Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please

Subject: Lyr Add: FAST FREIGHT (Terry Gilkyson)
From: Sorcha
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 07:09 PM

Guest Mike, here's your lyrics:

FAST FREIGHT
Terry Gilkyson

As I listen for the whistle, lie awake and wait.
Wish the railroad didn't run so near,
'Cause the rattle and clatter of that old fast freight
keeps a-makin' music in my ear. Go bum again. Go bum again. Oo-

Chorus:
Hear the whistle blow. Hear the whistle blow.
Clickety clack, clickety clack. The wheels are saying to the railroad track.
Well, if you go, you can't come back.
If you go, you can't come back.
If you go, you can't come back.

Well, I wouldn't give a nickel for the bum I use to be,
work as hard as any man in town.
I got a purty gal. She thinks the world of me.
Man would be a fool to let her down.
Go bum again. Go bum again. Oo-

(Chorus)

So ev'ry night I listen, wonder if it's late.
In my dreams I'm ridin' on that train.
I feel my pulse a-beatin' with that old fast freight
and thank the Lord I'm just a bum again.
Go bum again. Go bum again. Oo-

(Chorus)

Recorded by the Kingston Trio

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,Wendy
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 08:14 PM

How about Sleepy John Estes, "Diving Duck Blues"? It's perhaps not in the spirit of songs wanted in the request, but I like the lyric: "If the train don't hurry, there's gonna be some walkin' done."

I can't find a reference to this in the DT, or the forum search - am I missing it? If not, anyone want me to post the lyrics?

Subject: Lyr Add: NEW FRISCO TRAIN (Bukka White)
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 09:30 PM

Is this the one Wendy?

Whoo, well, I got a little woman in Pine Bluff, Arkansas
She was the sweetest little woman that your men most ever saw

Gonna get up in the mornin', baby, with the risin' sun
Whoo well, in the mornin', baby, with the risin' sun
If this train don't run, gonna be some walkin' done

My baby she's callin' me, she called me up on the phone
Whoo well, she's callin' me, she called me up on the phone
She said, "Daddy, daddy, I don't jive, come on hurry home"

My baby says, "I'm tired goin' to bed and moan"
Oh well, she says, "Tired of goin' to bed and moan.”
She said, "I ain't had no lovin', daddy, daddy, since that you been gone"

Well, she says, "I'm tired, daddy, singin' to you lonesome songs"
Oh well, she says, "I'm tired of singin' to you lonesome songs.”
She says, "I ain't even here, daddy, I ain't even here anymore.”

My baby says, "I'm tired, daddy, hearin' my bedsprings groan"
Ooo, well, she says, "I'm tired a-hearin' my bedsprings groan"
She said, "I declare if you want me, daddy, you better hurry on"

Spaw

HTML line breaks added --JoeClone, 8-Nov-01.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: catspaw49
Date: 07 Feb 01 - 09:36 PM

Sorry....cut off my opening statement.....Should have said....

I think you're referring to a Bukka White song Wendy....Maybe this one called "New Frisco Train"

And once again, I'm enjoying the picks and this thread. Many, many thanks gang!!!

Spaw

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,Fred
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:01 AM

I like the Hobo's Lullaby. Also what is the one about "she took the Katy, left me the mule to ride" about the MKT (Missouri, Kansas and Texas line)?

Subject: Lyr Add: DIVING DUCK BLUES (Sleepy John Estes)
From: GUEST,Wendy
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 12:04 AM

That Bukka White sounds like a good song. I'll have to find it and give it a listen. But it's not the song I was talking about. The song I'm talking about is:

DIVING DUCK BLUES
(Sleepy John Estes)

Now if the river was whiskey,
And I was a diving duck,
Now if the river was whiskey,
And I was a diving duck,
I would dive on the bottom,
Never would come up.

Don't never take
A married woman to be your friend.
Don't never take
A married woman to be your friend.
She will get all your money,
And give it to her other man.

Now a married woman
Always been my friend.
Now a married woman
Always been my friend.
Now a married woman
Gonna carry me to my grave.

Now ain't it hard
To love someone thats dead(??)?
Now ain't it hard
To love someone thats dead(??)?
You can't get her when you wanna,
Have to use her when you can.

Now the sun gonna shine
On my backdoor someday.
Now the sun gonna shine
On my backdoor someday.
Now the wind gonna rise
Gonna blow my blues away.

Now I went to the railroad,
Looked up at the sun.
Now I went to the railroad,
Looked up at the sun.
If the train don't hurry,
Gonna be some walking done.

