From A Railway Carriage from A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson
Written in 1885, when trains still had an element of novelty and excitement.
Syllables amended to make lines uniform.

Ode by Coal Henry Peacock 2025
The growth of the railways was driven by steam power, generated by burning coal. After electrification, power stations still depended upon coal.
The last coal-fired power station in the UK - Ratcliffe-on-Soar - closed down in 2024.

Faster than fairies, faster than witches,
Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches;
And charging along like troops in a battle,
All through the meadows the horses and cattle:

        Leaving a long trail of smoke in the sky
        Everyone waves as the train passes by!         

All of the sights of the hill and the plain
Fly past as thick as the hard driving rain;
And ever again, in the wink of an eye,
We see painted stations as they whistle by.

        Leaving a long trail of smoke in the sky
        Everyone waves as the train passes by!

Here is a child who clambers and scrambles,
All by himself and gathering brambles;
And here is a tramp who stands back and gazes;
And there is the green for stringing the daisies!

        Leaving a long trail of smoke in the sky
        Everyone waves as the train passes by!         

Here is a cart run away in the road
Lumping along with a man and his load;
And here is a mill and there is a river:
Each one a glimpse and then gone for ever!

        Leaving a long trail of smoke in the sky
        Everyone waves as the train passes by!         

Where is the winding gear, wheel spinning round?
Where are the men who worked deep underground?
Where are the tall chimneys? Gone every one
Now we rely on the rays of the sun!

        Leaving a long trail of smoke in the sky
        Everyone waves as the train passes by!