Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Timetable Tuesday: 1990 Bankstown Line

Well hello!

Its 1990 and Greiner is in, which means CityRail is in, and things are about to get shaken up. The main change in 1990 was the loss of overnight trains and the introduction of NightRide buses to replace them.

This timetable is essentially the same as the 1988 'table, with the loss of trains between about midnight at 5am.

Also note the peak hour service from Bankstown in the morning. Between 7 and 9am, 16 trains (8 per hour) leave Bankstown for the City, compared with 15 today. Also the service pattern is significantly different, with alternating Bankstown 'circles' and Bankstown starters, only occasional services from Liverpool.

Weekends are a particulary unsatisfactory 30 minutely intervals.


We also have a line manager- part of the CityRail reorganisation.




Monday, July 28, 2014

Monday maps- CityRail 1991-2

This is the only version that I know of of the 1991-2 new CityRail map which has the Sandown branch on it. By the time the 1992 timetable came out, the Sandown line was gone and the line excised from the map.

This is taken from a newspaper advertisement for a free day of travel for St George Bank account holders in 1991.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014

Wacky Wednesday

A 1988 plan to replace night and off peak trains with single car 'light rail' type vehicles. 


Monday, July 21, 2014

Monday maps- SYDNEY FERRIES 1989

Taken from the back cover of the 'Go Walkabout with Sydney Ferries' pamphlet, undated but looks about 1989ish. Intrigued by the comment about McMahon's Point, will have to delve into this some more.

I will put up some of the contents of the pamphlet over the next few weeks.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Wacky Wednesday

Of course, Central needs a helipad.

Monday, July 14, 2014

25 years ago today

Was the announcement of Greiner's rail cuts.


Saturday, October 19, 2013

Sydney trains website

It's probably going to change on 20 October 2013. Here is a screenshot of how it was before it changed.


Thursday, October 17, 2013

Sydney Trains map

Without further ado, here is my version of the forthcoming Sydney Trains map.

I'm not a graphic artist! There a a few funny bumps especially around the Bankstown Line, so please don't scrutinise too closely. But I've tried to de-clutter it a bit and make some improvements, such as the addition of the Inner West line. The funny shaded boxes around terminal stations get the flick, as do the unwieldy station line names at each terminus. I've also added a T3 at Lidcombe and a T2 at Homebush, at the expense of making the Bankstown line a bit more bumpy but perhaps more geographically accurate. And I couldn't help myself, the "Hop" has gone replaced by an old friend.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

London ditches the roundel

In surprise news from the UK, Transport for London, operators of the London tube, bus network and overground, have announced that a wide sweeping corporate rebrand will see the famous 'roundel' logo replaced with a new corporate logo and identity.

Rebranded as 'Move London', incorporating a new logo known as the 'skip', all modes of transport will be rebadged in what the head of TFL describes as:

' a change from the stale old days of the Underground, a fresh bright new look, looking forward and moving ahead into a new age for public transport'.

The logo, nicknamed 'the skip' hopes to represent customers 'skipping with ease' through all the modes of transport', he said.

The news was met with derision in other cities such as Sydney which has hung on to its iconic L7 logo, which has been associated with public transport for almost 40 years, and instantly recognisable by the travelling public.



Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Timetable Tuesday- 1988 Bankstown Line

Howdy, has it really been 6 months? I thought I'd belatedly click off 2013 with the Bankstown Line, 1988, which is the oldest Bankstown line 'table I can find in my dusty old box. I may find an earlier one if I dig a bit harder, we'll see.

Anyway, there are a few interesting titbits and curiosities to be found.

The cover is in the style of the time, printed in 2 tone, non glossy paper.




Not much introduction inside, just a promo.....




Straight to the weekday timetable. Arranged in two rows. First thing to note is that this predates regular LIverpool- city via Bankstown services. Most services do the loop, or start at Bankstown. Also, Bankstown had a better peak hour service in 1988 than today- 16 services departed Bankstown between 7am and 9am compared to 11 today.


On weekends, a 30 minute frequency, with an odd extra thrown in occasionally.

Punchbowl depot was open then, which presumably is where some of these services head to.

And behold, the famous Penrith- Cronulla service on summer Sundays.


But it was not to run for long. Maybe 1988 was more frugal- but when timetable changes were to be made, let's not reprint the whole thing but add in a loose leaf page of amendments to sift through. I guess it was pre- internet and all. The Penrith- Cronulla service was deleted in November 1988. I'll have to see if I can find a 1988 Illawarra and/or Western line table to see the rest of it.


Travellers aid 1988 style....

Not sure if I'd use a travel company with this name....



Info is on the back cover.


See you in another 6 months?

Friday, August 17, 2012

21st birthday, Richmond electrification.

