NEW  ZEALAND FOLK * SONG Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line Peter Cape 1957

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C F I'm an ordinary joker, growin' old before me time, C D G 'Cause me heart's in Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line. C F C G C in Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line! C F C You can get to Taumarunui going North or going South, D G And you pull in there at midnight and there's cinders in your mouth, C F You've got cinders in your whiskers and a cinder in your eye, C D G So you pop off to Refreshments for a cuppa tea and pie, C in Taumarunui... There's this sheila in Refreshments and she's pouring cups'a tea, And me heart jumps like a rabbit when she pours a cup for me. She's got hair'f flamin' yeller, and lips'f flamin' red, And I'll love that flamin' shiela till I'm up and gone and dead, from Taumarunui... Now you can get a job in Wellington or get a job up North, But you can't in Taumarunui though you try for all you're worth. If I want to see this shiela I've got to take a train, Get ten minutes for refresments then they cart me off again, from Taumarunui... Well they took me on as Fireman on the Limited Express, Add I thought that she'd be Jake but now she's all a flamin' mess. That shiela wouldn't take t' me: I thought she'd be a gift, But she's gone and changed her duty hours and works the daylight shift, in Taumarunui... Yeah I'm an ordinary joker, growin' old before me time, 'Cause me heart's in Ta'm'runui on the Main Trunk Line. In Ta'm'r'nui, Ta'm'r'nui, Ta'm'r'nui on the Main Trunk Line, In Ta'm'r'nui, Ta'm'r'nui, Tamra-bloody-nui on the Main Trunk Line!

The Limited Express gave us limited comfort on its overnight 14-hour trip between Auckland and Wellington, on that winding, narrow-gauge, mountain railway line. No dining car, no beds, poor heating, endless swaying. The two huge Ka steam locos up front were sheer magic, but we took them for granted in those days. Overnight services between Auckland and Wellington began when the main trunk line opened in 1908. Its inaugural trip took Members of Parliament, led by Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward, to Auckland for a visit of the American Pacific Fleet. In its heyday, the overnight train provided around 300 passengers a night with uncomfortable but low-cost travel. More recently, it was a luxury service with soft reclining seats and a buffet car. But heavy competition from long distance buses and price cutting by the airlines made it uneconomic: in its final months it carried only about 50 passengers a trip. Its last trip was overnight Friday 12-Saturday 13, November 2004.

Origins

(J.A.) I learnt this as a poem when it was published in 'The Listener' in about 1958 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Main Trunk Line. I didn't know the words had a tune to go with them. It was my party piece as a recitation for years. It still does make for a good recite, just like The Day the Pub Burned Down or The Eel.

We usually pronounced the word 'Taumarunui' the politically incorrect way as 'Tammm-ra-noo-ee'.

Arthur Toms writes (Oct 2000);
"Kiwi Records, represented by Tony Vercoe at the time, liked Peter Cape's first song, "Taumarunui", but didn't think he was up to singing it on record. So they got a "professional" musician to do it, Wellington tramdriver Pat Rogers. Pat told me he couldn't sing Peter's tune (too big a range) so wrote his own.

"The Toms family arrived in Wellington for England in January 1958, and that year Tony Vercoe asked my father Don Toms to arrange and accompany some of Peter's songs on record.

"We'd come out on the "Southern Cross", sharing a dining table with a retired Taumarunui farming couple, and later that year we went to visit them. Dad went to the RSA for a beer, and perhaps incautiously asked what people thought about Peter's song.

"He was told that it was not liked at all by the Taumarunui community. Why? 'Well, it says you can't get a job here. And the girls at the station don't like it much, either.'

"Attitudes have changed a bit since then. A few years ago Peter's son Chris and his mother Barbara were invited to Taumarunui by the community to celebrate the song - and sing it, and sing it, and sing it....

The End of the Line

In 1995 the service was sold by the goverment for a discount price to private owners, including the notorious New Zealand company of Fay Richwhite, who had been in the centre of the Winebox Inquiry scandal.

On three occasions the service won the Roger Award for the Worst Transnational Corporation operating in New Zealand, amidst critical reports of lax safety standards, inadequate maintenance, asset stripping and insider trading.

Tourists were not happy riding over increasingly rough tracks in dilapidated old carriages, (SLIDE SHOW) and consequently avoided the ride. The night express service closed in 2004, and in July 2006, its new owner Toll Holdings announced it was also going to close the daytime service.

This death-knell prompted a group of Taumarunui women to compose the following parody.

We've heard the Overlander's bein' taken off the track It's leavin' Taumarunui and it wont be comin' back     to Taumarunui, Taumarunui, Taumarunui on the main trunk line Toll Holdings owns our railway and they plan to pull the pin They've joined the rails together, we think that it's a sin Sue Foley is their spokesman and now she's gone and said They want to close the service down and kill the thing stone dead     in Taumarunui, Taumarunui, Taumarunui on the main trunk line The value of the service is too good to be shut down What is going to happen to our little rural towns? National Park is quite aghast, it really is a blow The tourists love to stop and snack and look at all the snow     round Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line Our Mayor is Sue, she's on the ball, she's been on tele too To ask for help from Government to stop Toll going through With their plans to stop the service of the Overlander From North to South, the scenery's great, really nothing grander     round Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line We think Toll Holdings are quite slack, really way offline Us sheilas want the train to stay, so bring her back online     to Taumarunui, Taumarunui. Taumarunui on the main trunk line.

A rusty old carriage, National Park 2006 Excellent catering by a local family firm at National Park Station 2006

Consequently Toll kept the train running, on a reduced schedule, and in July 2008 the government bought the entire railway back again and renamed it KiwiRail. This has given the Auckland - Wellington run a new lease of life.

Cootamundra on the Main trunk Line

Y' kin gedder job in Seedney or gedder job up north
    But y'kentin Cootamundra though y'try fer all yer worth

Phil Garland writes,
"This version was recorded in Aust by Ian McNamara after hearing a recording of new Zealander Mike Harding performing it. It was a deliberate reworking by him to make a good song accessible to the Oz audience.

Taumarunui on Record

An Ordinary Joker

The Life & Songs of Peter Cape
Compiled & Edited by Roger Steele
2001

This is a wonderful book, Buy it here

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Webpage revised May 27, 2005