar to the ones at Zig Zag, if you travel be train it is very noticeable stone bridge, you can see it by road also if you take the road between Tarana - Sodwalls - Rydal roads, and for Wallerawang which is miss pronounced, the locals just call is Wang, also I heard that there is a likely opening of the Tarana to Oberon line as tourist and also a likely of the largest business in Oberon (Borg) looking at it also. It great being a local to the area. The Station Master at Rydal that use to man the gates at the level crossing for many years was a Mr Featherstone

[@antontsau]

on backyard of Lithgow train yard sits Lithgow rail modelling club, time after time they make open door days. Worth to visit.

[@holiday197]

Driving down the road to Tarana looked like a fun time. You go up and down the hills repeatedly almost like a slow and tame rollercoaster.

[@GreatAussieDrives]

Great video as always mate! Looked like an awesome adventure for you and Amy. I hope Wallerawang station is reopened someday, as it would probably see more usage than Rydal or Tarana.

[@HerrIMorke]

I always enjoy your content and this was no exception. Keep it up, I mean it. You're awesome and I always enjoy learning from you.

[@The_Random_Aussie]

Nice job, it's a great section of railway to explore. Just a couple of pointers on place names though. Wallerawang in pronounced Wall-air-a-wang, while Gwabegar is pronounce Wab-e-gar, the G is silent. Great job as always.

[@jb7591]

just near carlwood is a rickety old rail bridge on the way to Hazelgrove, you can still walk over it if you are game.

[@PeterArnold1969]

Thanks, you two, for a beautiful tour of the Blue Mountains. I love seeing some of the smaller stations in NSW.

[@australiasindustrialage689]

The train that passed Rydal was probably the Broken Hill Xplorer or an Xplorer replacement for the XPT

[@davidrayner9519]

He also got the Bathurst Bullet wrong , it's an Endeavor set and the train passing through Rydal , more than likely the Broken Hill Explorer, being only 3 cars long?

[@staryoshi06]

@@davidrayner9519The bathurst bullet uses endeavor sets.

[@yesbeautyfly]

Thanks for driving to Bathurst via so many Stations in Blue Mountains areas. So many places to explore in & around Greater BM World Heritage Listed Areas.

[@brettyallop6018]

Great video, Amy looks like she had a great time!

[@Voyagerthe2nd]

Civil Engineers and Tradies put on hi-vis, steel cap shoes and hard hats, and work in unsafe environments to make a space visually appealing for tiktok dances and promote sick winter drip that cannot be worn in a construction site 😂

[@GgoXMseJ5339]

Great video

[@jamesnatt922]

Great video Guys ! I’ve still not visited Bathurst but it’s definitely on the list of weekend trips . Your videos are always very interesting and entertaining as well . Cheers

[@dagwould]

Bathurst station reminds me in some ways of other country stations: Albury, Wagga Wagga and Broken Hill, spring to mind.

[@crazyauspal527]

Amazing stuff brother Its very interesting to see these old train stations still being used on the line!

[@whatnowbrowncow133]

Lithgow is a cold hole,but there are some good pie shops 💁🙏✌️👌👏

[@johnstaring3210]

You brought back so many memories from my youth, and educated me as well. Thank you.

[@dragonpnut76]

Glad to see you made it to Oberon. You will have to come back when its running.

[@PineappleSkip]

Hugely enjoyed this video, an old stamping ground (there have been pineapples in the district since the 1860s). Cringed every time you pronounced Wallerawang - the emphasis is on the second syllable - as in Woll-AIR-ah-wang. Looking forward to your video on Gulargambone. Hint - also has emphasis on the 2nd of 4 syllables :)

[@PineappleSkip]

Well I watched this video all over again, mistakenly thinking it was new, and cringed some more. But a fun video though 😀

[@gregessex1851]

Cooerwull Station was opposite my old primary school of the same name. It was closed when I was at the school in 1974. The two timber platforms are long gone. The historic footbridge was relocated to the Zig Zag Railway. Electric trains used to go as far as Bowenfels with one stop each day each way at Cooerwull for the workers from the nearby ammunitions factory.

[@ZigZagRailway]

4:52 this footage was taken from Cooerwull Bridge (we have retained the name) which now lives at Top Points Station

[@gregessex1851]

@@ZigZagRailway I walked over it often to get to the sports grounds and pool. I remember it feeling dangerous with loose Timbers and the like. There was also the gap in the fence at the end of Rifle Parade where we would cross as kids just metres from where the Queen’s train nearly got derailed in the 1950’s.

[@ralphbyles142]

As well as carrying the workers from the Small Arms Factory, us school kids used to catch it to Clarence

[@gregessex1851]

@@ralphbyles142 From Cooerwull Public School?

