Hi - you'll find sheet music for "RIDING ON THE DUMMY" at The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music (click). The cover has a picture of an early San Francisco cable car - it appears to have an open traction vehicle in front to grab the cable, and a closed passenger car trailing behind.
-Joe Offer-

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RIDING ON THE DUMMY
(words by Sam Booth, music by F.G. Carnes, 1885)

1. Of all the ways of travelling
By coach or carryall
By steamer stage or railway car
The dummy bests them all;
A fat man stumbles on the steps,
And stands upon my toes,
Then flops over a lady's lap,
And almost breaks her nose.

CHORUS
Riding on the dummy, Glad to get a seat
With a jolly company, All looking gay and sweet.
Riding on the dummy, With the darling I adore,
And viewing hills and dales with joy, I never felt before.

2. One bright and sunny afternoon
From off the crowded street,
A lady stepp'd upon the car
But could not find a seat;
Oh! Take my seat, a gallant said,
Oh! Thank you sir, said she.
A sudden jerk, and down she sat
Right on a deacon's knee.

3. When near the park I whisper'd to
The angel just by me,
To take a stroll among the trees,
Their loveliness to see;
In flow'ry paths and grassy lawns,
We saunter'd up and down,
And vows of love did interchange,
Ere we came back to town.

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Here are the Traditional Ballad Index entries on this song:

Dummy Line (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Concerning possibly the worst, slowest train in history, which comes "Across the prairie on a streak of rust." Passengers who complain are instructed to get out and walk, but point out that they are not expected until the train arrives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (_Sing Out!_, volume 26, #4, p. 34, a version from Joe Hickerson via Michael Cooney)
KEYWORDS: humorous railroading train
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 254-255, "The Rummy Dummy Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 485-490, "On the Dummy Line" (the main text and tune are "The Dummy Line (II)," but there are selections from and discussion of this song)
DT, DUMYLINE
Roud #15359
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "On the Dummy Line (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES [60 words]: There is a song called "Riding on the Dummy," by Sam Booth & Frederick Carnes, published in 1855. It's not this song. See Norm Cohen's Long Steel Rail for a full discussion. [There is also another "Dummy Line" song; see "On the Dummy Line (II)" for discussion. - RBW]
Uncle Dave Macon's "On the Dixie Bee Line," about a Ford car, is a parody of this song. - PJS
File: DTdumyli

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Dummy Line (II), The

DESCRIPTION: "Some folks say that the dummy won't run, Now, let me tell you what the dummy done, Left Saint Louis 'bout half past one, Rolled into Memphis at the seein' of the sun." Stories of riding on the Dummy Line, possibly without a fare
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: train travel
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 485-490, "On the Dummy Line" (1 text plus fragments of several other "Dummy Line" songs, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 244-245, "De Dummy Line" (1 short text, 1 tune); p. 239, "Railroad Song" (1 fragment)
BrownIII 435, "The Dummy Line" (2 short texts; "B" is a mixed text that seems to be mostly a "May Irwin's Frog Song (The Foolish Frog, Way Down Yonder)" type, with a "Some Folks Say a Nigger Won't Steal" verse)
Coleman/Bregman, pp. 70-71, "The Dummy Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11776
RECORDINGS:
Robert N. Page, "Ride and Shine on the Dummy Line" (Victor 21067, 1927)
Pickard Family, "On the Dummy Line" ((Perfect 12625/Banner 0744/Conqueror 7574/Oriole 1995/Challenge 882/Jewel 5995/Pathe 32546/Regal 10049/Cameo 0344/Domino 4585/Romeo 1357/Paramount 3218, 1930; Broadway 8150 [as Pleasant Family], n.d.)
NOTES [235 words]: This is rather a conundrum, because the texts of "The Dummy Line (I)" and "The Dummy Line (II)" have similar choruses, and most are fragments, and they've mixed a lot, as well as gathering a lot of floating verses; see Cohen for a discussion. In general, though, "The Dummy Line (I) involves an extremely slow train, while this one involves a faster, but perhaps strangely-managed one.
It appears, in the original version, that the trip was from Saint Louis to Memphis -- a distance of nearly 300 miles, implying (depending on the time of the year and hence the time of sunset) a speed between 40 and 75 miles an hour, quite good for a train at the turn of the twentieth century.
Scarborough's "Railroad Song" text (p. 239) is even stranger, because it has the train go from Saint Louis to Tampa in an afternoon. That's a distance of 900 miles, meaning that the train had to move at a speed of at least 125 miles per hour even at the summer solstice!
It may be that the Scarborough text confused "Saint Louis" (Saint Louie?) in the song with Saint Lucie, Florida, on the Atlantic coast almost due east of Tampa. That's a distance of about 125 miles, give or take a few river detours, implying a speed of 25-30 miles per hour. Hardly high-speed -- but not really Dummy Line numbers, either. Alternately, Saint Louis might be a variation on "St. Pete/Petersburg." In which case the speed is ridiculously slow. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.2
File: ScNS139A

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