Katoomba Station is a railway station on the Blue Mountains Line of the CityRail inter-urban network, serving the popular tourist town of Katoomba in the Upper Blue Mountains 110 km west of Sydney. It is a major station at the crest of the mountains and opened in 1874.
People flock to Katoomba to see the Blue Mountains tourist area which starts about 2 km from the station. Supposedly about 4 million people per year. This area includes Echo Point and the Three Sisters, the Jamison Valley, Mount Solitary, The Giant Stairway and modernly Scenic World. (See my separate reviews of Echo Point & Scenic World).
The station has an island platform and is served by one train each way per hour in off-peak, with additional services during peak hours. The station is the terminus for every second train on the line on weekdays all other trains proceed west to Mount Victoria or Lithgow and beyond. They built this place well and it is still in good functional shape.
When we lived in the Blue Mountains at Faulconbridge, we used to get the train here to go bushwalking. Gas/petrol has always been expensive in Australia and the train is much cheaper than driving. I have a memory from being about 10 years old with my mother and sister and freezing my butt off in Katoomba as a storm rolled in. Fortunately Katoomba Station had an open fire going in the waiting room. The elevation here is 1,000 meters, or 3,300 feet. It's cold all the time except for summer. Bring your jacket.
For travelers who want to come up to the Blue Mountains, I would recommend taking the train here and eating at a pub or restaurant in Katoomba before proceeding to the mountain sightseeing. Much better than driving the Great Western Highway. You can also drive up Bells Line of Road to here and stop at Mount Tomah. (See separate Mount Tomah review). The construction on the GW Highway is just too much to deal with. read more
