Bookable
An Apollonaut travel guide
Moments in a longer story.
Selected milestones in the history of Scenic World and the Jamison Valley.
On this page
Mine, railway and rides
These dates describe the place you can learn about here. They are not a company timeline for Apollonaut.
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1880s
A mining railway
A railway is built to haul coal and oil shale from the Jamison Valley up to the escarpment.
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1928
Weekend passengers
From 1928 the railway carries coal on weekdays and passengers at weekends.
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1945
A tourist ride
The mine closes, and Harry Hammon turns the railway into a tourist attraction.
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1958
The Skyway opens
The Scenic Skyway opens above Katoomba Falls, described by Scenic World as Australia’s first cable car.
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2000
The Cableway
The Scenic Cableway is installed, first known as the Sceniscender.
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29 November 2000
World Heritage
The Greater Blue Mountains Area is inscribed on the World Heritage List.
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December 2004
A glass floor
A new Skyway cabin with glass floor sections replaces the original, which was withdrawn in April after 587,401 crossings.
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2013
A new railway
The railway closes in January for new track and carriages and reopens in April.
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2017
A larger Skyway cabin
A larger Skyway cabin enters service in November.
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2018
A new Cableway cabin
The Cableway cabin is replaced.
Follow the stories behind the dates
A timeline is a beginning. The longer history introduces the people and places; the sources below provide further context.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
- Scenic World: Who we are
- Wikipedia: Scenic World
- Wikipedia: Katoomba Scenic Railway
- Wikipedia: Greater Blue Mountains Area
Links lead to the original publishers.