Wreck on the C&O is in the DT.

I stumbled across this bit in the book, Mountaineer Jamboree: Country Music in West Virginia by Ivan B. Tribe

"Some seventeen years after the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's completion, a brave young locomotive engineer named George Alley sic met his death within a few miles of the tunnel where John Henry achieved folk immortality. On October 23, 1890, Alley's train, the F.F.V., ran into a landslide three miles from Hinton. According to some stories, a Negro who in the Hinton roundhouse put together the essentials of a ballad that has become known by such titels as "The Wreck on the C. & O.," "George Alley,(sic) " and Engine 143." I can't find where he sites his sources.



Along came the F.F.V., the fastest on the line,
Came running o'er the C. &O. Road, just twenty minutes behind;
Came running into Sewell, lies quartered on the line,
And then received strict orders for Hinton, away behind.

When she got to Hinton, her engineer was there,
Georgie Allen was his name, with blues eyes and curly hair;
His fireman, Jack Dickinson, was standing by his side,
Waiting for his orders, and in his cab to ride.

Georgie's mother came to him with a basket on her arm,
Saying, "Now, my darling son, be careful how you run;
For many a man has lost his life trying to gain lost time,
And if you run your engine right, you'll get there yet on time."

"Mother, I know your advice is good' to your letter I'll take heed;
I know my engine is all right, and I know that she will speed;
And o'er this road I mean to fly with a speed unknown to all,
And when I blow for the Big Bend Tunnel, they will surely hear my call."

Georgie said to his pal, "Jack, just a little more steam;
I mean to pull old No. 4 the fastest ever seen'
And o'er this road I mean to fly with a speed unknown to all,
And when I blow for the Stock Yard Gate, they will surely hear my call."

Georgie said to his pal, "Jack, a rock ahead I see;
I know that death is waiting to grasp both you and me;
So from this cab you must fly, your darling life to save,
For I want you to be an engineer when I am sleeping in my grave."

"O no!" said Jack, "that will not do; I want to die with you."
"O no!" said Georgie, "that will not do; I'll die for me and you."
So from the cab, poor Jack did fly; the river it was high,
And as he kissed his hand to George, old No. 4 flew by.

Up the road she darted; against the rock she crashed;
Upside down the engine turned, upon his breast it crashed;
His head upon the firebox door, the burning flames rolled o'er;
"I'm glad I was born an engineer to die on the C. & O. Road."

Georgie's mother came to him, "My son what have you done?"
"Too late, too late my doom is almost run."
The doctor said to Georgie, "My son, you must lie still;
Your precious life may yet be saved, if it be God's holy will."

"O no, doctor, O no! I want to die so free;
I want to die with my engine, old 143."
His last words were, "Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee,
Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee."

Here is a link to the Carter Family version. Engine 143