Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line




Timespanner had this video on her blog recently. Just had to add it here. Peter Cape's song "Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line" provides the soundtrack to the video. Taumarunui in the King Country was a key town on the North Island main trunk railway line between Wellington and Auckland. Just past Taumarunui is the Raurimu Spiral, an engineering feat enabling trains to haul freight up otherwise insurmountable grades. You can see a model of the spiral in the video.

If you want to sing along with Peter, you can find the lyrics here, with a bit more background.

Though not of the Taumarunui refreshments room, here are a couple of interior shots of what the traveling public encountered in 1910 and 1952 when their trains made a stop for a sandwich and a cuppa. Click on images for a larger view.


 Interior of the Tearooms at Wanganui Railway Station, circa 1910. 
Photo: Tesla Studio. Alexander Turnbull Library


The counter at the Christchurch Railway Station Refreshment Rooms, 
7:30 am, 21 July 1952. Evening Post Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library

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