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Post That Train Song Thread

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Posted by MurBall on Friday, July 29, 2022 3:46 AM
Train Round the Bend
Song by The Velvet Underground
 
Has a great railroad rythm 
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Posted by MurBall on Friday, July 29, 2022 3:44 AM

Love that song 

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Posted by P&Slocal on Thursday, July 28, 2022 11:56 AM

I can't believe it has made it to 5 pages and I haven't seen mention of Josh Turner's Long Black Train.
https://youtu.be/PyRZTAmcW7c

Or for those who are bluegrass deprived....
https://youtu.be/6CNB5OLUPM0

and while someone mentioned CW's Silverton, there is another CW song...
https://youtu.be/iJRjiMDSCW0

Robert H. Shilling II

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Posted by BATMAN on Sunday, July 24, 2022 12:56 PM

SeeYou190

Did anyone mention Steel Rail Blues by Gordon Lightfoot from the 1966 album Lightfoot?

-Kevin

 

Page one.Smile

Brent

It's not the age honey, it's the mileage.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BATTRAIN1/videos 

You can never ever out-train poor nutrition.

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Posted by maxman on Sunday, July 24, 2022 12:27 PM

I've lost "track".  Did anyone mention "Last Train To Clarksville"?

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Posted by gmpullman on Sunday, July 24, 2022 1:41 AM

Well let's put this number on the turntable and give 'er a spin:

 

Happens more often than you realize.

 3734GTW_Pontiac_6-9-55 by Edmund, on Flickr

Regards, Ed

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, July 17, 2022 8:12 AM

Did anyone mention Steel Rail Blues by Gordon Lightfoot from the 1966 album Lightfoot?

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by mvlandsw on Saturday, July 16, 2022 5:44 PM

Juice Newton - Queen Of Hearts - YouTube

"Midnight, and I'm awaiting on the twelve-oh-five, hopin it'll will take me just a little farther down the line."

Another song with minimal railroad connection but the beginning of the video has some shots of a live steam train.

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Posted by BATMAN on Saturday, July 16, 2022 4:23 PM

MarknLisa

New favorite train song. Ride by Walter Trout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzmOugNc2I

 

 

YesYes

Brent

It's not the age honey, it's the mileage.

https://www.youtube.com/user/BATTRAIN1/videos 

You can never ever out-train poor nutrition.

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, July 16, 2022 12:07 PM

MarknLisa
New favorite train song. Ride by Walter Trout

Absolutely excellent and completely enjoyable.

Thank you for the share.

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by MarknLisa on Saturday, July 16, 2022 9:15 AM

New favorite train song. Ride by Walter Trout

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLzmOugNc2I

 

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, July 9, 2022 10:55 AM

John-NYBW
Jethro Tull's Locomotive Breath listed. I remember Jethro Tull but don't remember this song at all. Does anybody know what it is about and whether it would classify as a train song?

Locomotive Breath is NOT about trains. The songs lyrics mention Charlie being at the throttle and his children getting off at the stations one by one. Then Charlie goes mad, breaks the handle off the throttle so the train runs out of control, and even god cannot stop the train after he takes the handle back.

For years, it was assumed the song was about the Charles Manson family.

Ian Anderson, who wrote the song, has been quoted over the past decade saying the song is actually about population growth destroying the planet.

I don't buy that. I think the song always has been about Charles Manson, and now he wishes he would have written it about something else.

Look up the lyrics and see what conclusion you come to.

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by trwroute on Saturday, July 9, 2022 10:19 AM

My favorite- 

Long Train Running by the Doobie Brothers.  Guaranteed full-blast volume every time!

Chuck - Modeling in HO scale and anything narrow gauge

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Posted by John-NYBW on Saturday, July 9, 2022 9:54 AM

I was just looking at somebody's list of the greatest Rock n' Roll songs of all time and it had Jethro Tull's Locomotive Breath listed. I remember Jethro Tull but don't remember this song at all. Does anybody know what it is about and whether it would classify as a train song?

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Posted by John-NYBW on Saturday, July 9, 2022 9:48 AM

SD70Dude

For lyrics mentioning trains, does 'House of the Rising Sun' count?  ("one foot on the platform, the other foot on the train").

You are allowed to put House of the Rising Sun into any discussion. One of the greatest Rock n' Roll songs of all time.

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Posted by mvlandsw on Friday, July 8, 2022 9:47 PM

Kenny Rodger's "Lucille". Not much train related but it starts out "In a bar in Toledo, across from the depot"

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Posted by ricktrains4824 on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 3:02 PM

Ok.... The vids work, but what language are the stupid labels in????? No clue how I did that! Indifferent

Ricky W.

HO scale Proto-freelancer.

My Railroad rules:

1: It's my railroad, my rules.

2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.

3: Any objections, consult above rules.

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Posted by ricktrains4824 on Wednesday, July 6, 2022 2:59 PM

Let's see if I can still remember how to do video's...

