Days of future past
Today passenger trains out of Hamilton are a contentious issue. The forthcoming, revamped service to Auckland has been criticised for halting in Papakura, requiring commuters to take an additional train into the city.
Ninety years ago, train travel was a popular mode of transportation. This very paper facilitated its usage on an annual basis. The Waikato Times organised an excursion from Hamilton to Tauranga via train. At around 7.30am, one morning in early February, 1930, over 700 boarded 18 carriages in Frankton. Given the population of the town was a little over 15,000 at the time, this was a significant percentage of residents.
Spirits were high on the four hour journey. A ‘‘familiar group of male clowns’’ provided entertainment, their ‘‘inimitable buffoonery’’ proving infectious. The ‘‘Jolly Boys’’ greeted all and sundry with ‘‘a pseudo-masonic hand-shake invented for the occasion’’ and took the lead in communal singing. The paper noted that ‘‘once the barrier of reserve in each carriage was shattered, everybody became enthusiastic’’. Ukuleles, saxophones and ‘‘other accessories of jazz’’ contributed to the overall esprit de corps, though ‘‘clouds of dust invaded the rear cars and made matters unpleasant’’ between Morrinsville and Paeroa.
Local entertainers greeted the revellers at the foot of The Mount, with ‘‘an exhibition of poi dancing by a group of attractive native belles and the quaint antics of . . . Maori youth’’. Photographs were taken. Speeches were exchanged between the welcoming committee and the picnic committee, ahead of luncheon and a swim. With ‘‘conditions ideal’’, the ‘‘luxury of lazing on warm sands could not be resisted’’. At the far end of the beach there were athletic sports and further entertainment from the South Auckland Caledonian Pipe band. The return trip began at 6pm. All children received a present and ‘‘confectionery was passed around’’. There was a 20 minute stop at the Paeroa station where ‘‘most enthusiastic scenes were witnessed, gay parties patrolling the platform arm-in-arm, visibly without a care in the world’’. If ‘‘the journey was a little too long for some who sank into the arms of Morpheus before Hamilton was reached’’, most ‘‘confessed it was worth while’’.