The Post Second World War Era
The post-war era of the Australian Railway Story impressed many country music songwriters, inspired by the nation-building project to establish a standard railway gauge (4’8”) that would link Eastern and Western Australia. This period of Australian Railway history commenced in the late 1950s but it wasn’t till January 1970 that the first freight train ran from Brisbane to Perth on a standard gauge line. Work on repairing railway lines was still being done with little more than a pick and a crow bar. With little electrification between city and some suburbs many workers still started the day on a steam railway service.
In this new era trains, larger locomotives and new railway services were seen as a symbol of Australia’s progress. And people like Slim Dusty sang about it. But this was short lived. The lack of funding for services and maintenance, the availability of more personal access to motor vehicles, and air travel, pushed railways into the background for many travellers. However, the role of railways remained as an efficient way to move huge quantities of freight, particularly coal, ore and wheat, but this was often hidden from public view. Change occurred in other ways as a new workforce from many countries displaced by the war joined the railway industry across the nation.
Thirty Eight O One
In the golden age of steam, there lived a beauty queen
Roamin' around the countryside, she was a driver's dream.
Workin' days and workin' nights, up before the sun
They all tried hard to get aboard, Thirty-eight-o-one.
The queen of all the fleet, the railway's pride and joy
To ride upon the footplate, was the dream of every boy.
As she went roarin' by on, another express run
Everyone would turn their heads, for Thirty-eight-o-one,
Chorus
Ah Thirty-eight o one
You stood the test you're still the best
You just keep rollin' on.
The days of steam have been and gone, but some remember well
That big green flash as she went by, had such a tale to tell.
And now she's back upon the tracks, she just keeps rollin'on
She beat the rest she's still the best, Thirty-eight-o-one
Ah Thirty-eight-o-one
You stood the test, you're still the best
You just keep rollin' on.
©Ron Russell- Chullora Junction
The Woy Woy Workers Train
Have you ever travelled to Sydney
On the Woy Woy Workers Train?
It rattles along the railway
It rattles around your brain
Fills your clothes with smoke and soot
Filth and dirty grime
You never travel in comfort
And you seldom get there on time.
Have you ever travelled to Sydney
On the Woy Woy Workers Train?
I’ve travelled many times myself
But I never will again
You race to catch the dreary thing
Quite early in the morn
You gaze out through the windows
For the breaking of the dawn.
Same old dreary carriages
Same old dreary seats
I’ve never traveled in one yet
That’s comfortable and neat
You climb aboard, you find a seat
You try and settle down
The whistle blows, the engine chuffs
And you head for Sydney town.
You pull into the station
The porter gives a yell
He tells you where you’re going
But you’ll find it hard to tell.
The place is always dreary
Nothing looking right
Even half the carriages
They seldom have a light.
The crowd all give a roar
They dive in through the windows,
They rush in through the door,
There’s plenty of push and shoving
As they come in through the door,
They got no seats to sit on
So they sit upon the floor!
You dive into a tunnel, the biggest in the state,
It makes you curse the railways
Ah the whole thing’s out of date
They say we own the railways
They don’t belong to me
We only pay the interest to
The Bigwigs overseas.
When you come to the Hawkesbury River
Put an engine in the lead
There’s twice the smoke and soot and grime
But only half the speed.
As the train pulls out of Brooklyn
You climb the Hawkesbury Hill
The darn thing travels such a speed
You’d swear your standing still!
As you’re coming into Hawkesbury
You’re often running late
The signals are against you
Ah! The whole things out of date
When at last you get to work
The boss is in a rage
When it comes to payday
He docks your blooming wage.
They say we own the railways
There’s breakdown here and there
If the people own the railways
I’ll give away my share
You never travel in comfort
Often get there late,
We want to change the system
Cause the whole things out of date!
(Joe Fearnside)
"THE NORTHCLIFF LINE “Written by ALEX HOOD (1955)
Now, they told me at home that it would be best
To work on the railway in the West
So I got me a job from Perth at the time
Workin' on the Northcliff Line
Chorus
Oh! the Northcliff Line, wasn't it a swine
When the sun came out and began to shine
And the March flies swarmed and began to dine
Workin' on the Northcliff Line
I'd seen the navvies leaning on their tools
As the trains rolled by, I thought they're no fools
I'd be happy to follow all their rules
Workin' on the Northcliff Line
But I found out when I got to town
There was no time to put tools down
There was only one train a day
3 a.m. on the Northcliff Line
The foreman was a mean tough man
To wear us out he had a plan
Replace 8 sleepers a day if you can
or I'll sack you on the Northcliff Line
8 sleepers a day, dig out and replace,
We blistered our hands to keep up the pace
With that foreman raging all over the place
"cursing" on the Northcliff Line
One day we were working around lunch time
Using crowbars to straighten the line
When the foreman kicked me up the behind
"You're bludgin' on the Northcliff Line"
Now Lofty had travelled for many a mile,
A Dutchman he, with a ready smile,
But he flattened that foreman in the very best style,
And we tramped it from the Northcliff Line
Oh the Northcliff line, wasn't it a swine
I hope you can learn from this little rhyme,
How we got together, just in time,
And we snatched it on the Northcliff Line
Indian Pacific
On her ribbons of steel;
Carryin' the mem'ries
Of a nation built by hand,
See the Indian Pacific span the land.
