The Newcastle Flyer

She was standing gently steaming till the guard yelled “All Aboard!”
Then her whistle started screaming and right out of town she roared.
‘Twas Northward bound she raced along with never stop nor stay,
The rails just echoed to a song “The Flyer’s on her way!”

The passengers had naught to do but merely to relax,
As past the Hawkesbury she flew and scorched along the tracks.
To her it really was not fun but just a job of work,
The usual daily Northward run she really must not shirk.

Newcastle bound o’er hill and dell right onward sped the train,
The way her engineer knew well and travelled it again.
The passengers broke into song they sang “We’re climbing higher,
We’ll soon be back where we belong let’s cheer the good old Flyer!”

So if you would the country see in air-conditioned style,
The way perhaps you may agree to travel mile on mile,
Is not in planes that fly the skies and maybe get much higher,
But travel if you’re really wise by the train they call the Flyer!

Notes

Rod Edwards writes

“This poem was composed many years ago when steam engines were the pride of the New
South Wales Railways and used to make a mighty good fast run too. It was published in part by the
Newcastle Morning Herald around 1975.”