Heard it this way from Mary McCaslin and Jim Ringer, in 3/4 time:

It's a long steel rail and a short cross-tie
I'm on my way back home
I'm on that train, the queen of them all
The Streamline Cannonball

She moves along like a cannon ball
Like a star in its heavenly flight
And the lonesome sound of the whistle I love
As she travels through the night

Her headlight gleams on through the night
By the firebox light you can see
I ride the tops, it's the life I love
It's home sweet home to me

I can see a smile on the engineer's face
And although he's old and gray
A contented heart, he waits for his call
On the Streamline Cannonball

Far from trad, but it was pretty.

(First try at HTML; hope you'll forgive me if it comes out as strange as it looks ...)