Obsessed with trains, freight cars and all things related to railways, one of Alex's favorite stops during his summer trip to Australia was the chance to speed along a railway (as the rest of us held on and screamed for our lives) on one of Aussieland's oldest and fastest rails.
Katoomba Scenic World, nestled in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia is about 100 kilometers west of Sydney. Scenic World offers three ways for tourists to travel across the gorge and to the valley floor 200 meters below if they don't want to hike: the Katoomba Scenic Skyway, the Scenic Funicular Railway and the Katoomba Scenic Cable Car. The Funicular Railway at Katoomba is the steepest in the world using cables to race the cars up-and-down 415 meters at an incline of 52 degrees. It was originally constructed to haul coal in the late 1800s. The acute angle isn't appreciated until you climb aboard the train with seats that lean you far backwards, a chainlinked roof to prvents objects (and people) from being launched and cruise seatbelt free just like the coal cars of yesteryear.
