Well, no one has mentioned this, so I will mention my favorite train song, trying for (some of) the lyrics from memory -- don't know who wrote it, but from an old Kingston Trio album 30 years or so ago, with some great words, interesting collateral "train sounding" phrases and haunting, minor key, stuff...

FAST FREIGHT

As I lie awake and listen, as I lie awake and wait
I wish the railroad didn't run so near;
'Cause the rattle and the clatter of that old fast freight
Keeps a makin' music in my ear...

Go bum again, go bum again;
Well, clickety-clack 'n' clickety-clack
The wheels are sayin' to the railroad track
Well if ya go ya' can't come back,
If ya' go ya' can't come back,
If ya go-o-o-o...ya' can't come back.

Well I wouldn't give a nickel for the bum I used to be
I work as hard as any man in town;
And I got a pretty girl and she thinks the world of me -
A man 'd be a fool to let 'er down...

CHORUS (above)...

...and other verses I can't remember. Look it up, it's worth it!

... even wrote my own (not exactly) train song lyrics, an interminably long piece that attempts to recount the history of black men in all the wars of this Country's history:

TRAIN RIDE WITH ZACK

Last night was thinkin' back to when, I met a black man on the train;
In sixty-one, was discharged then, so I missed Vietnam.
Old man said his name was Zack, had a bottle in a paper sack;
He drank and passed the bottle back; I drank and did the same.

We're standin' in the vestibule, between the cars the air was cool;
The bottleneck, this fussy fool, I wiped before I drank.
He said 'young soldier what's yer name - this whiskey kills the germs my friend;
I drank and swallowed down my shame, and said my name was...Frank.

When we're young, we're inclined to be shallow,
When we're old, we're inclined to be sad;
But when I think back to my train ride with Zack,
I just think of the blessings I've had.

I wore my proud-pressed uniform, those three red stripes there on my arm;
My single ribbon meant no harm - to their side nor to ours.
Looked like a while since he'd last slept, red eyes kept shifting right and left,
An old cut creased his forehead cleft – a scarecrow man of scars.

He said 'I'm AWOL from your war', I choked a laugh and swallowed hard,
What would war want this old man for? - He said 'I've seen 'em all'.
'I fought in revolution days, the Colonel too, I was his slave;
I heard the orders that he gave; he heard his country's call'.

'Then In '04 my name was 'York', with Lewis, slave to Captain Clark.
Across the wild and wasteful stark Great Plains and mountains too.
We journeyed up the Missouri, fought Mandan, Sioux and 'Ricaree,
Wild animals you'll never see, exceptin' at the zoo.'

'In sixty-two I ran away, I knew there would be Hell to pay,
And so I fought against the gray, a black man wearin' blue.
Your President then freed the slaves, and I gave thanks to 'Honest Abe',
But hunger took what freedom gave, some said 'twas over due.'

'So when I was free to come or go I soldiered with the Buffalo,
We did your dirty work, you know, did what we had to do.
Fought the western tribes of Indians, as they made their final stands;
So many killed to win these lands - but Little Big Horns too.'

'In Cuba then in ninety-eight, of course the troop transport was late;
That summer heat I learned to hate, for Teddy and for you.
Up San Juan Hill and El Caney, the 9th and 10th black cavalry
Our officers were white, but see, they died like black men too.

The Western front in World War One, I carried shells for allied guns;
I fell and thought my fightin's done, but it was not to be.
The Arizona, World War Two, to be a mess-man was my due.
I never heard the bomb that blew me out into the sea.

'Korean War was just too cold, by this time I was gettin' old;
But equal treatment had me sold, five thousand black men died.
Well, I can see it on your face, you 'spect I am a mental case;
And Hell, I guess I know my place, I guess you think I lied.'

I woke next morning down the line; asked every one I tried to find
Him; 'hair of dog' was on my mind – no one knew who I meant.
Well now I'm old, so long in tooth, I think I know the real truth;
To shame my pride, my callow youth, old Zack was heaven sent.

When we're young, we're inclined to be shallow,
When we're old, we're inclined to be sad;
But when I think back to my train ride with Zack
I just think of the blessings I've had.

Last night was thinkin' back to when, I met a black man on the train;
'Twas in the year of sixty-one … can't be … that young … again…

©HANROD Systems 9/2000