ABC: Railway heritage clock collection tells the importance of time for train transport

Hidden within the service tunnels beneath Sydney’s Central Station is a secured room containing a collection of more than 400 heritage clocks and watches.

During their operation they were more than just decorative ornaments; the safe transportation of people and goods depended on their accuracy.

“Timekeeping was really important because you had a baton system where you still needed to make sure there wouldn’t be an accident with two trains on the same line at the same time,” veteran clock conservator Doug Minty said.

Encased in polished wooden bodies, the clock hands and pendulums might be still but their faces have witnessed the long passing of time, some for well over a century.

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