A poem by Terry Regun©Terry Regun 1976
Last Friday night, the 'After Nine' left Central right on time,
It hastened out through Penrith and commenced the mountain climb,
She cleared the Glenbrook tunnel and just then upon that hill,
With all power gone due to a fault that train became quite still.
Full details of what happened next are yet to come to light,
But death and injury were close upon that fatal night.
While people sat within that train and spoke of the delay,
They did not know that just behind, a 'Goods' was on the way.
The 'Goods' roared through the tunnel and then on that mountain side,
It ploughed into the 'After Nine' in which a local died.
The lights went out and in the dark there were the cries of pain,
From people trapped with broken limbs inside that shattered train.
When rescue workers reached the spot they toiled with willing skill.
To get the dead and injured out and off that rugged hill.
Throughout the night they worked with lights and as the day broke fine.
They faced the problem of just how to clear the Western line.
Four hundred feet above the creek up in that steep terrain,
Pew places could have been much worse to have a derailed train,
The last car was a twisted mess, it's hack was broken too.
What could they do with such a wreck? Their options were quite few,
They saw a ledge some twelve feet down and thought they'd place it there,
Then later on reclaim the gear when they had time to spare,
The saying goes 'We act in haste, at leisure we repent',
With no restraint, this was the case as o'er the edge it went.
It paused but briefly on that ledge then with a mighty roar,
Continued on and cleared a swathe right to the valley floor.
The deed was done, the line was clear, onlookers had their fun,
And in the National Park below junk glistened in the sun.
The Wildlife people are upset and very rightly so,
The PTC has been advised their scrap will have to go.
Oh what a costly exercise, we all will have to pay,
For one decision made in haste upon that Saturday.
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