Happy birthday Richmond electrification, you turn 21 today! On 17 August 1991, the Riverstone- Richmond section of the Richmond Line saw electric trains introduced. Three 2 car L-sets provided shuttle services between the two stations, providing connections to through trains to the city from Riverstone. A shuttle arrangement was necessary because power supplies were initially inadequate to allow more than one 8-car train north of Riverstone at any one time, surely a strange set of affairs for a new electrification project, however the initial project did not include platform lengthening to a full 8- car length, so the 2 car shuttles simply plodded along to the same timetable as the 2-car diesels that operated previously. The line had been served by fairly dilapidated 2 car 600 class trains, two sets of which were shunted off to the Hunter after their time had finished on the Richmond Line.

The electrification of the Richmond line had a long gestation, with the section to Riverstone electrified in 1975 and seemingly little thought about doing the rest until some masts appeared in the mid 1980's. The newly elected Greiner government in 1988 halted the (slow) work, until work restarted in March 1991, with completion by August. It took another year or so until power supply and platform lengthening allowed 8-car running from Richmond through to the city.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Timetable Tuesday- the last RNP trains.

Prior to withdrawal, the Royal National Park (RNP) had only a few daily train patronised by only a handful of hardy souls , presumably bushwalkers happy to make the trek down the hill to Audley and beyond.

The April 1991 timetable shows the following services:

On weekdays, there were 2 morning services. The first service left Bondi Junction (BJ) at 755am arriving at RNP at 846 am. It had a slightly odd stopping pattern, stopping at all stations except Banksia, Carlton, Allawah, Como and Jannali. It left RNP at 904am, stopping all stations to BJ (except Como, Jannali and Oatley). The second service left BJ at 835 am, arriving at RNP at 923am. This one operated express from Sydenham to Hurstville, then all stations to RNP. It turned around for a 931am departure back to BJ stopping all stations.

In the afternoon, there was one service leaving BJ at 215 pm arriving at RNP at 310pm, stopping all stations. This had a quick turnaround departing at 316pm, all to BJ.

On weekends, there were two morning services departing BJ at 755 and 855am arriving at RNP at 847am and 947 am (950am on Sundays and public holidays) respectively,. They departed RNP at 914am and 1014am.  In the afternoon there were 2 services departing BJ at 255pm and 3655 pm arriving 347pm and 447pm respectively. They departed RNP at 414pm and 551pm for arrivals at BJ at 508pm and 608pm.

Monday, June 11, 2012

21 years ago today- last train to Royal National Park

21 years ago today, on 11 June 1991, the final train to the Royal National Park operated without fanfare. Services were abruptly discontinued when a defective signal switch led to the line being inspected and an estimate of $400,000 being required to upgrade the line and track to safe standard. By 1991, the line was carrying only about 100 passengers per week, on weekends only.

After services were withdrawn, CityRail offered a free taxi service (!) between Sutherland and the Royal National Park at the times that the former trains operated.

On 19 June, trains were formally amended in the timetable to terminate at Sutherland on weekdays and Waterfall on weekends.

The line opened in 1886 and was the southern end point of the Illawarra line electrification in 1926. The line lay dormant for a few years after its closure in 1991 prior to tram services from the Sydney Tramway Museum commencing in 1993.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Timetable Tuesday- 1990 Central Coast Line

The counterpart to the 1990 'Newcastle Area' timetable discussed last Tuesday was the 'Central Coast Line' timetable. This timetable combined Northern Line suburban services with services up the Central Coast through to Newcastle, but excluded "local services' between newcastle and Fassifern (and the Toronto branch line). Therefore it carried the note that it didn't show all services between Fassifern and Newcastle)



The basic Central Coast portion of the timetable consisted of hourly 'fast' services between Newcastle and Sydney, with an additional slower hourly 'all stations' service. The express service overtook the preceding all stations service at Gosford, with with a 11 minute (down trains) or a  17 minute (up trains) pause of the slow service at Gosford to allow the pass to occur. This was supplemented by a few weekday peak hour Gosford, Morisset and Wyong starters. Only one morning peak service from Gosford operated via the North Shore, all others operated via Strathfield and terminated at Sydney Terminal. On weekends, the slow interurbans served the stations between Cowan and Berowra. Also Interurbans stopped at Eastwood rather than Epping.

So essentially all stations on the Central Coast line received at least an hourly service on all days. This is a more favourable service compared with todays weekend timetable north of Wyong.

Weekday example:


Weekend example:
The suburban portion detailed services between Hornsby and Central via Strathfield The present 'Northern Line'.  Suburbans generally started at Hornsby with about a 15 minute frequency in peak hours consisting of a mixture of all stations and limited stoppers, and a half hourly frequency off peak and weekends. A mixed bag of mainly peak hour additional services started or terminated at Epping. Suburbans between Berowra and Hornsby operated via the North Shore, and were shown in the timetable with the annotation 'via North Shore'.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Monday maps- Interurban 1980s

This map is from the mid 1980s. Electrification must end at Wyee, but not sure why it cuts off Kiama- Bomaderry.