As technology changed, diesel and then electric locomotives replaced the steam engines, the economy of towns and railway sidings throughout the country declined. The new technologies resulted in significant job cuts around the country, impacting differently by race groups. Policy changes also resulted in the demise of the Railways which lost business to road freight. As national roads were improved and mini-bus taxis deregulated, passengers left the rails for more convenient and flexible taxi services. These economic losses to the Railways were compounded by the diversion of some of the massive rail budget into the SA military campaign for the war in Angola. Corrupt practices in some sectors of the management of the Railways exacerbated the demise.White railway workers were pensioned or reallocated and moved out by the 1980s, while a few of the ‘others’ were pensioned. With no more jobs on the railways, Hutchinson became virtually a ghost town, with almost everyone now dependent on meagre state grants.The Shosholoza Meyl passenger train stops there six times a week - almost always hours late, leaving shivering passengers in the predawn chill. Most freight trains travel through the station without stopping.‘Shunted’ is a video documentary that explores some of the treasures and tribulations of the town over the last 40-50 years, through the stories of former and current residents.Interviews with school teachers and principals, shunters, drivers, policemen, managers, postmasters and others who were central to the town’s life then and now, paint a graphic and heartfelt picture of a community which represents, in microcosm, the joys and travails of a small rural divided community in a post-apartheid changing world.