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What's the best train song?

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Posted by PennsyHoosier on Monday, November 22, 2004 11:48 PM
Rounder Records has a GREAT CD titled "Train 45: Railroad Songs of the Early 1900s." I play it all the time when I'm "working on the railroad." It is worth getting.
Lawrence, The Pennsy Hoosier
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Posted by Anonymous on Monday, November 22, 2004 11:58 PM
I don't know about ALL the songs suggested as I haven't heard of a lot of them but for my money and till I hear something better it's A Man and A Train by Marty Robbins.
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Posted by Allen Jenkins on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 12:12 AM
I don't think, that the Dead were talkin' to anyone else, just trying to help a brotha'
gapharm97, You played favorably in this movement.
Listening to Bill Monroe, is to begin to understand, how to pick, and sing all music.
Do'es the video to Driver 8 show Family Lines engines on the inspection pit?
I did some research on the Rapid Eye Movement website. I'm looking to get that video, as it showed SD40-2's in North Georgia, around Athens, in the late eighties!
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Posted by Jetrock on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 12:22 AM
"Bound for Hell" by Love & Rockets

There just aren't many gothic songs about trains, but that's the one...

This train, this train is bound for nowhere
This train, this train is bound for Hell!
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Posted by Fergmiester on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 5:51 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by rrinker

I can't believe none of our Great White North friends have mentioned "Canadian Railroad Trilogy" by Gordon Lightfoot.
Or are you trying to deny his existence? [:D]

--Randy


We did! Twice!![:(!]

Gordon LightFoot Rocks[:D]

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If one could roll back the hands of time... They would be waiting for the next train into the future. A. H. Francey 1921-2007  

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Posted by PennsyHoosier on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 7:14 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Fergmiester

[
Gordon LightFoot Rocks[:D]


[:p][:)][:D][^]

Anyway, on this Train 45 CD, here is the full list of tracks. You can listen to samples of most of them on the Amazon.com website. All of them are from the 1920s to 1950s. Makes great background music for a session!

1. Riding on That Train 45 - Steve Ledford
2. Wreck of the 1256 - Curley Fox
3. Wreck of the Old '97 - Arizona Wranglers
4. True and Trembling Brakeman
5. Railroad Stomp
6. He Is Coming to Us Dead - G.B. Grayson
7. Lighting Express
8. Red and Green Signal Lights - G.B. Grayson
9. Old Ruben - Sons of the Mountaineers
10. Depot Blues
11. K.C. Railroad Blues - Andrew & Jim Baxter
12. Train Whistle Nightmare - Joe "Cannonball" Lewis
13. Pine Knot Cannonball - George Edgin
14. McAbee's Railroad Piece - Palmer McAbee
15. Riding the Elevated Train - Lew Childre
16. Time Table Blues
17. Pullman Passenger Train
18. Orange Blossom Special
19. Poor Little Liza, Poor Girl - Homer & Jethro
20. Jerry Go Ile That Car - Harry McClintock
21. Section Gang Song
22. Rock Island Line
23. Longest Train
24. Golden Gate Gospel Train - Golden Gate Quartet
25. Death of John Henry - Uncle Dave Macon
26. Railroad Blues - Sam McGee
Lawrence, The Pennsy Hoosier
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Posted by retsignalmtr on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 6:20 PM
Arlo Guthrie did the city of new orleans.
Orange blossom special- instrumental
why isn't that tv series Casey Jones being run on tv land? im getting tired of leave it to beaver and gilligans island.
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Posted by TrainFreak409 on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 6:29 PM
Here's another

"The Love Train" by Big & Rich!

Let's take ride, let's take a ride on the Love Train.
Unwind, we'll be chugga luggin all the way.
Let's roll, like the Stones playing all day-ay.
Let's take a ride, let's take a ride on the Love Train-ain-ain-ain.

~[8]~ TrainFreak409 ~[8]~

Scott - Dispatcher, Norfolk Southern

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Posted by rrinker on Tuesday, November 23, 2004 8:26 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by retsignalmtr

Arlo Guthrie did the city of new orleans.
Orange blossom special- instrumental



Steve Goodman wrote it, and did it first.

