The Caves Express was an Australian special passenger rail service that operated between 1929 and 1942 on the Blue Mountains Line in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. The name was derived from the nearby Jenolan Caves.

Introduction

The railway from

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

to the Blue Mountains enjoyed a monopolistic position in the early 1920s as much of the road from Parramatta onwards was unsealed. In 1927 a large improvement came about with the superseding of the route from

Emu Plains Emu Plains is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 58 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney re ...

to Blaxland, via Lennox Bridge with a sealed Great Western Highway, partially using the old railway formation over the

Knapsack Viaduct The Lapstone Zig Zag was a zig zag railway built between and stations on the Main Western line of New South Wales in Australia. Constructed between 1863 and 1865 to overcome an otherwise insurmountable climb up the eastern side of the Blue M ...

. An effect of the improved road was to take some traffic away from the railway. In order to stem the decrease in passengers taking place and with a desire to even improve patronage beyond previous figures, the New South Wales Government Railways introduced the ''Caves Express'' on 11 November 1929. The journey from

to Mount Victoria took 2 hours 30 minutes, the timing being achieved by the train being limited to five carriages with a total weight of just 125 tons and the elimination of many intermediate stops. In November 1931 the C35 class was assigned to the express. In July 1933, three locomotives of the class were painted in Caledonian Blue, these being 3506, 3526 and 3535 at the Eveleigh Locomotive Workshops. In the summer of 1936, the express was taken over by the larger C36 class. In 1942 as a wartime economy measure, the ''Caves Express'' was suspended. It had a mediocre revival between 1953 and 1956 when it re-appeared in the timetables for Fridays and Saturdays only, running to a semi-fast schedule in the westbound direction only.

Preservation

Car RBR 1049, previously used on the Caves Express, has been restored with blue and gold livery. It is preserved and on display at Valley Heights Rail Museum

References

{{NSWLocos, state=collapsed Transport in the Blue Mountains (New South Wales) Named passenger trains of New South Wales Passenger rail transport in New South Wales Railway services introduced in 1929 Railway services discontinued in 1956 1929 establishments in Australia 1956 disestablishments in Australia Discontinued railway services in Australia