[@ralphbyles142]

@@gregessex1851 no! I was the high school (1957 - 1961) and my sister at Lithgow primary

[@elizabethtilly1763]

Disappointed you didn’t take the train to all these stations.. but understand since the trains aren’t exactly frequent services to get off and film and get on the next one. Would be good to see more on the Gwabegar line to Mudgee - I thought you’d mention the coaches departing Lithgow (that should be trains!)

[@johnlatham7092]

Very enjyable video. Appreciate all the editing involved in "telling the story" of your adventure. Well done !

[@carisi2k11]

Atleast the Oberon - Tarana historic railway will be standard gauge unlike a certain other historic railway.

[@georgestevenson2621]

Yeah, its a shame the zig zag is narrow gauge but it was due to the rail museum nit willing to donate any NSW heritage carriages- instead they had to outsource to QLD narrow gauge locos

[@TrainBloke38]

The reason Zig Zag railway got rebuilt as a narrow gauge railway was cause the Railway authorities at the time made nsw stock available only for the nsw rail museum

[@leighmeagher6836]

I hope that you make it out to the Orange! The line end up at Dubbo where they are building a new rail workshop. And Orange is the point where the line turns to the Perth line, (at the East Orange siding). There are MANY closed lines out here too!

[@Lithgow11]

Thank you for visiting my town of wallerawang! Fun fact, wallerawang almost became the end of the line for the electrification of the blue mountains line, but a local politician halted the electrification stop at Lithgow. It will be interesting if you could investigate the bells line expressway project that would run from Richmond to Marrangaroo.

[@truckynforky]

What a video. You’re an amazing character and your videos are something else

[@lithgowlights859]

Ahh pity I did not know you were in Lithgow or I’d try to catch up. Could have shown you the tunnel hill viaducts, and also some of the historic “Hoaksville” town ruins. Oh and it’s wal-air-a-wang :)

[@rainbowbeeeater]

Where's hoaksville near?

[@lithgowlights859]

@@rainbowbeeeater Tunnel Hill, which is North west of Lithgow

[@remyfarson6559]

10:30 that’s actually called an endeavour

[@taowang2000]

True

[@hal3137]

Good job Team BB. What a great couple, looking forward to the wedding.

[@jasonknox1926]

Great to see you back posting vids. Was starting to worry you’d stop posting

[@simonburns1055]

At Tarana thats the signal box and station masters office where you could buy a ticket in the old days

[@simonburns1055]

Some of the last semaphore signals in the state where found there before it was re signalled with modern ones

[@davidmcdonald3314]

What, you went to Jenolan and couldn't find any time to comment on some of the quirky buildings? 🤣 Anyway, another great vid - Thanks! P.S. Last time I dropped past Bathurst Station, there was a beautiful 1950's Ansett Streamliner bus parked out front - would have been worth the trip on its own 😁

[@markosborne886]

Great video! Would happily watch more of these :)

[@andrewsgarage796]

We did a Herry Potter night back in 2008, it was magic with snow and lots of Harry Potter props, love this place Good video mate Best regards Andrew

[@johnsontan345]

This channel appeals to the nerd in me so much. It's informative and fun. Never cared about the outskirts of sydney rail but now I'm intrigued 😂

[@ariana_p99]

I’m so happy your back on KZbin! It’s been a while! I love your videos 🙌🙌

[@handyandyaus]

It's hasn't been a while. Sharath has been producing great regular content for a while now.

[@ogpu1]

Enjoyed your video, thanks for your time and effort!

[@alex54545]

You need to visit the Lachlan Valley Railway at Cowra and see all the old trains on display

[@ErinFromSydney]

Loved the video. I would love to see a video on your thoughts on the accessibility challenges and opportunities of Blue Mountains stations. I know it's something that they are trying to address, especially in the wake of the Disability Royal Commission (although, granted, I don't know how much of that was focused on transport currently), but I know that many stations in the mountains are lacking accessible infrastructure. However, I also recognise that there are a lot of complications with heritage listed stations in the mountains as well as ecological challenges as well. I would love to hear your informed perspectives about how we could potentially overcome these challenges for the benefit of all people living in all areas of the Blue Mountains.

[@WillJamesRailways]

Another great video. I’m pretty keen to get back up to this great part of the country!

[@AnonyDave]

Dam! That was actually really interesting! Keep up the amazing work!

[@nbrettoner]

Great fun video, with actually lots of interesting history carefunly tended to 😄🤠 Thankyouthankyoythankyou.

