Eastwood Fatality

A Poem by Frank Brown©Frank Brown 1940
(Driver George Dixon.-Killed when his engine ran over embankment" 13/9/40)

Another comrade departed,
On a day we will always remember,
In that fatal smash at Eastwood
On Friday, 13th of September.

Train out of control leaving Epping,
Gathering speed on the slippery rail,
The whistle frantically blowing
And the brakes of no avail.

Knowing the road before him,
As death in front seemed to loom,
In moments of awful anguish
He watched the approach of his doom.

With a quivering hand on the throttle,
His engine in full back gear;
Bravely he stuck to his" post,
With thoughts of loved ones dear.

As his engine toppled over,
In a crumpled mass she lay,
And beneath that awful wreckage,
An old mate passed away.

In the midst of lifel we are in death,
Be as careful as one can,
It's just the lot of everyone,
But more so the railwayman.

And after years of service,
When we've given of our best,
Our name is just a memory
Of another mate gone "West."

Notes

From Frank Brown's 1948 book "Engine 1174 and Other Verses"


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