Updated 12-28-2013, Jack Worthington

I was farmin' in Missouri. I was gettin' tired o' that,
So I bought myself a satchel and a stovepipe hat.
And I headed for the station, gonna travel all about,
But there wasn't any station and I soon found out.

And you can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
Something's gotta take you there and gotta bring you back.
Oh, you can't go any distance in a buggy or a hack.

Oh ya can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
You gotta have an engine and you gotta have a track.
Oh, you can't get far without a railroad.

So I bought myself a shovel and I bought myself a pick.
And I laid a little track along the Bull Frog Crik (Creek).
Then I built a locomotive out of twenty empty cans
And I tooted on the whistle the damned thing ran.

Oh ya can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
Somethings gotta take ya there and gotta bring ya back
Oh, you can't go any distance in a buggy or a hack.

Oh ya can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
You gotta have an engine and you gotta have a track.
Oh, you can't get far without a railroad.

There are tracks across the prairie where the buzzard builds his nest.
There are tracks across the Rockies to the Golden West.
Everybody will be neighbors in this little dream of mine.
Take you clear across the country on the Bull Frog Line.

And you can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
Something's gotta take you there and gotta bring you back.
Oh, you can't go any distance in a buggy or a hack.

Oh ya can't get far without a railroad.
You can't get far without a railroad.
You gotta have an engine and you gotta have a track.
Oh, you can't get far without a railroad.