old railroad interest, songs

gotta keep alive interest in the old railroad engines, etc

and the songs

here is a bluegrass fave

GREENLIGHT ON THE SOUTHERN

G
Standing on the side track
D G
At the south end of town

On a dry, hot, dusty August day
D
The steam pipe blowing down
G
The fireman with his long oil can
D G
Oiling the old valve gears
D G
Waitin' for the fast mail train to Simmefore to clear


The engineer in the old high cab, his gold watch in his
hand
Lookin' at the water glass and lettin' down the sand
Rollin' out on the old main line and taking up the slack
Gone today, so they say, but tomorrow he'll be back


Chorus
G D G
Oh, if I could return
C D
To those boyhood days of mine
G
And that greenlight on the Southern
D G
Southern Railroad Line


Creeping down the rusty rails of the weed-grown branch
line
The section houses, grey and white by the yard limit sign
The hoggers call, the old high-ball, no more time to wait
Rollin' down to Birmingham with a ten car load of freight

Repeat Chorus

The whistle screamed with a hiss of steam, the headlight
gleams clear
The drivers roll on the green and gold, gettin' mighty
near
Handing out the orders to the engine crew on time
It's the Alabama Great Southern, AGS Railroad Line

Repeat Chorus Twice
https://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/rice-tony/greenlight-on-the-southern-28368.html

trivia question: what does letting down the sand mean?

PS: I am well into my cups tonight [back pain] but I have to tell you that if you can't relate to old steam RR days, I automatically don't like you*

*I'll re-examine that statement after I sober up

Quote: odiousgambit

PS: I am well into my cups tonight [back pain] but I have to tell you that if you can't relate to old steam RR days, I automatically don't like you*

*I'll re-examine that statement after I sober up

Ha! We could be best friends =) This is about all I listen to. I know I got some RR songs in my mix, I'll pop back in when I remember the good ones.

Quote: OG

PS: what does letting down the sand mean?

It's used as a friction enhancer. Steel wheels on iron tracks with what's gotta be all the torque of Jupiter ain't very good for acceleration. "Letting down the sand" is literally dumping sand fore of the wheels so they roll onto it and can get some bite.

OK, that didn't take long =)

Not sure if this is a bluegrass thread or a RR thread, so if bluegrass, that version is beyond easy to find for this oft covered classic. While I'm a bit of a purist when it comes to country (REAL country, not that stadium country horses#$%), I can't pass up a choice Hank III offering.

The Wreck of the Ol' 97



I need a karaoke joint around here, for real.

Quote: Face

It's used as a friction enhancer. Steel wheels on iron tracks with what's gotta be all the torque of Jupiter ain't very good for acceleration. "Letting down the sand" is literally dumping sand fore of the wheels so they roll onto it and can get some bite.

correct. Indicated for ice for sure.

Bless you for loving the old steam locomotives

Quote: Face

The Wreck of the Ol' 97

real event, 1903

Danville, Lynchburg, & Monroe are real places not so far from me... I suppose Spencer, too, need to look that up

Ridin' on the City of New Orleans
Illinois Central, Monday mornin' rail
15 cars and 15 restless riders
Three conductors, 25 sacks of mail
All along the southbound odyssey the train pulls out of Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms & fields
Passin' graves that have no name, freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of rusted automobiles
[Chorus]
Good mornin' America, how are you?
Don't you know me? I'm your native son!
I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans
I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done
Dealin' cards with the old men in the club car
Penny a point, ain't no one keepin' score
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
And feel the wheels grumblin' neath the floor
And the sons of Pullman porters & the sons of engineers
Ride their fathers' magic carpet made of steel
Mothers with their babes asleep, rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel
[Chorus]
Night time on the City of New Orleans
Changin' cars in Memphis, Tennessee
Halfway home, we'll be there by mornin'
Through the Mississippi darkness rollin' down to the sea
But all the towns & people seem to fade into a bad dream
And the steel rail still ain't heard the news
The conductor sings his song again
"The passengers will please refrain,
This train has got the disappearin' railroad blues

We can have no idea what a big deal the
railroads were from 1880 to 1920. By
far the biggest employer in the country.
So big that 10 workers a day died on
the job. Imagine going to work with
that stat in your head. Safety was so
bad that if you had all your fingers
you were considered a slacker. Losing
one or two was the norm.

RR accidents were always page one
news and folk heroes like Casey Jones,
who died in a head on collision, were
legendary.

The largest segments of the population riding the rails at the time you mention were Germans and Irish.

The job of a brakeman was dangerous so deaths and injuries went uncompensated. Even today yard workers will tell Train Riders which trains are being humped while being made up since the collisions are so bone jarring and its possible to bight your tongue clear through. Doors often slam shut during humping which can be a death by dehydration sentence for Train Riders.

Red light districts were denoted by the railway workers placing their red lanterns in the window of a shack, it often being that only RR workers had currency.

Casey Jones did not die in a head on collision; he rode a troop train all the way after telling his fireman to jump while he stayed at the controls as the train rammed a stalled freight train.

Quote: Evenbob

We can have no idea what a big deal the
railroads were from 1880 to 1920. By
far the biggest employer in the country.
So big that 10 workers a day died on
the job. Imagine going to work with
that stat in your head.

Construction industry deaths are about 12 a day currently but probably a much larger number of employees than in the heyday of the railroads.

just now inspired myself to learn some of these meanings of the words from the 'greenlight on the southern' song

from context you kind of get that the highball is a signal. Turns out it was a system in use before electricity, damned if it isn't just somebody raising a ball!! I think they may be preserving the one in New Hampshire as history, but it is being used?? Good thing someone made a video, may not be there forever

wow, what a primitive thing!

check it out with no snow!

Quote:

The last active Ball Signal helps create a panarama with the White Mountains in the background. This location is now a National Historical Sight. The tracks on the left were formally Main Central Portland to St. Johnsbury Division. On the right the B&M to Berlin and Groveton.

http://www.railpictures.net/photo/242373/#remarks