Gordon Nightingale
Riding to school in the old red rattler,
Run like hell to get to the station.
A mile to run to the old red rattler,
Upper Ferntree Gully the destination.
Dozens of kids rode the old red rattler,
It was the best way to get to school.
We always had fun on the old red rattler,
Though kids would sometimes be act the fool.
They’d block the doors on the old red rattler,
So it looked like the dog-box was full.
Once on their own in the old red rattler,
The bulbs from the lights they would pull.
The guys who played up on the old red rattler,
Were also trouble-makers in class
But I did my homework on the old red rattler,
To ensure in exams I would pass.
Sometimes we go on the old red rattler,
All the way to Flinders Street Station,
Then the square-wheeled green and Yellow tram
Would carry us to a St Kilda location.
There we could skate at St Moritz
Or ride the rollercoaster at Luna Park,
And we wouldn’t board the tram again
Until sometime well after dark.
And back aboard the old red rattler
To return to from whence we came.
So sad is the passing of the old red rattler,
Modern trains by comparison are so tame.
Gordon Nightingale is a local author and poet and the convenor of the Daylesford U3A Writers’ Circle.
