Katoomba Scenic World

Scenic World is a popular privately-owned tourist attraction located at the southern end of the town of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales, Australia, about 100 kilometers west of Sydney.

Scenic World is home to a number of attractions, the two most famous of which are the Scenic Railway and Scenic Skyway. Other attractions include a theatre, shop and revolving restaurant.

The Scenic Railway is reputedly the steepest cable-driven funicular railway in the world, with an incline of 52 degrees, over a distance of 415 metres. It was originally constructed for a coal and oil shale mining operation in the Jamison Valley in the 1880s, in order to haul shale from the valley floor up the cliff to the escarpment above. It was converted for use as a tourist attraction prior to World War II.

Built in 1958, the Scenic Skyway is another cable-driven conveyance at Scenic World. It travels across the gorge above the Katoomba Falls, 200 metres above the valley floor. The original Scenic Skyway was removed early in 2004 and replaced by a new cable car that opened in December of that year, built by Doppelmayr and CWA Constructions. The new version features an 84 person cabin with sections of electrostatic glass that turns the floor from opaque to transparent as the ride ventures out across the gorge. In early 2006, a second station on the opposite cliff-face opened, allowing Skyway passengers to disembark and follow bushwalking trails to nearby Echo Point.

In 2000, Scenic World spent $13 million on the Sceniscender, a unique cable attraction from Doppelmayr which lowers riders straight off a cliff into the Jamison Valley 200m below.

In 1984, Scenic World began building a roller coaster known as the Orphan Rocker, named after the nearby Orphan Rock. This is the first roller coaster to be completely designed and manufactured in Australia. The highlight of this ride will be a swooping banked turn that takes riders within metres of the edge of a 200m cliff. It has in the past been referred to as a "sitdown suspended" coaster, because though a conventional sitdown coaster, the trains are able to rock from side to side, like a suspended coaster, giving it its name. As of 2008 this ride sits idle, having never been opened for the public.

Restaurants and shops

There are, in addition to the Revolving Restaurant, an outdoor bistro, an outdoor BBQ selling Kangaroo sausages and a small cafe with free arcade games.

There is also a snack shop selling drinks and snacks.

=

ee also

*List of funicular railways

References

External links

* [http://www.scenicworld.com.au/ Scenic World website]

Further reading

* "Shale Tramways of Katoomba" Luxton, John R. Australian Railway Historical Society Bulletin, January, 1962