With another wet day – I decided on another rail trip. This time I travelled to Westmead via the normal heavy rail, then tried out the new Parramatta Light Rail.
I started at one of the line – Westmead, where the light rail station is very close to Westmead Railway Station. Then I stayed on the tram all the way to the far end of the line at Carlingford.
The line first passes the huge medical precinct at Westmead.
The trams are very similar to those we are used to on the Inner West Line, but are a little longer (7 sections joined together rather than 5).
Here the term is crossing the Parramatta River for the first time.
And we passed a large and very old cemetery.
And we cross Parramatta River gain to go through the Parramatta CBD.
With the rain – I was glad to be inside.
The last part of the line uses the old Clyde to Carlingford Rail Corridor.
And then we arrived at Carlingford.
The term stopped there for ten minutes, so I decided to catch it back to Parramatta.
The Carlingford Station has two platforms, but the line becomes single track for s short way.
Carlingford.
Now heading back to Parramatta. Here is the heritage listed old Telopea Railway Station building.
One station along the route is called “Robin Thomas”. An unusual name for a station I thought. Looking it up, it seems that the station is named after an adjacent reserve the “Robin Thomas Reserve”, and so I thought probably named after a local councillor. Yes, Alfred Robert Cayley Thomas was the mayor of Parramatta back in the early 1960’s.
Back now in the Parramatta CBD, I left the tram to look for somewhere to have lunch. Parramatta seems to be a mixture of old and new buildings.
Here, once more is the Parramatta River.
And you can see the building that will be the replacement Powerhouse Museum.
At one place, there isa very large void. This is the site for the Parramatta Station Box for the metro.
A few last photos of Parramatta I took on the way to the Railway Station.