The original is quite a bit more up-tempo than Arlo's version. More like passenger train speed than freight train speed.

--Randy


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

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Posted by PennsyHoosier on Thursday, November 25, 2004 8:24 PM
Amazing how many great railroad tunes there are, huh? See, we are not alone!
Lawrence, The Pennsy Hoosier
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Posted by dave9999 on Thursday, November 25, 2004 10:06 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by SILVERCHAMPION

I don't know if it is the right name but "The train kept rolling all night long"


"Train kept a rollin" by Aerosmith
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Posted by Anonymous on Friday, November 26, 2004 6:19 AM
"The L & N dont stop here anymore" by Jean Ritchie and my fav version is sung by Dale Ann Bradley. [now they sit in a rusty row of emptys] Some of these emptys sit not to far from me. I plan on a tribute scene with old rusty L & N coal cars just left to rot.
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Posted by cmurray on Friday, November 26, 2004 6:45 AM
"Southern Streamline" by John Fogerty on Blue Moon Swamp CD

Colin ---------- There's just no end to cabooseless trains.

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My RailImages album: http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/4049

My web site: http://www.cmgraphics.ca

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Posted by UpNorthBob on Saturday, November 27, 2004 7:20 AM
What was the title of that song Jimmy Rogers did?

"Standin' by the water tower
waitin' for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Standin' in the rain"
-----

Even had some yodeling - don't get no better than that.
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Posted by willy6 on Saturday, November 27, 2004 9:21 AM
"Crazy Train" by Ozzy Osborne
Being old is when you didn't loose it, it's that you just can't remember where you put it.
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Posted by twhite on Saturday, November 27, 2004 2:05 PM
I don't know if you could call it a 'song', but there's a piece of classical music by Paul Hoenneger (sp) called "Pacific 231" that is just about the damndest description of a locomotive charging down the track that I've ever heard. That an orchestra can duplicate the sound of a locomotive THAT well is kind of mind-boggling. it was written during the 1920's, when a style called "Musique Mechanique" was popular in Paris. Also, whether or not he meant it that way, Aaron Copland's "Symphony no. 3" has what sounds like a huge locomotive struggling uphill with a heavy freight in the second movement. These pieces may not 'Rock', but they're thunderously impressive.
Tom
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 27, 2004 2:23 PM
Orange Blossom Special .....but not the instrumental. As it was sung by Johnny Cash (before the birth of many of my friends here on this forum). And, of course, he did not do the song with a fiddle, but with 2 different harmonicas hanging on his neck while playing guitar.

And, one of the best rock/blues songs ever....... Tuesday's Gone, by Lynyrd Skynyrd .......sung by a guy that got killed before the birth of alot of my pals here on this forum ...... Ronny Van Zant.

Man, I'm getting old.

Jim
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Posted by Cox 47 on Saturday, November 27, 2004 4:48 PM
Wabash Cannon Ball Roy Acuff Golden Rocket Hank Snow Rock Island Line Johnny Horton Bagadge Coach Ahead Hank Snow City of New Orleans Willy Nelson Choo Choo Ca Boogie Asleep At the Wheel I'v Been To Georiga on a Fast Train Billy Jo Sheaver Life is Like aMountain Railroad Mac Wiseman They all the best I was a Country DJ for 27 Years The OLd Casey DJ
ILLinois and Southern...Serving the Coal belt of southern Illinois with a Smile...
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Posted by PennsyHoosier on Saturday, November 27, 2004 4:54 PM
Jim, I know what you mean.

Cox, I used to live by Hank Snow, so I agree with you on that one. [:)]
Lawrence, The Pennsy Hoosier
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 27, 2004 5:03 PM
Southern Pacific by Neil Young off the REACTOR album. Hey... He's Canadian and he owns a lion's share of Lionel Trains.
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Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, November 27, 2004 9:25 PM
Long Black Train by Jo***urner
Chatanooga Choo-Choo
I've been workin on the railroad
Down by the station
Little Red Cabbose (THE BEST in my opinion)

Little Red caboose, chug chug chug
Little Red caboose, chug chug chug
Little Red caboose behind the train
Smoke stack on it's back, back back back
Rumbling down the track, track, track
Little Red Caboose behind the train, train train!

