I was always fascinated with the history of the railroad in this country so I did a little digging and came up with some information about some of the famous train wrecks and songs. I discovered 1918 was a bad year for train wrecks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Train_Wreck_of_1918

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malbone_Street_Wreck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammond_Circus_Train_Wreck

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casey_Jones

http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Wreck_of_the_Old_97

SONGS

http://www.balladofamerica.com/music/indexes/songs/wabashcannonball/

http://www.last.fm/music/johnny+cash/_/Wreck+of+the+Old+97

http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/2010/07/casey_jones.html


There are a lot of these songs on Youtube.

Sitting Bull was a sly one.


http://griid.org/2011/09/08/this-day-in-resistance-history-sitting-bull%E2%80%99s-railway-speech/

back at the turn of the century, railroading was a dangerous business and a lot of workers were killed.

Yep, " Gandy dancers " is what they were called and many were killed.
They had to work in all weather conditions and had to use a lot of dynamite around the mountains, not to mention indian attacks.

and the brakemen had to uncouple the cars by hand being really careful to not get their fingers crushed between the two cars. The way they used to tell how much experience they had was by how many fingers were missing from their hand, and they would have to walk along the roofs of cars in rain, wind, snow, and ice.

When they were laying the tracks on the west coast and had to dynamite mountains, they would lower a little Chinaman in a basket over a cliff and he would set the explosives and hope that they would pull him up in time. How would you of liked his job?

This long winter is making me stir crazy, too cold to do anything so I figured I would post some more railroad songs. I will be glad when lawnmower season gets here.

http://lyrics.songfacts.com/detail.php?=6965752

http://www.last.fm/music/Blackfoot/_/Train,+Train

http://vimeo.com/37393899

http://myspace.com/kidsongsmusic/music/song/i-ve-been-working-on-the-railroad-83976833-92699429


http://vimeo.com/12833871

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1329s_b-2-aerosmith-train-kept-a-rollin_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_train_songs#A

That first link you have to type in WRECK OF THE OLD 97 by The Seekers.

This long winter is making me stir crazy, too cold to do anything so I figured I would post some more railroad songs. I will be glad when lawnmower season gets here.

http://lyrics.songfacts.com/detail.php?=6965752

http://www.last.fm/music/Blackfoot/_/Train,+Train

http://vimeo.com/37393899

http://myspace.com/kidsongsmusic/music/song/i-ve-been-working-on-the-railroad-83976833-92699429


http://vimeo.com/12833871

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1329s_b-2-aerosmith-train-kept-a-rollin_music

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_train_songs#A

you too, huh?:lol:

you too, huh?:lol:


Last week I turned my calendar page over because march looks better than February. They're predicting more snow for sunday, damn.

There were train songs on Petticoat Junction and Capt. Kangaroo.

On PJ, Smiley Burnette ("Charley Pratt") sings "Steam, Cinders, and Smoke" for the steam-engine Cannonball.

On Capt. Kangaroo, there was a song whose lyrics may be hard to find. Here's how I remember it:

Little red caboose
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose behind the train
train, train, train
Smokestack on its back
(chug chug chug)
Comin' down the track
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose behind the train!

-
That song has stayed in my mind since the early '70s...!

There were train songs on Petticoat Junction and Capt. Kangaroo.

On PJ, Smiley Burnette ("Charley Pratt") sings "Steam, Cinders, and Smoke" for the steam-engine Cannonball.

On Capt. Kangaroo, there was a song whose lyrics may be hard to find. Here's how I remember it:

Little red caboose
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose behind the train
train, train, train
Smokestack on its back
(chug chug chug)
Comin' down the track
(chug chug chug)
Little red caboose behind the train!

-
That song has stayed in my mind since the early '70s...!


Would this be it?

http://www.kidsongs.com/lyrics/little-red-caboose.html

Thanks! I never did try to find it online. And they were more accurate with the "back, back, back" etc. The remaining parts I didn't remember at all.

Some of the best episodes of certain series involved trains. For example, Gunsmoke's "Snow Train" 2-parter. There's another good Gunsmoke train episode where a women tries for amnesty for a convicted felon she encounters on a train (of course he ends up doing everyone wrong).

One of my favorite movies is EMPEROR OF THE NORTH with Ernest Borgnine. That is a classic train movie.

I like the movie SILVER STREAK with Richard Pryor & Gene Wilder. That's another good train movie.

When I think of train songs, King of the Road by Roger Miller comes to mind.

Did anyone ever have any Lionel trains?
My younger brother had some with a lot of extra track and we set it up in the back yard with hills and tunnels, it covered a lot of ground. Putting it outside turned out to be a mistake because when we came back out from eating lunch we discovered the hooligans next door shot the hell out of it with their bb guns. We had a Hatfield/McCoy thing going with them. My older brother had an old Benjamin pump with a scope on it and we got even with them. I can't remember what happened to the train, It was probably donated to Goodwill.

Remember this show?
Before he was the Skipper he was Casey Jones. You might have to scroll down the page to view them.

http://www.westernsontheweb.com/casey-jones-western-tv-series-free-to-watch-online/a-badge-for-casey/

who here likes model railroading?

I never had the patience for those type of hobbies, I get bored easy.

1950 was a particularly rotten year for the Long Island Rail Road in places like Rockville Centre, Huntington, Jamaica Bay, and worst of all Kew Gardens. But nobody has ever written any songs about any of those wrecks.

You also don't hear about the Vietminh's 1953 massacre of railroad passengers at Hai Van Pass.

No song for this one either.

http://en.atropedia.net/article:2aa035

If these links work you will see some 1930s trains from clips of a couple of good movies.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/pressplay/video-essay-beavers-lodge-emperor-of-the-north-pole


http://www.tcm.com/mediaroom/video/242376/Hard-times-original-trailer-.html