I'm not sure about that word in the 2nd verse - it sounds like "dead", but "wed" would seem to make more sense...
Sleepy John Estes recorded this in 1929. The recording also features wonderful mandolin by Yank Rachell.
I'm listening to it on "I Ain't Gonna Be Worried No More" .

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: jaze
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:29 AM

There was a PBS Special some years ago about trains. I think it was called Riding the Rails. Johnny Cash was the narrator. He sang several songs about trains. There was one that I've been trying to find. All I can remember now is that he was singing about the elelgance of the old trains and the line in the song was something about "velvet and burgandy". Not much to go on I know. Any train song buffs have any idea?

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Steve in Idaho
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 10:38 AM

My favorite - was singing it on my way to work this morning - Atlantic Coastal Line and then Hank Snow's Canadian Pacific.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:20 AM

Whoo whoo? Spaw? Should we grab our towels and cover our eyes?

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:29 AM

Sorcha, Thanks a lot for the Fast Freight lyrics. I can't find a current K.T. CD on Amazon with the song, but at least now I know what to look for.

Another question for Hugh (my train-crazed three-year-old). There is a song sung on Disney's Great Locomotive Chase which includes the lines: "Oh I stole a locomotive just to take a ride, for my Pappy was a railroad man."

Can anyone identify? Thanks again.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Inukshuk
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:43 AM

We can't forget the Sons of The Pioneers, Johnny Cash, et al and "One More Ride"

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 11:49 AM

Jaze: Johnny Cash recorded a song called "Crystal Chandeliers and Burgundy" on the albums "The Junkie and the Juicehead, Minus Me" (1974), and "Destination Victoria Station" (1975). The latter apparently consists entirely of train songs. Could this be the song you want? I was unable to find the lyrics.

In the process of trying to find this song, I found 2 more sites that list lots of train songs:
Train Songs, Compiled and Edited by Wes Modes.
and W&H MAIN YARDS: Railroad Songs.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,jaze
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 01:29 PM

Thanks,Jim I'm sure that's the one I've been looking for!

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,DrWord
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 01:38 PM

wOW! This thread is amazing. I recall a song my late brother and I sang a million times: Johnny Cash's One more ride. {"Oh the clickety-clack of the railway track is callin'" "If a man coould know where the Santa Fe goes when she gets under steam..." -- I could post the lyrix if anyone wants) And that made me remember [faintly] a tune from the '50s "Smoke along the track" with cool steel guitar licks emulating the doppellering whistle ... AND the very first LP record I ever bought, Cash's Ride This Train, where the barefoot boy does a spoken monologue with train sounds in the background, and spins together songs from across America--tho' I can't recall right now if any of them were train songs-- :(

dennis

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 08 Feb 01 - 02:00 PM

Dennis/Dr. Word: Look at my first posting in this thread and you will see a link to the words to "One More Ride" which I posted in another thread. You needn't bother to post them again.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,PhilG.
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 01:29 PM

Hmmm .. add the Folsum Prison Blues as sung by Johnny Cash.. it's more about the nearby train than the prison...

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: ad1943
Date: 05 Jan 06 - 08:45 PM

From America:

"Mystery Train"

From Australia:

"The Indian Pacific"

All good stuff

Allen from Oz

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 12:09 AM

Previous threads on this Phil - try the search box.

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 03:08 PM

'Spaw--

Many of my favorites already listed above, but I didn't see "Fast Train to Georgia." Art mentioned "Phoebe Snow," and someone else listed "Golden Rocket" by Hank Snow. I like the version by Ginny Reilly better--from the ladies' point of view. "City of New Orleans" of course, and definitely "Waiting for a Train."

How about "Cherokee Fiddle"? And there was one by Willie that I remember (vaguely) from a long time ago, about a prostitute who worked the trains--she was having to give up and go home because the passenger trains were shutting down. But my last brain cell just teetered and I can't remember the song's name...sorry!

Good stuff, all!

Lin

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Once Famous
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 05:28 PM

Jenny Dreamed of Trains, written by Guy Clark

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: pdq
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 07:50 PM

Norman Blake has done a huge number of railroad songs, these are some he actually wrote:

"Last Train From Poor Valley"

"Lincoln's Funeral Train (The Sad Journey to Springfield)"

"The Railroad Days"

"Slow Train Through Georgia"

"Southern Railroad Blues"

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 06 Jan 06 - 08:24 PM

GUEST, Wendy (way back there) posted a link to "Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," which contains the lines about "I don't like no railroad man."

