Built for the mine
The railway was built in the 1880s to bring coal and oil shale up from the floor of the Jamison Valley to the escarpment at Katoomba, where it could be carried away.
Coal on weekdays, visitors at weekends
From 1928 to 1945 the railway did two jobs: it carried coal during the week and passengers at weekends, taking them down into the valley and back up the cliff.
A ride that stayed
When the mine closed in 1945, Harry Hammon turned the railway into a tourist attraction. Its steepest section has an incline of 52 degrees over 310 metres. The line closed in January 2013 for new track and carriages and reopened that April.