[@joshuafletcher8869]

Love this video mate. Thanks so much

[@jayperrie9144]

Love the content, I know you focus on sydney’s rail network, I would love for you to do a video on the Hunter rail line. Keep up the good content :)

[@jasonhuang6332]

Thanks for telling me about this beforehand!

[@damienberry7679]

A terrific and entertaining video, it would be great to stay at Rydal station. Keep up the great work!

[@TrainBloke38]

The steam train tour at Bathurst was part of Transport Heritage Nsw Bathurst steam weekend they operate over thr June long weekend, also im kinda surprised you didnt say anything about steam locomotive 5112 which is on display next to Bathurst Station

[@douglachman7330]

Wallerawang was home to power stations (Mt Piper and Wallerawang) , coal mine infrastructure and workers lived here and in Lithgow not far away. A quiet station would be Ben Bullen. Enjoyed your video. I left working on the railways based at Lithgow in 85 when several lines started being replaced by buses.

[@darylephillips6778]

Very interesting and very informative Keep up the good work

[@michaelclement1337]

The woodwork on Tarana station building under the roof on the triangle sides is the same as on the sides of my terrace in Sydney. Perhaps my terrace is almost as old as the station building

[@evanhadkins5532]

Nice to see more of Amy

[@giovanniratta3771]

well done! great vlog

[@tyskeels6777]

Awesome video again mate! Looking forward to more exciting videos to come!

[@IC3XR]

woah, underrated channel. subscribed

[@aussiefirestorm]

Good to see you enjoying life beautifully.

[@darylcheshire1618]

From Melbourne, I never learned to pronounce Wallerawang, I think the emphasis is on the middle syllable, Wall-ER-awang. I was fortunate to ride on the Lithgow to Mudgee rail motor. I once travelled from Lithgow to Zig-Zag, I rode with a bad tempered driver who stopped at the very small platform. I think his bad mood was on some other matter. I drove to Oberon from Goulburn, a scenic route I recommend the road spirals into this huge hole and out again. It can snow in Oberon. My main dissapointment was I tried to play WoW in my motel room, it wanted to update the client with a 12GB download but my plan was only 4GB. It worked perfectly at home a couple of days before.

[@doubledee9675]

My father's family came from Rylstone. They all pronounced it Wo-lair-a-wang. The a is very short, in phonetic terms its the indeterminate e.

[@iain1969]

Fantastic video and really interesting. Thank you!!!

[@Aroiaus]

Same here in Kogara, Rockdale and all the way to Wolli Creek. Princes Highway is ruining our suburbs.

[@oztrains]

At 20:30 the building at Tarana is not a goods shed it was the former signal box.

[@paulrichardson5892]

there is a great rail museum at broken hill.

[@jonimiller1954]

The second line is to be relaid in the future at Tarana and Rydal

[@nperceived]

Can you do something similar for the Hunter line?

[@iainturville2530]

I miss going to wallerawang station There was a hole in the fence which got me access to the platform I went up to the bridge to escape the flies Hope the station reopens soon

[@a4s4a4]

Hey I was wondering if you could do a video on Melbourne, there are a bunch of mega and controversial projects there

[@RugbyLeaguePassport]

Could you please do a video on the Gwabegar line?? There’s a number of groups campaigning to re-open the line between Lithgow and Mudgee

[@billeves4627]

You should visit the Lapstone zig zag. You can walk or cycle it and continue over the old Lapstone road bridge. I heard they were going to pave the zig zag maybe they have by now. Look out for the disused private station platform along the way.

[@ianlambert6864]

My daughter visited the Lapstone Zig Zag Saturday and it is still closed for refurbishment.

[@ChrisTopher_Urbanism]

Crazy, I was just at Bathrust! Did you manage to catch any of the Winter Festival events while you were there?

[@scyl]

we need more Amy in your videos, haha

[@Mick_Unfiltered]

Lithgow station is the station I use every weekend to travel to newtown! So nice to see this area get some love :) We may have to help you pronounce wallerawang though😅

[@yukko_parra]

ngl I'm vibing with the music, I'm legit currious about your musical past, and I kinda wanna hear you play more of your music in your videos. reminds me of Alan Fisher and his music mixes.

[@peepeetrain8755]

you should do a vid and take a trip up the to the northern tabelands line that was closed between Armidale - QLD border. and the train station at werris creek would be a great video, the most beautful station in Australia imo

[@AuroraDashPteriforever]

Hell yeah, that would be very cool -- been meaning to do a video on that one myself. Went up there with a buddy back in April, had a great time :D

[@therandomidiotontheinternet]

24:20 this is incorrect, this was bought off someone’s collection when they died and they worked for years reassembling and fixing it to its former glory, the computers for signalling are really cool