Crane wth train carriage

There I was, just positioning myself carefully under the gap in the rainforest canopy for the best view of the helicopter overhead hauling bits of train, when I was spotted by the health and safety man. He looked at my camera, radioed for permission to put up some 'Danger - keep out' tape quite a long way the other side of me and was granted it instantly. I pleaded but...

So why is a helicopter bringing bits of train into the rainforest?

In 1891 a steam-driven cable railway was built to bring coal and kerosene shale to the cliff-top from the 1870s coalmine at the bottom of the Katoomba Falls. The mine closed in 1903 but in the late 1920s, during a move to reopen it, a group of weary bushwalkers hitched a lift up the cliff in a coal wagon. Management saw the potential and had seats built onto some wagons. When the mine finally closed the railway remained a tourist attraction as the world's steepest cable-driven funicular railway (52 degrees at its steepest). It closed last July for refurbishment and there's now lots of activity before the planned re-opening for Easter. Since I can't offer you the first new carriage being helicoptered in, here's a picture of the last old carriage being hauled out, which I took an hour earlier.

This afternoon I failed to control my waterfall addiction (I've lost count of how many I've visited since I arrived here four days ago) and made my third attempt to get to Leura Cascades. I tried from the west on Friday but the route was too steep. I tried from the east yesterday but it was a long road-walk and I was weary. Today I walked to the car park above the falls and took the steps down alongside the tumbling river until it reached the rock edge. By leaning over the protective rail I could just see its second segment gushing way below me.

On the steps I chatted with a visitor from North Carolina. We agreed that neither words nor pictures convey the beauty of this place. Honestly - it is so, so much prettier than an old railway carriage. Or a new one.