Re: the meaning of gunzel

["Paul News" <pnichol4@bigpond.net.au>]

The Sydney Tram Museum theory may be accurate because I recall that the
first time I heard the term used was by Peter Kahn back in the early 1970s.

I think the 412 thing came to the fore about the time of the publication of
the New South Ales Digest in the late 1960s. Is this publication now a
collectors' item? It was definitely based on Stan Freberg's "St George and
the Dragonet" which dates from 1964. I have played it several times on my
community radio programs in Melbourne.

There was also a wedding party using W2 412 and a railway enthusiast
association in Victoria has a 412 post office box number.

Is all this a 1960s enthusiast thing? Do the younger enthusiasts have their
own "cult" things?

Our hobby provides a wonderful social observation and perhaps one day
someone will write about the movement itself. There is a good book called
"Platform Souls; the trainspotter as a Twentieth-Century Hero' by Nicholas
Whittaker. ISBN 0 575 40011 0.

A newspaper review said the book would bring it all back to "anyone who will
admit to having a childhood brush with this now derided hobby"!

A fascinating read!

Paul in Melbourne.