All aboard the Railway Society, a club that's on the right track

What started as eight strangers who loved trains quickly grew into one of UNSW most unique – and fun – societies.

Published on the 07 April 2026

Members of the UNSW Railway Society getting their photo taken

'Student Spotlight' is where we hear directly from UNSW students.

We'd love to hear about your uni experience and your stories of growth and resilience, so we can share it with the wider student community.

Submit story

What exactly is the 'Railway Society'?

When the Sydney Metro expansion opened back in 2024, there was quite a media frenzy about its launch. There were social media posts, an unusual amount of media coverage that included The New York Times of all things, and perhaps surprisingly, people waiting in the wee hours of the early morning at Sydenham station for the new Metro service to depart.

Those people were none other than members of the UNSW Railway Society (RailSoc), who went semi-viral for their enthusiasm about the Metro expansion. The kicker? That enthusiasm is genuine and not some prank or stunt designed to harvest clout from the internet.

"I'm just very fascinated by trains. I really like the engineering, like, how it integrates with the city and urban environment," says RailSoc President Jimmy Wu. "I love travelling by trains, so many interesting locations and how trains create multiple environments," concurs Treasurer Ethan Tran.

RailSoc was started in 2024 when Jimmy noticed there was no specific club dedicated to his love of trains. "I was [asking myself], 'Railfans is a decently sized community here, but why isn't there a Railway Society in UNSW?'" Ethan recalls how it began with "two people on Instagram just saying 'anyone want to start a Railway Society'" and things simply snowballed from there.

A fun community for all, train love optional

"We've been to every train line in Sydney. We've been everywhere, going to museums, suburb crawls, food crawls, heritage railways, and many open days Sydney Metro has run for their new stations."

While train enthusiasts will definitely find themselves at home at RailSoc, the society caters to much more than just a love of railways. After the wave of viral interest, events grew beyond just checking out trains and riding them.

For Jimmy, this naturally expanded into off-campus events where exploration of new places became an equally enticing prospect. "We do a variety of on-campus and off-campus events. For off-campus events, we ride trains to parts of the city we find interesting. Just this year, we went down to Kiama, and many members have never been that far south before."

Ethan recalls an epic food crawl that took place on the T5 rail line that spanned several suburbs and involved the Western Sydney Society (WestSoc). "We brought the trains, [WestSoc] brought their [local] expertise. We started at Parramatta, went to Harris Park for some Indian sweets, went to Granville for the OG El Jannah, and finished up in Cabramatta."

"It's a good way to branch out beyond traditional rail fans because we like to show trains as a way to travel and explore Sydney, especially for international students."

Exploring new areas of Sydney and beyond came relatively organically through the growth of RailSoc, especially with new members who have varying degrees of interest in trains.

"A great example was when we went to Newcastle. We had a chat with the High Speed Rail Authority, and they gave us a really informative presentation.

"That [trip] had a bit of everything for everyone. The diehard rail fans who keep track of all the current infrastructure, to people who just wanted to see what was going on and to have a bit of fun."

A place to find your path – and have fun

There's no denying that the idea of travelling around to new areas of Sydney by train and just exploring is incredibly appealing. What's fascinating is how some members' love of trains and time with RailSoc has resulted in some positive – and occasional unexpected – changes in their careers. "Our previous president, Daniel [Liu], now works for Sydney Trains, another member became a train driver, and one member is doing his internship with Transport NSW as part of his Engineering degree," says Jimmy.

For Ethan, there's a personal satisfaction in simply continuing to build and be part of the growing RailSoc community. "I study Pharmacy [and am] part of the Pharmacy Society doing a lot of professional stuff, and sometimes I just want a break. Having this community, building it, and helping support it has been really personally fulfilling for me."

That personal fulfillment and enthusiasm trickles down to how RailSoc welcomes new members into their growing community, how people unexpectedly find their place, and how surprised they are with the level of interest in trains.

"Some people who have become regulars said to me, 'I can't believe people were THAT into trains'," laughs Ethan.

Beyond its own tight-knit community, RailSoc has a surprising amount of overlap with other societies, resulting in plenty of cross-collaborations during each university term.

"WestSoc and the Wandering Society are the main ones we often work with," says Jimmy. "We've also worked with the PC Society in the past and we're open to working with anyone really."

From a society born out of a love of railways to a rapidly growing community where members can touch grass while also meeting new people across different societies? That's a pretty sweet ride.

"Becoming a more fun, more inclusive society that anyone can enjoy if they're even a little bit interested in railways. I think people will be drawn to the tight-knit community vibe."

The collaborations are nothing to scoff at either. The big highlight of Term 1 in 2026 was a big Amazing Race-inspired scavenger hunt taking place all around Sydney called the 'Sydney Challenge Scramble'. Six societies were involved alongside RailSoc: the Wandering Society, WestSoc, Tea and Coffee Society, Poker Society, Puzzle Society, and Competitive Programming and Mathematics Society. Bread and butter for the social types, and a great way to meet new people for those who lean more introverted.

With a rapidly growing community, trains galore and plenty of fun to be had, what's next for the thriving RailSoc?

"We have some fresh faces within the society who we're really excited to see what they bring. A tonne of new skills, a tonne of new perspectives, so there's lots of [exciting] things to get more people interested in trains," says Ethan.

So if you're keen on exploring, having some fun with like-minded people, and perhaps share a love of trains, RailSoc is the place you want to be.

What members say about RailSoc

To get a fuller picture of what the Railway Society experience is like, we also asked some members to share some quick thoughts with Student News. Some names have been kept confidential for by request.

"Everyone is welcome - whether you’re a proud gunzel who knows the network off by heart or just someone who’s interested and wants to learn more" - Daniel Liu
"It is a very active society that caters to everyone, and not just those who are already very much into our rail infrastructure" - Anonymous
"I think that even if you're not currently a railfan, you can still have a positive experience with RailSoc, the people are very friendly and I think that there is much interest to be found in things such as heritage steam locomotives and railway history, even if you're not a railfan. Additionally, some of our events, such as board game night, are not exclusively train-related." - Anonymous
"As someone who hasn’t been able to fit into a railfan community, being able to found a community as welcoming as Railsoc has really been the proudest moment of my uni life, and has changed my experience in many ways for the better." - Daniel Liu
"I've made so many new friends in Railsoc, and I'm so glad to be part of such a great community." - Luke Sheridan
"It has accelerated my ability to make friends, given me great events to attend, and has been surprisingly useful for convincing me to do more transport planning research." - Anonymous
"Before I encountered RailSoc, my uni experience was very socially isolated. I did not have many friends at UNSW, and the ones I had were often too busy to hang out with. Discovering RailSoc did change that, though, because everyone shared the same interest, and I was able to easily make friends here. Since then, I've been much more social and confident overall, not just within RailSoc but also across Uni in general." - Anonymous
"Lots of confidence, friendships, advice, and insight from its members :)" - Anonymous
"Picked up some new (very expensive) hobbies of model railways and collecting railway memorabilia." - Anonymous
"The fact that the 67 meme lives on so strongly in this society that it's actually impressive. There's a pinned message in #general where a friend recorded everyone who attended RailSoc's movie night event and asked how we all rated the movie. In unison, legit EVERYONE screamed "67" in the lecture room we were in. It was hilarious!" - Jackie Tran
"When a certain exec accidentally pinged everyone on Discord for no reason." - Anonymous