Patsy Cline Song

Patsy Cline: Life is Like a Mountain Railroad. Sometimes it is called Life's Railroad.

Life is like a mountain railroad
With an engineer that's brave
We must make the run successful
From the cradle to the grave

Watch the curves and watch the tunnels
Never falter, never fail
Keep your hands upon the throttle
And your eye upon the rail

Blessed Saviour that will guide us
Till we reach that blissful shore
Were the angels wait to join us
In God's grace forevermore

Blessed Saviour that will guide us
Till we reach that blissful shore
Were the angels wait to join us
In God's grace forevermore

Tompaul Glaser did the same song but it was called Life's Railway to Heaven.
Quiz question: How many remember Tompaul and The Glaser Brothers?

The Pan American - L & N Railroad

The Pan-American was a passenger train operated by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) between Cincinnati, Ohio and New Orleans, Louisiana. It operated from 1921 until 1971. From 1921 to 1965 a section served Memphis, Tennessee via Bowling Green, Kentucky. The Pan-American was the L&N's flagship train until the introduction of the Humming Bird in 1946. Its name honored the substantial traffic the L&N carried to and from the seaports on the Gulf of Mexico. The Pan-American was one of many trains discontinued when Amtrak began operations in 1971.

Source

Postcard of the Pan-American as it passed the WSM transmitter in Nashville.

Another source with additional information and some more photos of different EMD locomotives used is at American-Rails

"The Pan-American" (1948) by Hank Williams

This song is one in the playlist from a previous post and was the reason for this post. 

More information on the WSM transmitter tower found at Wikipedia. I have seen it numerous times.

WSM's unusual diamond-shaped antenna (manufactured by Blaw-Knox) is visible from Interstate 65 just south of Nashville (in Brentwood) and is one of the area's landmarks. It is located near the I-65 exit 71 interchange with Concord Road (State Highway 253). When the 878-foot tower was built in 1932, it was the tallest antenna in North America. Its height was reduced to 808 feet (246 m) in 1939 when it was discovered that the taller tower was causing self-cancellation in the "fringe" areas of reception of the station (it is now known that 195 electrical degrees, about 810 feet, is the optimum height for a Class A station on that frequency). For a period during World War II it was designated to provide transmissions to submarines in the event that ship-to-shore communications were lost. It is now one of the oldest operating broadcast towers in the United States.
As a tribute to the station's centrality in country music history, the diamond antenna design was incorporated into the new Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's design in 2001. The tower is listed as a National Engineering Landmark and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 15, 2011.

Hank Snow Train Songs

He is one of my favorites. Long playing and mostly steam. Hank Snow was born in Nova Scotia.

Some Railroad Memorbilla

My very small collection of railroad collectables.

And a big Thank You to Ken Lane for adding to it.

Ashtray

Clinchfield Railroad Company
Enlarge to see the name. 

Playing cards from the Southern Pacific Lines.

I want to thank Ken Lane (Wirecutter) for giving these to me. And to Miss Lisa for coordinating everything. They belonged to one of his grandparents and have never been shuffled.

 The face of each card has a different picture.

Paperweight made from railroad track.

Approx 7" high, 6" across the foot and 1/2 " thick.

Weight 2 pounds

Track is graded by its linear density. This is at the highest

range of the usual pounds per yard at 141 lb/yd.

Track installation hardware. 

Spike, square head sleeper spike, e clip, railway anchor (top to bottom, left to right)

I don't have an original railroad lantern. This is close. It is a W. T. Kirkman #100 Watchman that is new. Red and green glass globes are available.

Sheet music from 1940.
See previous post here.

The Singing Brakeman

James Charles "Jimmie" Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American country singer in the early 20th century, known most widely for his rhythmic yodeling. Among the first country music superstars and pioneers, Rodgers was also known as "The Singing Brakeman", "The Blue Yodeler", and "The Father of Country Music".[1]

 Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train

 

 The Jimmy Rodgers Museum is in Meridian, Mississippi.

And yes, I have a hat like that. Sometimes Alf wears it.

In The Pines

Not exactly a train song but any song that starts out "The longest train I ever saw" qualifies. I will admit I think of Folkston, Ga. when I hear it. For those that haven't been there, it is in the middle of timber country. Southern pine for the lumber (paper) industry.

