Lyr Add: The Moss Vale Train

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MOSS VALE TRAIN^^
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 01:20 AM

THE MOSS VALE TRAIN
(Alan Scott)

Well, I'm standing on Campbelltown Station
Waitin' for the Moss Vale train
When a bloke comes out with a microphone
To say it's been cancelled again
Well, he says it's not his problem
That we can't get our ride
The train pulled into Minto
And committed suicide

Well he said he's ordered buses
To take us on our way
And he thinks we should be grateful
That's what I heard him say
So we're lurchin' down the freeway
Watchin' videos
I hope we get to Moss Vale
Before the shops all close

There's a bloke on the seat here beside me
He's going for a job interview
By the time we get to Picton
His chances of employment are through
And my wife waits for me in Bowral
She'll be goin' off her brain
Staring down the railway track
And there won't be any train

So if you're standin' on Campbelltown Station
Waitin' for the two thirty one
And a clown comes out with a microphone
To tell you the train won't run
You tell him: (spoken) it is his problem
It's a problem for all of us
Tell him you want the train back
You don't want his stupid bus

Or you'll be lurchin' down the freeway
Hopin' to get there soon
The money they spent on the freeway
Would build a railway to the moon
Would build a railway to the moon

Words: Alan Scott. Tune: 'Freight train yodel'
Source: Alan Scott and Keith McHenry 'Travelling Through the Storm' Fanged Wombat Productions.
PS.

This delightful little ditty from Alan Scott will probably mean more to Australian 'catters. It bemoans the sad fate of the NSW railway system. It will perhaps strike a chord elsewhere where once efficient public rail systems have been allowed to deteriorate or disappear.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Moss Vale Train
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 09:40 AM

G'day Stewie,

This song was something that Alan felt very personally, coming from a generation and political leaning that believed in public assets and public transport. Alan never drove a car and was effectively robbed of his public trains more than once before his death in 1995.

When he retired to the home he built on his block at at Balmoral Village, it was on the Picton (railway) loop, so he could get to Sydney and back with only one change of train. Then they closed the Picton loop and replaced the trains with buses. Consequently, the situation of being shuffled from one train to a bus - then needing another local bus to get back to Balmoral, really rankled!

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Moss Vale Train
From: Stewie
Date: 04 Apr 00 - 10:49 AM

Thanks for the info, Bob. It is much appreciated. This is one of Jenny Armour's - Tony Suttor's other half - favourite songs. She threatened that, if Tony and I didn't include it in our train songs presentation at the Top Half in June, there would be hell to pay. However, there was no risk of its omission - it is a beauty.

Regards, Stewie.