With the passage of time and the evolution of Mudcat, that link no longer works, so try I Wish I was a Mole in the Ground. There you go!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Tootler
Date: 07 Jan 06 - 10:29 AM

The original message from Catspaw mentioned steam trains in Dennison, Ohio.

Are the trains still running? We will be in Ohio this summer. My wife is a keen quilter and we are going to visit Amish Country round Berlin. We went there 18 months ago and had a very enjoyable time and my wife wants to go back. We are taking my daughter and my sister this time (also quilters). We will be flying to Cincinnati July 9th and Home again July 20th. I would also be interested in any traditional music activity. I don't see why they should have all the fun :-)

Any info will be much appreciated. PM me.

Thanks in advance.

Geoff

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 11:06 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Severn
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 12:02 PM

Some favorites:

BILL MASON-Charlie Poole, Jim Watson,
THE MONKEY AND THE ENGINEER-Jesse Fuller
LONELY DEADHEAD BOXCAR-Al Grierson
THE TRAIN CARRYING JIMMIE RODGERS HOME-Greg Brown, Nashville Bluegrass Band
WAY OUT THERE-Sons Of The Pioneers, Pete Seeger
LININ' TRACK-Library Of Congress field recordings, Leadbelly, Koerner Ray & Glover, Taj Mahal
THE WILD DOGS OF KITWANGA-Al Grierson

And Check out the Library of Congress album Railroad Songs and Ballads (originally AFS L61 on LP-now Rounder CD 1508)

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 06:53 PM

I've just received Dave Goulder's 'The Man Who Put the Engine in the Chip Shop', including some interesting train sounds. Also, I love Tony Cuffe's version of The Iron Horse, about the railway coming to the east coast of Scotland.

Subject: Lyr Add: RAILROAD LADY (J Buffett & J J Walker)
From: GUEST,riverboat annie
Date: 08 Jan 06 - 11:08 PM

RAILROAD LADY

Written by - Jimmy Buffett & Jerry Jeff Walker
From - A White Sport Coat & a Pink Crustacean

She's a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spendin' her days on the trains
She's a semi-good looker
But the fast rails they took 'er
Now she's tryin', just tryin' to get home again

South Station in Boston to the freight yards of Austin
From the Florida sunshine to the New Orleans rain
Now that the rail packs
Has taken the best tracks
She's tryin', just tryin' to get home again

She's a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spendin' her life on a train
Once a pullman car traveler
Now the brakeman won't have 'er
She's tryin', just tryin' to get home again

Once a high ballin' loner he thought he could own 'er
Bought her a fur and a big diamond ring
She hocked 'em for cold cash
Left town on the Wabash
Never thinkin', never thinkin' of home way back then

But the rails are now rusty
The dinin' car's dusty
Gold plated watches have taken their toll
Yeah the railroads are dyin'
And the lady she's cryin'
On a bus to Kentucky and home that's her goal

She's a railroad lady
Just a little bit shady
Spendin' her life on a train
She's a semi-good looker
But the fast rails they took 'er
Now she's tryin', just tryin' to get home again

Yes on a bus to Kentucky and home once again

Subject: Lyr Add: THAT TRAIN SONG (Phil Halliday)
From: Ebbie
Date: 09 Jan 06 - 03:16 AM

There's one we do that I've heard anywhere else. It's by Phil Halliday. He calls it 'That Train Song'

(I just looked it up. It is evidently by Jacques Goudreault and Halliday sings it shorter and slightly different. But it's an interesting tune with long drawn out vowel sounds. It's fun to sing. We sing it progressively faster as the box cars go rattling down the line.)

Well, he gave all he had to my maw and me
Just another boy child he would never see
Well, my maw and my paw went their separate ways
I was born on a midnight train

Well, I was raised in a railside shack
And I'd fall asleep to that clickety clack
All day long I'd run alongside
Learned real young how to hop a ride

Well, I got a soul like a runaway train
I got a heart that feels no pain
When you're born with tracks 'neath your bed
You sleep one eye open, pointin' straight ahead

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: Lin in Kansas
Date: 01 Feb 06 - 02:30 AM

GUEST, Riverboat Annie:

Thank you! That was the song I was trying to remember. I didn't realize Jimmy Buffett and Jerry Jeff Walker had written it, though, and the only one I've heard do it is Willie Nelson. Of course, Jimmy would do a good job on it too, I suspect.

Thanks again for letting me know it's not Alzheimer's yet!

Lin

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: David C. Carter
Date: 01 Feb 06 - 05:40 AM

Texas-1947-Guy Clark
New Delhi Freight Train-Terry Allen,from LUBBOCK(on everything).

