Lovely thread, and a beautiful piece from Spaw. Thank you. My dad was an an engineer too, graduating from fireman on the old GWR (Great Western Railway), then eventually he became an instructor, passing on his skills. We lived near the Tyseley engine sheds in Birmingham and I used to lie in bed listening to the sound of trains being shunted around at night. The memory of those sounds inspired a song I wrote called "Stranger On A Train", which although American in style was at least written in Britain!

Stranger on a Train

It was late and a cold north wind was blowing
The midnight train already overdue
I was six hours away from the place that I was going
An aching in my soul because of you

There was thunder rumbling somewhere in the night
As the southbound train pulled in across the track
When a sudden flash of lightning made the darkness bright
I was looking at a face and she was looking back
And in the lightning's glare I saw a vision of despair
And in that face I looked right through to another place
Where all the pain was just too much to bear

She was a stranger on a train
Seen for a second through a window streaked with rain
Tear-stained eyes and a mouth that spoke of pain
She's burned in my mind, now I always will remain
Haunted by a stranger on a train
Haunted by a stranger on a train

With a clash of steel and an old conductor calling
The southbound train pulled away in a cloud of steam
Well it may have been the night or the way the light was falling
But the face in the window seemed to vanish in a fading dream
But in the lightning's glare I'd seen a vision of despair
And in that face I looked right through to another place
Where all the pain was just too much to bear

She was a stranger on a train
Seen for a second through a window streaked with rain
Tear-stained eyes and a mouth that spoke of pain
She's burned in my mind, now I always will remain
Haunted by a stranger on a train
Haunted by a stranger on a train

BJ