Erected at the expense of the workmen on the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway to the memory of
Oswald Gardner, locomotive engiineman who unfortunately lost his life on the above railway
near the Stokesfield Station, from the connecting rod of the engine breaking, on Saturday,
August 15, 1840. He was twenty seven years of age and was most esteemed by his fellow-workmen
and by all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. The following epitaph was composed by
an unknown friend to commemorate his worthiness and loss at Blaydon Station :
My engine now is cold and still,
No water does my boiler fill.
My coke affords its name no more,
My days of usefulness are o'er.
My wheels deny their noted speed.
No more my guiding hands they heed.
My whistle, too, han lost its tone,
Its shrill and thrilling sounds are gone.
My valves are now thrown open wide.
My flanges all refuse to guide.
My clocks, also, tho' once so strong.
Refuse their aiding the busy throng.
No more I feel each urging breath.
My steam is now condensed in death.
Life railways o'er each station past.
In death I'm stopped, and rest at last.
Farewell, dear friends, and cease to weep,
ln Christ I'm safe. In Him I sleep.
Notes
From the NSW Newspaper The Northern Times 8 Mar 1918 p 2.
The earliest version of this trip to heaven is probably that contained in Frank the Poet's famous epic "A convict's Tour to Hell" composed in 1839.
Top