(Words and music by Joy McKean Sung by Slim Dusty)
Currently the Railway Story is in the process of seeking permission to display the full content of this song or poem or to have a copy linked via the web to this research document
The Great Aussie Train
Chorus
I’m travelling around by the great Aussie train,
I’m travelling around every state,
From seashore to mountain and over the plain,
Yes travelling by train is real great.
(Les Denton)
Currently the Railway Story is in the process of seeking permission to display the full content of this song or poem or to have a copy linked via the web to this research document
Now The Diesel Runs
Now the diesel engines pull
Like a mighty station bull,
Two thousand tons they haul from place to place
As the daily loads get bigger
The poor old railway men figure
Less men will now be needed for the race
Soon the standard gauge is coming
And we'll hear the mighty humming
Of the east-west train, racing through our towns
And though passengers and freight
Will keep our railways up to date
This is what I'll bet with my last crown:
As steam engines go in mothballs
The diesel with their night calls
Will still be racing up the northern track
And the railway pioneers
Will sip their well-earned beers
And dream of days and shifts a long way hack.
(W-C. Robinson In ‘When We Rode the Rails’ – Patsy Adam Smith p222)
Trains Of Treasure
They are leaving, trains of treasure, without measure, everyday,
Trains of corn and coal and ore for the countries far away,
Treasure trains and treasure troves, leaving for the ports and coves,
Taking loads of gleaming treasure to the countries far away,
When I'm walking home, at midnight, roaming through the city's heart,
I can hear the trains uncouple, and the motor's purring start,
They pass me, like a film, forty carriages, all told,
Whipping round the curve at midnight with their cargo loads of gold.
Like a film of the wartime, when the victors iced the cake.
With the corn and coal and ore of the countries they would take,
Like a film, they are leaving, treasure trains, and treasure troves,
Richer than the reefs of Midas, and lost Lasseter's last gold.
Tracks of steel I thought weren't used now, tunnels, mushrooms there I thought,
From the lights of Darling harbour, and Glebe Island, to the port,
Just a smiling driver, standing with his cap at jockey tilt,
I knew they carried treasure by the little bit they spilt.
And they pass you through the tunnels where the funnels
used to smoke,
Round the curving lines of cities where the signals watch them go,
Just a wave, a nod, a yahoo, from the guard who throws the brake,
And the trains of treasure rumble, like a memory, through the State.
And the shunter's yard exploding in the deepest, darkest night,
And the trucks, they are unloading, in a light that's brightest white,
And the coupled trains uncouple, and the shunter's glove is shown,
And another train of treasure trundles down the iron road.
They are leaving, trains of treasure, without measure, every day,
Trains of corn and coal and ore for the countries far away,
Treasure trains and treasure troves, leaving for the ports and coves,
Taking loads of gleaming treasure to the countries far away.
(©Denis Kevans (1984) - words and music)
I AM ME
©Vladimir Navoev, Nov. 1983
I am me
I am not ayvan
I am not Bob
I am not David
I am not Rob
I am not Matthew
(and)I am not John
I am not Jerry
I am not Ron!
I am Spiro, Mehmed and Ho
I am Tanas, Giovanni and Pedro
I am E-e-e-van
a blacksmiths son
a blacksmith by trade
I am chosen one!?
An expert commission
looked at me
everybody gave a nod
so, here I am
can't you see?
IMMIGRANTS AT CENTRAL STATION, 1951
By Peter Skrzynecki (1945 - )
It was sad to hear
The train’s whistle this morning
At the railway station.
All night it rained.
Author was born in Germany and migrated to Australia in 1949 with his parents. Arriving in Sydney, they were sent by train to a detention centre in Bathurst, then to Parkes, places completely unknown to them. All rather unnerving for people familiar with the camps in Germany. In 1951, the family moved to Sydney
Currently the Railway Story is in the process of seeking permission to display the full content of this song or poem or to have a copy linked via the web to this research document
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