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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 7, Issue 5 (September 1, 1932)

The Railway Bogey-Chamber

The Railway Bogey-Chamber.

Thereon hangs a tail which won't wag. Is there a plotchery in the Railway where mystery-trains are hatched? Is there a bogey chamber deep down deep where the sleepers sleep, and conspirators conspirit with the spirit of mystery? Let's misuse the mystic muse.

In the dim dark watches of the dank deep night,
Dour dark demons in a dim damp light,
Glower in the gloom as they rack their brains,
To make the mystery for the mystery trains.
Grey-garbed ghosts all masked with soot,
Glib in the gloom on noiseless foot,
Asking in accents deep and low,
“Where in the deuce shall the next train go?”
No one guesses—no one knows,
Where in the Dickens the next train goes;
Only three—The Terrible Three,
Who gurgle and gloat in ghostly glee,
And rattle their bones as they plan and plot,
To stop the train at the mystic spot.
They've sworn by the wheel and the sacred bell,
That never on earth will they ever tell.
They gag themselves ere they “hit the hay,”
For fear they'll give the show away
And “spill the beans” against the grain,
Re the stopping-place of the mystery train.

page 13
“Mystery is ‘something beyond human comprehension.”’

“Mystery is ‘something beyond human comprehension.”’

They lock themselves in a sound-proof cell,
So even the echoes cannot tell.
Dumb-waiters serve them when they eat,
And they wear goloshes on their feet;
For boots have tongues for those who seek,
And many a boot's been known to “squeak.”
The Terrible Three will never tell—
The solemn secret is guarded well;
And the only way to know, it's plain,
Is to take a trip on the mystery train.

The only way to solve a mystery is to dissolve it in the spirit of adventure. Mystery-trains are like horse racing, in that you never know what you are going to get until you have got it; but the difference is that every one who puts his Shirt on a mystery train is sure of getting even more than he expects, whereas at horse-racing he seldom even gets even; it is the difference between a “stunning” rumour and a running “stumer.”