Little Red caboose, chug chug chug
Little Red caboose, chug chug chug
Little Red caboose behind the train
Coming around the bend
Hanging on the end
Little Red caboose behind the TRAIN!

We did a play about that song during my kindergarden year. I was, THE Little Red Caboose. Proudest day of my life......*sniff sniff*..............[;)]
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Posted by PennsyHoosier on Saturday, November 27, 2004 9:57 PM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Allen Jenkins

I did some research on the Rapid Eye Movement website. I'm looking to get that video, as it showed SD40-2's in North Georgia, around Athens, in the late eighties!


I saw REM in Chicago several times in the last half of the 80s. At one concert they opened with the searching headlight of a diesel, complete with the diesel horn blowing loud (it may have been one of those SD40-2s). It scared a fair portion of the crowed to death! [:O] But I was going out of my mind! I LOVED IT! [^]
Lawrence, The Pennsy Hoosier
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Posted by lupo on Sunday, November 28, 2004 2:47 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by Jetrock

"Bound for Hell" by Love & Rockets

There just aren't many gothic songs about trains, but that's the one...

This train, this train is bound for nowhere
This train, this train is bound for Hell!


how about "Train" by the Sisters of Mercy ?
http://www.andreweldritch.com/lyrics/train.htm
it wasn't called gothic when it was first released, but it sure does qualify in 2004 !


L [censored] O
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Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, November 28, 2004 12:36 PM
i heard a song about "The Train That Carried Jimmie Rogers Home" People waited track side to pay tribute as he passed. Not sure how long of tour.
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Posted by jockellis on Sunday, November 28, 2004 9:10 PM
Johnny Cash's rendition of "Casey Jones" makes you feel the rawness of 19th century railroading. And if you've ever ridden passenger rail just prior to AMTRAK, Arlo Guthrie does the same in "City of New Orleans". Whether they are the best, I couldn't say. But they are my favorites. My son's former scout master, Charles Allen, knew Casey's granddaughter, Pat Jones, who lives near Gainesville, GA and had her call me. It was quite a thrill to talk to a descendent of Jones.
Jock Ellis

Jock Ellis Cumming, GA US of A Georgia Association of Railroad Passengers

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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 4:12 AM
"RED Streamliner" - Little Feat
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Posted by G60syncro on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 11:31 AM
All of this and nobody mentions Locomotive breath by Jethro Tull???

Jimi Hendrix's Hear my train 'a comin' is a pretty hot blues song as well!!
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Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 5:34 PM
One of my favorite train songs is "City of New Orleans" performed by Willie Nelson. Here are some of the words.
"Good mornin' America, how are ya? Say don't you know me,
I'm your native son, I'm a train they call 'The City of New Orleans',
and I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done,

All along the south bound odyssey, the train pulls out of Kankakee
Past houses, farms, and fields, passing trains that have no names,
freight yards full of old black men, and the graveyards of rusting automobiles

Sayin' good mornin' America, how are ya? Say don't you know me,
I'm your native son, I'm a train they call 'The City of New Orleans',
and I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done"

There are others I like too. "Casey Jones", and "Folsom Prison Blues" are a couple. "Working on the railroad" will always be a classic. Well, at least to me, anyway.

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Posted by Texas Zepher on Tuesday, November 30, 2004 10:28 PM
Has to be be "City Of New Orleans" by Arlo Guthrie.

The first time I heard it was 1971 just as Amtrak took over, almost chokes me up.
I really miss the Super Chief. It was a twice a day ritual to go down to the track and watch it go by.
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Posted by prewardude on Wednesday, December 1, 2004 3:30 AM
QUOTE: Originally posted by UpNorthBob

What was the title of that song Jimmy Rogers did?

"Standin' by the water tower
waitin' for a train
A thousand miles away from home
Standin' in the rain"
-----

Even had some yodeling - don't get no better than that.

Bob,

The title of that song is Waitin' For a Train, and it was recorded in 1928. You're right - it don't get no better than that! [;)]

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