 Lyrics 

(Bill Monroe version)

The longest train I ever saw
Went down that Georgia line
The engine passed at six o'clock
And the cab passed by at nine

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
And we shiver when the cold wind blows
Who who hoo hoo hoo, who who hoo hoo hoo

I asked my captain for the time of day
He said he throwed his watch away
A long steel rail and a short cross tie
I'm on my way back home

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
And we shiver when the cold wind blows
Who who hoo hoo hoo, who who hoo hoo hoo

Little girl, little girl, what have I done
That makes you treat me so?
You caused me to weep, you caused me to mourn
You caused me to leave my home

In the pines, in the pines
Where the sun never shines
And we shiver when the cold wind blows
Who who hoo hoo hoo, who who hoo hoo hoo

The song has been recorded by just about everybody using several different names. Wikipedia missed the Carter Family version.

Paradise

Paradise

by John Prine

 

"Paradise" is a song written by John Prine for his father, and recorded for his 1971 debut album, John Prine. Prine also re-recorded the song for his 1986 album, German Afternoons. The song is about the devastating impact of strip mining for coal, whereby the top of the mountain is blasted off with dynamite to reach the coal seam below. The song is also about what happened to the area around the Green River in Kentucky because of the strip mining. The song references the Peabody Coal Company, and a now-defunct town called Paradise in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.

Of course the song and video include coal powered steam trains. It is a sad song in many ways. Many artists have recorded it including the brothers Jim and Jessie. Even though they left out the last verse, it is probably my favorite version - I just love their harmony.

Wabash Cannonball

by Roy Acuff with Lyrics

Name that locomotive.

Lots of folks have wondered about the following verse and who was "Daddy Claxton"

"Here’s to Daddy Claxton, may his name forever stand,
And may it be remembered ’round the courts of Alabam’
His earthly race is over and the curtains round him fall,
We’ll carry him home to victory on the Wabash Cannon Ball."


I finally found this explanation:

"The enigmatic verse about Daddy Claxton was in the version Roy originally heard.  The fact that Roy’s  middle name is Claxton is just a coincidence.  He was named after Dr. P. T. Claxton, a prominent teacher and lecturer at Austin Peay College in Clarksville." (Source)

For the hardcore, here is the Carter Family version with a couple of changes to the lyrics. 

A Train Called Glory

A Gospel song about trains by Isla Grant.

Isla Grant was born in Wigtownshire, Scotland.She started singing in folk clubs in Scotland at 14 then discovered country music.

Black Mountain Special

A little bluegrass to hold us over to Rock and Roll Saturday at Chickenmom's blog. :)

Of course it is about trains with coal fired steam locomotives.

Callahan, Florida Sept. 21, 2015

Stopped by the West Nassau Historical Society and Museum in Callahan on the way home from Folkston. The museum was closed but I took some photos anyway.

The Callahan Subdivision is a CSX Transportation railroad subdivision within the Jacksonville Division on the former Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The sub extends northward 20 miles from Baldwin, Florida, where the Jacksonville Terminal Subdivision's S Line and Tallahassee Subdivision meet just north of Baldwin Yard, a classification yard. According to Jacksonville Division Timetable Number 4 published in 2005,^[1] the sub runs from milepost SM-0.18 to milepost SM-20.0, where it joins the Nahunta Subdivision, a former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, in Callahan, Florida.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Callahan_Subdivision

This was my first try at turning still photos into a video. Used Open Shot in Linux Ubuntu.

Southern Railway System "The Tennessean"

When "The Tennessean" leaves for Tennessee

Copyright 1940 by Josephine Crisler McCormak

Blow yo' whistle, Engineer, Fireman les'go ;way frum here, My heart
___ is racin' n-head of you. Run'er faster than you oughta,
Gotta see a man a-bout his daughta, I know___ she's gonna say "yes" to me.

1.
When the "Tennessean" leaves for Tennessee,
They won't have to holla "all a-board" for me,
'Cause I left my heart on a rail-road track,
And I'm goin' down home and get it back,
When the "Tennessean" leaves from Tennessee.

2.
Oh the birds and bees wont have a thing on me
When spring-time comes this year in Tennessee
Now, I might be broke, but I tell you fair,
I would'nt swap my place with a billionaire,
When the "Tennessean" leaves for Tennessee.

3.
When the "Tennessean" leaves for Tennessee,
It's a streak of green and silver Glory Be!
If your neck's stuck out you bet-ter draw it back,
When that new stream-lin-er hits the track
And the "Tennessean" leaves for Tennessee.

Sheet music from 1940 probably found in some old family papers.

Great Train Song

Not many know he was born in Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, Canada