Circumnavigating Australia — Kuranda Railway

Kuranda Scenic Railway

After a rather long Skyrail Rainforest Cableway trip, with two station stops along the way, we arrived into the village of Kuranda. This was our transfer point between the Skyrail and the Kuranda Scenic Railway.

Kuranda Railway Station — transfer point from Skyway to Railway

The station included a couple of plaques of interest. One gave a history of the railway. Construction began in 1886, and passenger service started five years later:

History of Kuranda Scenic Railway

The second plaque consisted of a trip guide:

Scenic Railway Trip Guide

But I’ll give you a better view of what we did this day with the Wikipedia image below. This gives you a better perspective on how the Skyrail relates to the Railway. We boarded the Skyrail Rainforest Cableway (Monday’s article) near Yorky’s Knob (left center) and traversed over the Kuranda Range northwest-bound along the Barron River until reaching Kuranda. In Kuranda we took a short bus ride from the Skyrail station to the Railway station. From there, we took the train along the opposite side of Barron River, first heading south and then turning east to Freshwater Station.

Kuranda Skyrail Cableway and Scenic Railway

Oh, my. Look at the time. All Aboard!

All Aboard!

Now let’s find some seats inside the charming carriage to which we were assigned:

Railway car

There are a lot of curves on this trip, which afford the photographer some great train shots along the way.

Peeking through the rainforest

Railway winding through Barron Gorge National Park

Remember from Monday the Skyway stop at Barron Falls? I mentioned that the view was better from the train side that day, especially with the afternoon light. Fortunately, I didn’t have to snap a shot from a moving train, as we made a stop here and were allowed to exit at a great lookout point:

Barron Falls

But my favorite shots this day were of the train as it navigated curves, especially when suspended above the rainforest floor on spindly trestles.

Goin’ Round the Bend

Crossing a bridge with a waterfall backdrop