I can't believe in all those threads, I never posted the 3 leading verses the way I have them on a record by Pop Stoneman..(and have been singing them for 25-30 years)

so...(not arguing that these are 'best', just adding to the collection.)

"I got up in the mornin', and I stood on the mountain
Just watchin' the smoke from below
It was comin' from a tall, lofty smokestack
Way down on the Southern Railroad.

Old 97 the fastest mail train
That the South had ever seen,
But she run too fast on that fatal Sunday evening,
And the death toll will number thirteen.

On that foggy mornin' of which I tell you,
The ground was covered with snow.
Old 97 left Washington city
Like an arrow shot from a bow."