Night Train - Jason Aldean

As an aside, I actually learned how to play Night Train, but I have no vids of that. (You wouldn't like my singing voice anyways. Laugh)

I also didn't see Rosanne Cash's Runaway Train, nor Cam's same titled but totally different song, Runaway Train.

Cam's is not my favorite song by her, but fits well here.

(Hopefully the vid's work now...)

Ricky W.

HO scale Proto-freelancer.

My Railroad rules:

1: It's my railroad, my rules.

2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.

3: Any objections, consult above rules.

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Posted by SD70Dude on Tuesday, July 5, 2022 1:59 PM

For lyrics mentioning trains, does 'House of the Rising Sun' count?  ("one foot on the platform, the other foot on the train").

I just skimmed through the thread so I might have missed them, but I don't think I saw Johnny Horton's 'Coal Smoke, Valve Oil and Steam" mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swo1AVDTLVo

Or Neil Young's 'Southern Pacific', this live version is my favourite railroad song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21ph2y3EYNI

Greetings from Alberta

-an Articulate Malcontent

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Posted by Overmod on Saturday, July 2, 2022 10:22 PM

Well, I looked to find a link, and look at the album cover...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKUm7nDzTyE

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, July 2, 2022 11:32 AM

So... it seems that the legendary Count Basie & His Orchestra had a tune called Super Chief, which sounds like it should be a train song. However, it is instrumental, so no train lyrics.

But, I think this is the creepiest album cover I have ever seen:

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by Pantherphil on Thursday, June 30, 2022 9:23 PM

Anybody mention Folsom Prison Blues by the Man in Black?

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, June 30, 2022 3:25 PM

I just found out that Gilbert & Sullivan wrote an entire musical called "The Mikado", so there must be some train songs in there.

Whistling

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Saturday, June 25, 2022 12:53 AM

Sicilian Train Blues by Roger Manning.

This one might be hard to find. It was on the Los Angeles based SST label,and released in 1989.

There was an accoustic version released in 1991 on an SST sampler compiliation, which is the one I prefer.

<EDIT> I found it on YouTube.

(72) The Sicilian Train Blues - YouTube

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by hon30critter on Sunday, June 12, 2022 1:30 AM

Here is a train song that could also be posted to the June Diner, but I thougjht it would be more fitting here. Click on 'Watch on TouTube' (It may take a second to appear):

Dave

I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Friday, June 10, 2022 12:46 PM

How about The Trolley Song? The iconic version was recorded by Judy Garland in 1944.

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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Posted by derf on Friday, June 10, 2022 11:33 AM

Lee Hazlewood's "Long Black Train" and "The Railroad" from his "Trouble is a lonesome town" album              

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Posted by xboxtravis7992 on Thursday, June 9, 2022 8:38 PM

This one isn't even a year old yet being released in late summer 2021, and might be the contender for the youngest in the thread; The Killer's Quiet Town:

The grade crossing tragedy referenced in the opening of Quiet Town is based on a real accident in rural Utah that occured in 1994: https://www.deseret.com/1994/11/8/19141467/2-juab-students-who-died-in-train-car-crash-mourned

From the same album as Quiet Town, this track In The Car Outside also has a strong railway connection with the final guitar bridge imitating the sound of a railway crossing. The collector's lyric book even shows a diagram of valve gear, pistons and wheels on a steam locomotive to accompany the song. 



City of New Orleans has been mentioned already, but IMHO this is the definative performance of it from The Highwaymen.  



Not train songs per-se, but Dan Auerbach's solo stuff and his work through The Black Keys and his record label Easy Eye Sound love dropping trains into music videos and lyric snippets. He has been photographed in a vest with PRR and C&O patches before, so the dude is a bit of a lowkey foamer. One of his songs off his solo album has a music video shot in the Utah railroad town of Helper, and plenty of trains sneak around elsewhere.


 

From Auerbach's label also comes the restored vintage audio of Son House's Empire State Express as well. 

Rush's stoner/prog classic, A Passage to Bangkok and its titular train.

My favorite music video shot on a moving train? Queen's late career track Breakthru filmed behind a restored British steam engine.

Special mention to another shot on a moving train video, Piano Guy's Code Name Vivaldi performance with the finale shot onboard the Heber Valley Railroad. 

 Finally its such an incidental mention of railways and not a main part of the song, but I have to give kudos to how the mention of railroading as brief as it is adds to the atmospheric mood of The War on Drug's In Reverse.

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Thursday, June 9, 2022 7:36 PM

I know Love Train by the O'Jays was already mentioned, but...

Did you know The Wiggles recorded a cover of this song?

Well, they did, and it is every bit as terrible as you might fear.

(59) Love Train - YouTube

Just awful.

-Kevin

Living the dream and happily modeling my STRATTON AND GILLETTE Railroad in HO scale. The SGRR is a freelanced Class A railroad as it would have appeared on Tuesday, August 3rd, 1954, in my personal fantasy world of plausible nonsense.

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