The Australian train system is very efficient. The trains are also very clean. Lately, due to…read moreCovid, there aren't as many passengers as usual. Riders buy an Opal card and load money on it. Then whenever you use it, you "tap on" at a little device that records your fare and how much you have left before you top it up. You can also tap directly with your credit card for contactless payment if you have the symbol on your card. Hornsby is a larger town so it is has a number of trains passing through the smaller villages on the way to Hornsby. It's also a very popular stop because it's right across from Westfield shopping mall and the Hornsby outdoor mall. I have been getting on the train at Lindfield since it's about a 10 minute walk from my bnb. It's fun to look at all the interesting village names: Turramurra, Warrawee, and Waroonga for example. I enjoy riding the train because it gets me where I want to go so no driving is needed.

A part of me considers Hornsby to basically be out on the far edges of Sydney, but it doesn't feel…read morelike it when you arrive at the station because it looks like, and in a way is, one of those major interchange stations. Actually, being next to a major shopping centre also helps. Yeah, this station is quite accessible and has quite a few facilities as well, and certainly makes you feel like you are in the suburbs.

I came through here for the Sydney Marathon because race participants needed to get to Bradfield…read morePark for the start line. Each train car was packed once we arrived at this station so the train had to park there until everyone was able to get off. The bottleneck for getting out of the station were the stairs. Since it was an elevated platform, there were nice views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the surrounding area.

Milsons Point station (note no apostrophe in the name!) must be the CityRail station with the most…read morereal estate value. It's got the lot, incredible value, never to be repeated again: views (including water views and Harbour Bridge views), close to transport (yeah, literally, but ferries, f(r)eeway and buses are also not far away), close to shops (a couple of restaurants and cafes down there), heritage building, lifts built-in, gardens at your (non-existent) door-step. The list goes on. It also has got two bathrooms, an unknown number of rooms (probably more than your average home), but no parking spaces and no swimming pool:( Ok, in terms of real estate value I've lied a bit here. Circular Quay station is equally good (just see my review of it). The best part of this is you get to enjoy this value every time you check in here, and it only(!) costs you the price of a CityRail ticket. The interesting thing with the transport hub 'Milsons Point station' is that you won't even really notice it's there. Once you step out of the station building, which on its ground level really is just an arch-way under the extension of our Harbour Bridge, you're either in Kiribilli village, or Bradfield Park. From either side, it's just a stone's throw to the harbour. One last breath of harbour air. Breath-in...aaaahh fresh air: "Please stand clear. Doors closing." Oi, bummer.

Springwood is located 72 km west of Sydney and "half-way up the mountain" in a local government…read morearea of the City of Blue Mountains. At the 2011 census, Springwood had a population of 8,437 people. It is largely Anglo-Celtic. I know the place well because we used to live here in the neighbouring town of Faulconbridge, and would usually get on and off the train at Springwood rather than Faulconbridge station. Not much to say about a train station really. This one gets the job done. Springwood is a large train station with most of the town shops on the south side, including *Springwood Pizza*. On the north side is a huge multi-storey parking structure. The "Mountain Train" from Sydney up to here and beyond is very relaxing once you start to rise up from the coastal plains after Penrith. You can feel your stress melt away. Lots of Sydney workers commute from here, and Springwood is about as far as you would want to commute. Those living higher up the mountain are more retired persons or local workers, etc. The people also get weirder going higher up the mountain, where it is more sparsely populated. Don't mean to offend anyone, but its true of many, but not all. Hard to give more than three stars for a train station. It's just there if you know what I mean.

I would say that this is a nice, old-style station, but the thing is that quite a few of these…read morestations in Sydney still retain their aesthetic charm from days gone by. Well, sort of, because a lot of them still seem to be the same, but then again it does happen to be a railway station, and I probably shouldn't be all that surprised. Once again though, like most Sydney stations, this one is quite accessible, and also trains are reasonably regular, most of the time.

Stanmore. Can you really have more Stan? Rename this puppy Stanless, cos it's sparse…read more How sparse? On a need to know basis it's a simple two platforms that drops you in the middle of nowhere in Stanmore, and you need to leg it to get to the closest highway. Speaking of legging it, there ain't no barricades and you know what they say... opal cards are only used by honest commuters ;)

Actually, this station is actually a pretty major railway station in that it provides an…read moreinterchange between two lines, and when they open up the North-East link this will also, for a time at least, be the terminus (though I believe they are going to send the trains straight through to Chatswood). The station is pretty cool though, and has quite a few facilities as well. However, it is the underground section that I particularly like.

Space age! I love going down the stainless steel escalators. It reminds me of a James Bond movie…read moreand sliding down the metal part between the runs. The station is clean and efficient and very busy with people especially before and after work. The announcements are clear and there is a well sized lift....but please let the disabled people use it.

This is definitely a major railway station, even though only a limited number of trains pass…read morethrough here, namely because it only services a single line out of the city. Still, pretty much all trains stop here, and from here you can easily access most parts of North Sydney. I also found that the staff were generally quite helpful, and there is quite a few facilities here as well, not counting the shopping centre to which it is attached.

A small busy wharf during peak times of a morning and an evening…read more This modern wharf is located in a lovely trendy area of Abbortsford. Right at the wharf is the Abbortsford Rowing Club a lovely restaurant where it is a place to go for that special lunch or dinner. The Parramatta River service visits the wharf each hour either heading towards the city or to Rydalmere ( depending on the tide...even to Parramatta). The wharf is well covered for wet weather and wheelchair friendly.

As train stations go, Asquith is pretty nice. Its small and doesn't handle big crowds so waiting…read morefor a train here is a much nicer experience than many other stations. Except at school arriving/leaving time where students from the two high schools in Asquith pack the platforms. On the down side, there is very little cover so waiting for a train in the rain is a fairly damp experience. There is no connection between the two platforms so if you find yourself on the wrong side of the station, you need to leave the station, walk down the road a bit, up over the railway bridge (with not much footpath and much traffic) then down the road a bit to re enter the station on the other side. Not much fun for the elderly or those with mobility issues. The big downside to Asquith station though is that very few trains stop here. Its closer to home than Hornsby so I would much rather walk to and from Asquith but end up at Hornsby most of the time because there are something like 2 trains/hour at Asquith. Occasionally I luck out on the way home and get an Asquith train (and a shorter walk) but not often.