Sing it like ain't nobody listenin'. The usage of "black" at all was fairly recent and short-lived.

If the "old black men" are in the "freight yard" they probably aren't porters but coalers, switchmen and other yard labourers.

Guthrie and others moved away from the death of the steam engine theme (passing trains with no names) that underpinned the Goodman version. It's harder to understand just what is dying out (...their father's magic carpet made of steam.) After all the 'road itself is still going strong as part of the CN line.

One of the Illinois Central's first lawyers was Abe Lincoln and 115 years ago they had an Engineer by name of Casey had a few songs wrote about him too.