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27 Nov 18 - 02:52 PM (#3963629) Subject: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Tiger Seriously, are there any? The thought occurred to me after doing "Wreck of the Number 9" at our Thanksgiving songfest. A really tough profession - musically, at least. |
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28 Nov 18 - 01:30 AM (#3963686) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Joe Offer The Dummy Line? ;-) |
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28 Nov 18 - 07:40 AM (#3963719) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Mark Ross The Red and The Green,the hogheads' baby doesn't die. Mark Ross |
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28 Nov 18 - 07:43 AM (#3963720) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: GUEST,henryp Bill Mason - recorded by the North Carolina Ramblers in 1927 sung by Roy Harvey, and again in 1929 sung by Charlie Poole. Bill Mason was an engineer, he’d been on the road all his life I’ll never forget the morning he married him a chunk of a wife Bill hadn’t been married more’n an hour, ‘til up came a message from Kress And ordered Bill to come down and bring out the night express While Maggie set by the window, a-waiting for the night express And if she hadn’t-a done so, she’d-a been a widow, I guess There were some drunken rascals that came down by the ridge They came down by the railroad and tore off a rail from the bridge Well, Maggie heard them working, “I guess there’s something wrong” In less than fifteen minutes, Bill’s train would be along She couldn’t come near to tell him, a mile it wouldn’t have done She just grabbed up the lantern and made for the bridge alone By Jove, Bill saw the signal, and stopped the night express He found his Maggie crying on the track in her wedding dress A-crying and laughing with joy, still holding onto the light He come ’round the curve a-flying, Bill Mason’s on time tonight From the poem Bill Mason's Bride, attributed to Bret Harte. Maggie was the real heroine of this story. The poem may owe its inspiration to the true story of Kate Shelley and her brave efforts to save the Midnight Express in Boone County, Iowa in 1881. Here's my version; Kate Shelley and the Midnight Special 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 spare the passengers from death! The agent took her message and then down the wire it flew To Scranton where the train was safely halted 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 still cross a bridge today that bears Kate Shelley’s name The words fit the tune of Blarney Roses, appropriate as Kate Shelley was born in Ireland, leaving County Offaly as an infant. In fact, the railway company had already stopped their trains from running that night. The Midnight Express, carrying about 200 passengers, was safely stopped at Scranton. However, Kate Shelley helped save two more lives at Honey Creek. The weakened bridge had collapsed under the weight of a pusher locomotive, leaving the crew of four trapped in the swollen river. Kate Shelley led a rescue party back to the creek, where two men were saved. The other two were washed away and drowned. |
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28 Nov 18 - 08:06 AM (#3963721) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: GUEST,henryp The Old Log Train by Hank Williams Sr. If you will listen, a song I will sing About my Daddy who drove a log train Way down in the southland, in old Alabam We lived in a place that they call Chapman Town And late in the evening, when the sun was low Way off in the distance you could hear the train blow The folks would come runnin', and Momma would say "Get the supper on the table, here comes the log train" Every mornin', at the break of day He'd grab his lunch bucket and be on his way Winter or summer, sunshine or rain Every mornin', he'd run that ole log train A sweatin' an' swearin' all day long Shoutin', "Get up there oxens, keep movin' along Load her up boys, 'cause it looks like rain I've gotta get rollin', this ole log train" This story happened, a long time ago The log train is silent, God called Dad to go But when I get to Heaven to always remain I'll listen for the whistle on the ole log train |
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29 Nov 18 - 03:28 PM (#3963920) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: JHW Mapping the Mason Dixon line was pretty intrepid if you include surveyors with engineers |
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29 Nov 18 - 04:50 PM (#3963928) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: GUEST,henryp The engineer (American and Canadian) or engine driver (British English) is in charge of the locomotive pulling the train. |
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29 Nov 18 - 05:29 PM (#3963931) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Jim Carroll One of MacColl's best Jim Carroll WE ARE THE ENGINEERS by Ewan MacColl Two joined hands was our device when our banner first unfurled, Hands that knew the feel of tools and helped to build a world. Two hands became a million hands and fashioned down the years The machines that make the world go round, The ships and planes and the diesel trains The weaving frames and the building cranes, We are the engineers! We tamed the fire and harnessed metals, learned a thousand skills, Our hands have made the tools men use in factories, mines and mills; Ours the hands that throw the switch that puts the world in gear That makes the plows that turn the soil, And the ships and planes and the Diesel trains, The weaving frames and the building cranes, We are the engineers ! Jails and transportation hulks faced union pioneers; Police and spies at every turn, a world of doubt and fear, Our union sprang from poverty, from hunger, blood and tears, But we fought the cruel laws And when we lost, we rose to fight again For the right to work and live like men, We are the engineers ! We've stamped our feet in the morning queues, known unemployment's toll; Known hands go soft in idleness, the slow death on the dole; The rusty lathe and the silent factory mark the hungry years, And the grass growing green on the shipyard floor, And the endless beat of marching feet And men demanding the right to eat And work as engineers ! And we, the youngest engineers, now march to claim our rights; For we have learned that nothing's ever won without a fight. Every battle fought and won reveals a new frontier, And a world to be won by those who build The Ships and planes and the diesel trains, The weaving frames and the building cranes, We are the engineers ! |
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29 Nov 18 - 07:11 PM (#3963938) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Bee-dubya-ell "The Monkey and the Engineer" Neither the engineer nor the monkey died. |
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30 Nov 18 - 09:30 AM (#3964011) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: Mark Ross And of course, then there is Haywire Mac's delightful HIS TRUSTY LARIAT. Mark Ross |
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30 Nov 18 - 11:38 AM (#3964030) Subject: RE: Songs of brave engineers who DIDN'T die? From: GUEST,henryp From Cowboy Fireman/His Trusty Lariat; "My gosh" the hog head shouted As he slammed on all the brakes "I'll never stop this SP train I ain't got what it takes" They buried that poor fireman Where the prairie wind blows wild He killed two hundred passengers But, thank God, He saved the child It's a parody of Saved from Death by George Hersee, published 1874; The engineer sees the child The whistle screams, Down brakes And as he throws the lever back No nerve or muscle shakes His eye is quick, his nerve is great His soul knows no alarms O God! That wheel will crush the child No, no, 'tis in his arms! |