Subject: RE: RAILROAD SONG BUFFS--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,Peter from Berlin
Date: 27 Jul 07 - 01:03 PM

Do you have the Lyrics of "Streamline Train" ?

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,GUEST, Michael
Date: 25 Apr 08 - 08:06 AM

This is an answer to Mike's question from above about The Great Locomotive Chase song. I've looked for that song all over, and I'm pretty sure it was created for the movie, and that James J. Andrews and his men were supposed to have made it up during the mission. I may be wrong, but I've never been able to find the lyrics.

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: topical tom
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 12:37 PM

Subject: ADD: Passing of the Train
From: topical tom
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 12:40 PM

Passing of the Train as sung by Rhonda Vincent.


Way back when it all began
With muscle, wood and steel,
Mighty man tamed the land
With a horse that rode on wheels;
It broke the heart of the red man
And made a name for Jesse James;
A mark was left forever
By the passing of the train.

As a little child my thoughts ran wild
As I clung to Mama's dress,
As the train grew near the engineer
Waved my fears to rest;
He tipped his hat and pulled the cord
And blew a long refrain-
Around midnight I'd be dreaming
Of the passing of the train.

(Chorus)

Clickety clack heating up the track
Can't you hear that whistle scream?
She's a'letting you know just how she feels
With a belly full of steam.
All aboard who's going aboard
It'll never be the same.
It's a downright lonesome feeliing
With the passing of the train.

That old caboose, they cut it loose
And they ain't gonna bring it back.
It sits beside the towns that died
Along a million miles of track.
We're always late when we get there
So we'd sooner hop a plane,
But anyone who's heard that whistle
Mourns the passing of the train.

(Chorus)

Clickety clack heating up the track
Can't you hear that whistle scream?
She's a'letting you know just how she feels
With a belly full of steam.
All aboard who's going aboard
It'll never be the same.
It's a downright lonesome feeling
With the passing of the train.

(Tag)

All aboard who's going aboard
It'll never be the same.
It's a downright lonesome feeling
With the passing of the train.

[Thanks to cowboylyrics.com for lyrics]

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: oldhippie
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 10:05 PM

Can't believe nobodys mentioned "Blue Water Line".

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: topical tom
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 10:32 PM

I may have missed it but I didn't see mentioned "The Fireball Mail".

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 11:39 PM

Both are in the DT, and both have threads.
44301: Fireball Mail
50569: Blue Water Line

Most RR songs may be found at Mudcat- just use Lyrics and Knowledge Search.

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: quokka
Date: 27 Apr 08 - 09:29 PM

One from Oz - 'Sgt. Small', written by Tex Morton. Will try to post lyrics later.

Subject: Lyr Add: SERGEANT SMALL
From: quokka
Date: 03 May 08 - 03:54 AM

Sergeant Small
I went broke in western Queensland in Nineteen Thirty One
Nobody would employ me so my swag carrying begun
I came down into Charleville through all the western towns
I was on my way to Roma destination Darling Downs

My pants were getting ragged my boots were getting thin
But when I stopped at Mitchell a goods train shunted in
I heard the whistle blowing and looking out could see
She was on her way to Roma it was quite plain to me

Chorus
I wish I was about twenty stone only seven feet tall
I'd go back to western Queensland and beat up Sergeant Small

Now as I sat and watched her inspiration's seed was sown
I remembered the Government slogan: Here's the railway that you own
By this time the sun was setting and the night was getting nigh
So I gathered my belongings and took her on the fly

When we got into Roma I kept my head down low
I heard a voice say "Any room Mate?" I answered "Plenty Bo"
"Come out of there my noble man" came the voice of Sergeant Small
"I have trapped you very nicely - you've ridden for a fall"

The judge was very kind to me he gave me thirty days
Saying "Maybe this will help to cure your rattler jumping ways"
So if you're down and outback boys I'll tell you what I think
Stay off those Queensland goods trains they're a short cut to the clink
Notes
From Brad Tate's Down and Outback which is also another title for this song. Brad writes "My setting of a poem by Terry Boylan, chorus by Tex Morton. Boylan's verses appeared in the 'Australasian Express' London 1974. Though not connected with Morton's banned Depression song about a NSW policeman, the themes were so familiar I combined them".

