Sydney rail network

blackduck30 · 11 Feb 2012, 8:19 pm

I have always been amazed at what we never knew about what is just laying about unused in our rail network.

I know Central has the ghost platforms 26 and 27 that have never seen a train.
If you go down the stairs from the concourse toward platforms 24/25 you will notice a door at the level of 26/27.
Not for public access though.

I did find some good pics taken by David Johnson
HIS WEB PAGE

Platform 27 and 26

Platform 27

Both platforms have very short stub tunnels ready to be extended if ever the platform is to be used.

Platform 27 stub

Platform 26 stub

I wonder if it would be possible to get access for even 30 min

I know there are far better tunnels in ST James but as far as i know a full no go zone unless you want to risk huge fines as you need to get to then via the active subway. Also very dangerous.
Be nice if there was a safe and easy way to see them

Titan · 11 Feb 2012, 11:38 pm

Heard all about these but never been.
If we can contact the rail authorities to gain acces im in : D

blackduck30 · 12 Feb 2012, 8:20 am

An inside contact would be good.
I wonder if there are any SRA workers in ozfoz that might lend a hand.

Sparks · 12 Feb 2012, 5:16 pm

Apparently there are some disused tunnels at Wynyard too that are fairly accessible

blackduck30 · 12 Feb 2012, 7:06 pm

Now that would be intersting, that used to be a tram termination point at some early stage If I remember correctly. Now some part is a car park I think.

Would love to know how to get into some of the unused stuff

Titan · 12 Feb 2012, 8:30 pm

Question with the tunnels around stations, would they not be packed with homeless people?

Woe · 13 Feb 2012, 11:40 am

all 3 places disscussed have had sensors and cameras installed in the last 12 months ... st james also now have police on site over night to prevent people trying to get in

as for official tours i wouldnt hold my breath with the updates to city rails security policy and updates to the confined spaces act i dont think it will happen anytime soon

sadly the dreams over now all we have left if flicks

Titan · 13 Feb 2012, 11:44 am

Welcome to UEGA Woe,

Sad to hear such crap news

. Unless someone you "know" works there it looks like its pretty much impossible.

ehhhh

Woe · 13 Feb 2012, 11:57 am

Titan wrote:Welcome to UEGA Woe,

Sad to hear such crap news . Unless someone you "know" works there it looks like its pretty much impossible. ehhhh

even then its very hard ... friend of the family worked at one of the above mentioned places and got sacked (no payout) and fined for taking people in there... apparently there is a section in their contracts about not taking people into restricted areas

yes sad news seems to be the way of urbex in syd .... time to move to iraq im sure they have plenty of abbandond stuffs

Titan · 13 Feb 2012, 12:15 pm

Woe wrote:
Titan wrote:Welcome to UEGA Woe,

Sad to hear such crap news . Unless someone you "know" works there it looks like its pretty much impossible. ehhhh
even then its very hard ... friend of the family worked at one of the above mentioned places and got sacked (no payout) and fined for taking people in there... apparently there is a section in their contracts about not taking people into restricted areas

yes sad news seems to be the way of urbex in syd .... time to move to iraq im sure they have plenty of abbandond stuffs

I see i see, well ill option to go to Russia, as in Iraq half the stuff will be bombed down lol.

Woe · 13 Feb 2012, 1:15 pm

lol good point , russia seems like the good option then

blackduck30 · 13 Feb 2012, 6:15 pm

Well as far as I understand it "ANYTHING" is possible in Russia/Ukraine if you pay the appropiate..... ummmmmm errrrrrrrr compensation ????

Also these places have a very rich and dated history.
I was amazed at the workmanship of there old stone building dating over 400 yrs.

One funny bit of info I was told.
If you look at the very old buildings your show of wealth was shown by how many windows you had.
If you look it is actually very evident

Sledgy · 13 Feb 2012, 6:17 pm

Yeah I hate to agree with woe but he's right.
A few friends of mine work within railcorp and I've poked about with questions from time to time.
Sadly, one for the "back in the day" category

blackduck30 · 13 Feb 2012, 6:20 pm

I wonder what " appropriate" channels need to be followed

farah9 · 14 Feb 2012, 3:36 pm

Also the elevator from 24 & 25, has a button to get to 26 & 27, but it needs a key to be activated, from memory it has lvl1, which is 24, 25, lvl 2 which is 26, 27 and c = concorse( the main section of the station). I was lucky enough to know someone who worked on 24 & 25, as a station master, back when I was about 14yo and we managed to get access through the door on the stairs, unfortunatly didn't have a camera with me, so no photos. I have heard some people say that 26, 27 is now totally boarded up from the elevator entry, not sure though.

dangerdanger · 14 Feb 2012, 3:46 pm

I've had no luck in getting access to these, I've also got a friend that works for cityrail and gave me the number to someone that could help. So I called the guy up and told him i'm a photographer and would love to get some photos there, completely non-commercial and he gave me the default excuse "due to safety issues, blah blah". Sucks!

In a nutshell, St James is a no-go. Absolutely no tours anymore. And not even a possibility of the illegal visit with all the new sensors, security measures and police patrols in there. Sad panda!

Central station platforms however, there are tours happening there BUT they are very very rare and you have to get in very quick as spots fill up fast. Can't remember how much it costs though. I've always been too late. I've thought about trying to sneak in but there's no way in hell that you can get through, completely sealed. And there was an article a while back about cityrail testing new security sensors in these, lame!

We need more cool s*** to explore.. australia's got nothing on all the awesomeness in europe!

Ps. Hi guys, first post etc etc ^_^

blackduck30 · 14 Feb 2012, 5:58 pm

Welcome aboard dangerdanger,

Such sad tiding for a first post

Good info though and thanks for putting it out there.
With state rail crying poor you think they would utilise the gift horse they have stitting there at central, st james and wynyard. Use it to generate some cash to help fix things up.
As usual too much red tape and safety bla bla bla.
I am sure tourists and locals alike would cough up the cash to have a peek.

Poker · 14 Feb 2012, 11:25 pm

Visited St James tunnels & bunkers ages ago when the ARHS were doing the official tours, but since 911 everything has been shut down & secured, bastards.

There is a disused tunnel in the Illawarra area at Helensberg that is easily & legally accessible...if you go there try to not destroy & vandalize things, the glow-worms don't like spray paint & cigarette smoke.

blackduck30 · 15 Feb 2012, 9:38 am

WOW ,
Never knew about the Helensberg tunnel.
I suppose it was built maybe for future expansion of the Illawarra line.
We long for a high speed rail link to Sydney.

Daniel89 · 17 Feb 2012, 8:11 pm

damn I was looking forward to sussing out the train lines etc
maybe we can make the Illawarra/Helensburg one of our first meets?

and I dont think UEGA would like to have anyone vandalising or smoking in these kinds of areas anyway..

chardm · 20 Feb 2012, 12:40 am

I work for cityrail and there is definately no access to any of these places , doesnt matter who you know unfortunately ....

Titan · 20 Feb 2012, 6:41 am

chardm wrote:I work for cityrail and there is definately no access to any of these places , doesnt matter who you know unfortunately ....

Looks like the rest of us who never been will never know or see these tunnels

chardm · 20 Feb 2012, 6:54 pm

I go in alot of tunnels for work ill start to take some photos and post them up

Titan · 20 Feb 2012, 7:18 pm

chardm wrote:I go in alot of tunnels for work ill start to take some photos and post them up

Thanks that would be most appreciated

dangerdanger · 22 Feb 2012, 9:18 am

chardm wrote:I go in alot of tunnels for work ill start to take some photos and post them up

That's awesome! What do you do for work?

I need a new job