I first heard this done by Belle Monroe and her Brewglass Boys (how's that for a great band name?), and later heard Doc Watson doing it on his album of train songs. The melody for the verse is the same as Merle Haggard used for the verses of "Mama Tried," and the last two lines of the chorus also use that tune. I find the subdominant seventh chords do a good job of suggesting the sound of the steam whistle.


The Greenville Trestle

       C                   F7                   C                         F7
I remember as a boy how in wonderment and joy
      C                                                 G7
I'd watch the trains as they'd go by
                   C                            F7                           C                            F7   
And the whistle's lonesome sound you could hear from miles around
                C                               G7                         C
As they rolled across that Greenville Trestle high.

(Chorus)
                   F7                              C
   But the whistles don't sound like they used to
             A7                                           G7
   And lately not so many trains go by
             C                            F7                      C                               F7
   Hard times across the land mean no work for a railroad man
                      C                           G7                              C
   And the Greenville Trestle now don't seem so high.

On the riverbank I'd stand with a cane pole in my hand
And watch the freight trains up against the sky
With the black smoke trailing back as they moved along the track
That runs across that Greenville Trestle high.

When the lonesome whistles whined I'd get rambling on my mind
Lord I wish they still sounded that way
As I turned to head for home Lord she'd rumble low and long
Toward the sunset at the close of day.

Another good Doc Watson railroad song I haven't seen mentioned here is the following:

The Wreck of 1262

She just left Dupoint at Chikahmee, the freight numbered 1262,
And on down the mountain she traveled, so brave were the men in her crew.

Then the engineer pulled at the whistle, for the brakes wouldn't work when applied,
And the brakeman climbed out on the car-top, for he knew what that whistle had cried.

With all of the strength that God gave him, he tightened those brakes with a prayer,
But the train went right on down that mountain, her whistle still piercing the air.

She traveled at 60 an hour, gaining speed every foot of the way,
And then with a crash it was over, and there on the track the freight lay.

It's not the amount of the damage, or the value of what the wreck caused,
It's the sad scene they found in the cabin, where the lives of two brave men were lost,

They found them at their post in the wreckage, where they died when the engine had fell,
The engineer still held the whistle, and the fireman still clung to the bell.

Now this story is told of a freight train, but it should be a warning to all
We need to be prepared every moment, for we can never tell when He'll call.

Doc's "Lonesome Jailhouse Blues" has a couple of railroad references and uses the same tune as "Golden Rocket" for the verses and the last two lines of the chorus.

Charles