Cheers
Quokka

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: eddie1
Date: 03 May 08 - 06:04 AM

A great list of Railroad Songs here;

http://www.soundsofyesteryear.com/rockisland/rockisland.htm


Eddie

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: Max
Date: 03 May 08 - 08:34 AM

I could've been the 4th generation of Railroader in my family. Trains have a very special place in my heart. My father spent 40 years on the rails and still makes a living at it. He's had every single possible job in the railroad industry with the exception of engineer. His father and grandfather shoveled coal for the PRR.

My favorites are:

Freight Train
Linen Track
Rock Island Line
Monkey & The Engineer
Midnight Special

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: skarpi
Date: 03 May 08 - 09:32 AM

mine are just :

TJÚU TJÚUU

:>))

All the best Skarpi Iceland

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,vrdpkr
Date: 03 May 08 - 11:31 AM

I used to entertain on a scenic train. Here are some of my favorites.

Big Rock Candy Mountain by Haywire Mac
Chatanooga Choo Choo
Sound of the Railroad by Eric Darling
Danville Girl
Boomer's Story
The Train Carrying Jimmy Rodgers Home
King of the Road
Morningtown

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: guitarman95
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 03:46 PM

Maybe I missed it but I cannot find mention of Roger Miller's ENGINE ENGINE #9

ENGINE ENGINE # 9

Engine engine number nine,
Comin' down the railroad line.
How much farther back did she get on.
An old brown suitcase that she carried,
I've looked for it everywhere it,
Just ain't here among the rest
And Im a little upset, tell me now
Engine engine number nine
Comin' down the railroad line
I know she got on in Baltimore.
A hundred ten miles ain't much distance
But it's sure to make a difference.
I don't think she loves me anymore

Lots of good ones mentioned. "Thanks all" I love it.

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: kendall
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:27 PM

Orphan Train by Utah Phillips. Jacqui sings it on the Tribute to Utah double CD.

Phoebe Snow is my favorite train song.
Wreck of old number 9 Hank Snow
I've got the freight train blues Roy Acuff
Streamlined Cannonball Roy Acuff
Rattling cannonball Wilf Carter
Little box of pine (On the 7:29)
Starlight on the rails...Utah Phillips.

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: kendall
Date: 23 Jan 11 - 04:51 PM

Queen of the rails...Utah Phillips. Dan Schatz did a great job of this one on the memorial CDs.

The Lightening Express.
Going Away Utah Phillips.

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,Max Johnson
Date: 07 Feb 11 - 11:58 AM

Smokestack Lightning - Howlin' Wolf. Yeah!

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 07 Feb 11 - 12:52 PM

Neat thread. I'm booking and hosting a music series here in Brantford (Ontario) called the "Sunday Roots Revival" at a place called the Station Coffee House & Gallery . It's actually in an active CN/VIA Rail station (used to be the the luggage office, in fact).

As a result, my current duo Jericho is always on the lookout for train songs.

Here's some I didn't notice on the listings thus far:

by Fred Eaglesmith: "Freight Train" (recently recorded by Alan Jackson as the title song for his new CD)
and "I Like Trains" (there's a sound bite of it on our Jericho website)

Rankin Family - Orangedale Whistle, written by Jimmy Rankin

Murray McLauchlan - I Never Did Like That Train

Somebody also mentioned "Hank Snow's Canadian Pacific" - written by Ray Griff, also recorded by George Hamilton IV on an album called "Canadian Pacific" back in the late 60's. (Also on the album was 'Steel Rail Blues' recorded in a room in the old Seaway Hotel (Toronto) with Gordon Lightfoot playing back-up guitar!)

Subject: RE: Railroad Song Buffs--Check Here Please
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 21 Jun 16 - 10:25 AM

Bill Mason and Maggie, his wife, were probably fictional characters. But Kate Shelley was a real heroine who prevented a train wreck in 1881.

Kate Shelley
Words; Henry Peacock
Tune; The Bonny Labouring Boy

The lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, the rain poured down all night
A noise outside her window woke Kate Shelley with a fright
The swollen stream in Honey Creek had washed the bridge away
And soon the Midnight Special would be heading on its way
        
So Kate picked up a lantern and she stepped into the night
The wind it whistled round her head and then blew out her light
The storm it shook the trestle bridge as Kate crawled slowly o'er
But Kate kept on until she reached the station agent's door

There Kate stood wild and windswept as she tried to catch her breath
Stop the train, she cried, and save the passengers from death!
The agent took her message and along the wire it flew
To Ogden where the train was halted safely by the crew

Kate Shelley was the heroine who saved the midnight train
Her reward from the railroad was a gold watch and a chain
Her story hit the headlines and Kate Shelley she found fame
And trains today still cross a bridge that bears Kate Shelley's name