Redfern, Cntrl, Town Hall, Martin Pl , Kings X, EDFECLIFF & Bondi Jctn 1- Forgotten Stn/ Bus Intchge
Dulcineasdiarycontinuef – Everyone knows where the following train stations are on the Eastern Suburbs Line
Redfern ( The Block, Indigenous community, public/social housing estates, Sydney Uni, Carriageworks, old train sheds etc.)
Central ( intercity, interstate, region & metropolitan trains depart & arrive, UTS , Railway Square, Haymarket , Paddy’s Market, Capital Theatre, YHA Sydney Central, Coach Terminal , Light Rail etc)
Town Hall (Wooworths, QVB, George St, Town Hall, Hoyts ( Event Cinema), KFC, St Andrews Cathedral Church & School etc)
Matin Place ( GPO building, Metro transfer Station for Eastern Suburbs Line, Sydney’s CBD ,ANZAC Day Dawn Services etc)
King’s Cross ( red-light district, homelessness, Coca-Cola sign, night clubs, underworld criminals, drug dealers , gamblers and all things shady, William Street etc)
and
Bondi Junction ( gateway to Beaches, the end of the Eastern Suburbs Line , Oxford St, Centennial Park, loads bike paths and buses)
BUT does anyone know much about the once neglected and forgotten station on the Eastern suburbs line just 2 – 3 minutes from Bondi Junction and wedged between King’s Cross & Bondi Junction? Probably not but I do as I used to travel to this station a lot in my teens and 20’s.
So this is a series of videos where I revisited Edgecliff Station for the first time in decades to explore what it is like currently as a train station bus Interchange and small shopping mall split across 4 levels.
I have avoided revisting Edgecliff Station because at one point the station and bus Interchange was so neglected you would not want to stop there and avoid waiting for any bus transfer .Especially with the filthy & pigion poo covered run down bus Interchange.
Now it is looking a little cleaner and the old I think blue plastic benches have been replaced. The original roof of the Interchange which is more of a skyline patched together still exists though.
Difficult to imagine that Bond Junction Bus Interchange above the train station once looked similar to Edgecliff Station’s bus interchange except on street level not elevate up a windy ramp for buses mainly. And the blue coloured plastic benches may have been space age at one time but now all removed replaced with sectioned metal benches. Those filthy pigeon attracting round cylindrical rubbish bins with the hole in the middle that stank like anything and the cigarette butts everywhere now replaced with streamlined clear plastic bins with clear plastic liners – gone are the cigarette butts too. Even the sets of confusing stairs up to each bus stand has had a signage overhaul and a lick of different coloured paint up on the sides of them .
I think in this video I was rudely interrupted again after I was interrupted at Martin Place Station by a train officer who asked if I was “right” – no I wasn’t lost at Martin Place Station ( actually yes I was a little but only between the Metro and Eastern suburbs line transfer points) and no I didn’t need help at Edgecliff Station just trying to make a YouTube video ( oops I said channel by mistake sorry) and looking at the frozen in time bright blue tiled pillars, the bright blue space age looking framed long disused defunct ticket office windows and my favourite secret frozen in time find an old orange coloured of what used to be called City Rail logo which looked as if it used to be on a plaque of some type next to one of the old blue framed ticket windows I was looking at but the plaque was blank underneath the City Rail logo.
A lot of the little shops were still on the street level of Edgecliff Station shopping village. The Aldi , the post office, the lityle chicken shop and tge pharmacy all still there and tge rather lrhe newsagents clearly visible as you walk out from the ticket gates. Brings back memories of how I used to visit this newsagents and tge lityle chicken store on my way up to the bus Interchange.
I forgot to mention another Frozen in time feature – the series of clocks on the wall next to the map of Edgecliff Station Mall, a feature that has always been there but the series of clocks displaying the times of major cities around the world have obviously been replaced with newer clocks ( still analogue if you notice) and they have been relocated along with the map.
Don’t ask me about lift access upto the bus Interchange. The has always been a lift but it has also been relocated and replaced with a glass one. Does it actually go to the car park? mezzanine level mall or up to the bus interchange? Who knows , I don’t really want to find out.
