Janie: "I've always been curious about how this song/tune arose from the McCumbers, in Calhoun County."

The CRB&L-RR was a side road of both the Cleveland & Ohio and the Baltimore & Ohio. At it's early 20th century peak it had over 400 miles of track and nearly two dozen locomotives and rail buses covering six counties. Richwood, WV was the urban center for the entire region. Richwood was also ground zero for civil rights legal precedents (Jehovah Witnesses) that would play a major role in later court cases elsewhere.

The first ties were laid in 1900 (B&O) The road first entered into popular song (vaudeville) in 1917 with To Railroad Life I've Said Goodbye (w I.L. Bosch, m L.E. Mark)



Guest: Is the song Cherry River Line traditional? When was it first recorded..."

This song didn't begin cropping up until after WWII and by then the road was more noted as a sabotage target for striking coal miners.

Jenes Cottrell gets first recording honors (I think) but it's on a 1960s field recording not the later commercial release (70s).