Here is the dummy line as collected by Joe Hickerson (who used to be head of the folk archives at the Library of Congress. He sang this at a house concert I recorded in St. Louis in the early 1970s. I have an mp3 of the song if anybody wants it. I have been doing this song for years now....

Dave Usher drusher[at]swbell.net

DUMMY LINE
(as sung by Joe Hickerson)
A song about the old CB&Q railway

Some folks say that the Dummy won't run
Let me tell you what the Dummy done done
Left St. Louie at half past one
And pulled into Memphis at the setting of the sun

Chorus:
On the Dummy Line, the Dummy Line
Rise and shine on the Dummy Dummy Line
Rise and shine and pay may fine
When you ride on the dummy, on the Dummy Dummy line.

Acrows the prairie in a streak of rust
Something's moving in a cloud of dust
Pulls out of the station with a wheeze and a whine
It's the two o'clock flyer on the Dummy Dummy line.

We left St. Louie at half-past two
Looked out at four and saw the same old view
Said to the conductor "What'cha waitin' here for"?
Says he "We've been movin' for an hour or more.

I looked out of the window , and a snail whizzed past
The conductor he said, "this train is fast".
Says I "Old man, that may be true
But won'tcha please tell me what it's tied fast to?"

I asked the drummer "What do you sell?"
"Brains", said he "If I really must tell."
Says I "Young man you're the first example,
of a traveling man who never carries a sample."

I said to the conductor "Won't you speed up a bit?"
Says he "You can get off if you don't like it."
Saya I "Old man, I'd take your dare,
But the folks don't expect me 'till the train gets there."

We pulled into the station with a wheeze and a cough.
The conductor said "May I brush you off?"
Says "I don't know you silly jade,
I prefer to descend in the usual way."


( Note: I suspect this is a newer addition)
There was an old lady by the name of Nan,
Tried to get a job as a good humor man
But the kids wouldn't buy, they left her alone
They wouldn't buy nothing from an ice cream croon.

The Lord made me, the Lord made you.
The Lord he must have made the C.B.& Q.
This must be so for the scriptures say
That "the Lord he made all the creeping things."

Other collected verses:

I asked an old man about a hundred years old
How long he'd been working on this old railroad
He looks at me and he tells me "Son,
I was the newsboy on the train's last run."

I thought this journey would forever last
Train started movin', both smooth and fast
Conductor he says, with a pat on my back,
"Well don't be scared Joe, we just jumped the track."