Railway Music

[richard]

Yes, Cock o' the North was the first P2. There was quite a bit of active development and building, so the design did change, but eventually they were were all standardised on the A4 shape,etc.

I think the original Cock o' the North / Earl Marischal shape would be my preference - perhaps more because it was so unusual, than pure aesthetics.

(the Thompson rebuilt Pacifics were ugly, full-stop! )

Richard

[Bullhead]

On a more specific railway timetable theme, how about -

Midnight Train to Georgia - Gladys Knight & The Pips
5:15 - The Who

What is it about midnight trains (see also Chuck Berry's "Midnight Flyer out of Birmingham/Smoking into New Orleans" in "Promised Land")? I suppose changing the lyric to "14:40 train to Georgia so that he can get home in time for a nice cup of tea and The Simpsons" doesn't have quite the same moody poetic feeling to it. But if you've ever travelled on an overnight train to Georgia or anywhere else, you'll know that singing about the experience is pretty low down one's list of priorities...

[John B]

All the talk about American railway themed songs put me in mind of that master of skiffle, the late Lonnie Donegan and that fifties hit "The Rock Island Line" one of the classic and amusing skiffle songs of the era.

This is about an "engineer" who avoided paying tolls for the cattle on his train, he yells out of the cab, "I got all pig iron" (pig iron presumably being exempt)

Wasn't there also a song called the "2.45 special" or was it the title of a television programme?

Also the New Seekers (I think) and "Freight train, freight train going so fast" We are delving here into dark and forbidden recesses to recover these half forgotten songs.

I have garnered a few from this website, there's masses of stuff!?

http://www.uclan.ac.uk/library/musrail.htm#1940

"Walking Down the Line" by Bob Dylan in 1963

"Soul Train" by Duke Ellington 1964

And the delightful attack on the work of the infamous Dr. Beeching by Flanders and Swann:

SLOW TRAIN

By Michael Flanders and Donald Swann

Miller’s Dale for Tideswell, Kirkby Muxloe,
Mow Cop and Scholar Green

No more will I go to Blandford Forum and Moretehoe
On the slow train from Midsomer Norton and Mumby Road
No churns, no porter, no cat on a seat
At Chorlton-cum-Hardy or Chester-le-Street
We won’t be meeting again
On the slow train.
I’ll travel no more from Littleton Badsey to Openshaw
At Long Stanton I’ll stand well clear of the doors no more
No whitewashed pebbles, no Up and no Down
From Formby Four Crosses to Dunstable Town.
I won’t be going again
On the slow train.
On the Main Line and the Goods Siding
The grass grows high
At Dog Dyke, Tumby Woodside
And Trouble House Halt.
The Sleepers sleep at Audlem and Ambergate.
No passenger waits on Chittening platform or Cheslyn Hay.
No one departs, no one arrives
From Selby to Goole, from St Erth to St Ives.
They’ve all passed out of our lives
On the slow train
On the slow train.
Cockermouth for Buttermere
On the slow train
Armley Moor Arram … Pye Hill and Somercotes
On the slow train
Windmill End.

[richard]

Ah yes, how could I forget the "Slow Line" - I think I even have it on CD!


Irving (where I live) was founded by a Rock Island surveyor. We still have a street called "Rock Island" and the line is still open carrying the TRE and some freight; but the railroad when bankrupt in 1980-ish.



Richard

[Bullhead]

Yes, I remember "Slow Train" very affectionately too. Fortunately they were wrong about the ex-NER/LNER station at Chester-le-Street, which is still open.

I think the St. Erth to St. Ives branch is still going, too, although that belonged to some other railway company which we don't mention on these hallowed pages.

[John B]

And you can still get on and off the train at that old NER/LNER station at Arram in East Yorkshire, it's an unmanned station nowadays - there's nobody there anymore

[richard]

Radio 3: "Dvorak the Train Spotter":

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/networks ... inutes_sat

(~20mins long)

BBC Radio tends to keep things online for a week, so this will probably be online until the weekend only.


Richard

[John B]

Richard,

An excellent extract from the dear old beeb.

I had no idea Dvorak was a steam buff who spent his time collecting locomotive numbers and writing to engineers, he's a man after my own heart.

His famous piece "The Humouresque" suddenly came to life when I learned it was based around the rhythmic clickety clack of the carriages over the rail joints, reminiscent of that pipe tune I mentioned once before
"The Train Journey North" also rooted in the same phenomenon.

Not, you understand, that either of Dvorak's "New World Symphony" or "The Humouresque" could possibly be considered even remotely comparable to a lowly pipe tune!?!? or could it?

On a completely different "note" I live in Taumarunui which is slap bang in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand, it's on the main trunk line between the capital Wellington and the large city of Auckland. A song was written in the sixties I think, it was entitled "Taumarunui on the Main Trunk Line" If you google it in then the words to this railway song come up. So that's another one for the collection, or is it, as it's not LNER?

The town used to have a large locomotive shed and was a very important staging post back in the days of steam. I even know one of the old steam drivers who I have had the fortune to enjoy many a happy yarn with. The town still owns a locomotive which is currently under restoration at Paikakariki (try saying that without your teeth in), not only that but there is still a working turntable in the town. I shall try and post some pictures of it at some point.

[talltim]

On a more modern note how about current underground indie band iLIKETRAINS http://www.iliketrains.co.uk/ I've not heard them but apparently they wear 70s BR uniforms on stage!

[John B]

How could I forget the Grade one Victoria Police Pipe Band and their gloriously atmospheric and very scary concert piece written by Mark Saul - "The Hell Bound Train"

It really does sound like a journey into Hell

[Sir Nigel Gresley]

" Freight Train" - Chas McDevitt(sp?) Skiffle Group featuring Nancy Whiskey

"Last Train to San Fernanado" - Johnny Duncan & the Blue Grass Boys

(Both big hits in the late 50's)

Theme to BBC's (the only TV broadcaster, those days, and the only broadcast pop music) "6:5 Special"

[giner]

Wasn't there also a song called the "2.45 special" or was it the title of a television programme?

Also the New Seekers (I think) and "Freight train, freight train going so fast" We are delving here into dark and forbidden recesses to recover these half forgotten songs.

Hello. Just caught my eye, but I think the song, and also the title of BBC TV's first pop music show, was "Six Five Special". If I remember correctly, the singer and resident band on the show was "Don Lang and his Frantic Five".

"Freight Train" was, I believe, another american song and the UK hit was by Nancy Whiskey, and I think the backup was provided by Chas McDevitt's Skiffle Group. I'd hazard a guess at 1957 as I had just joined a skiffle group myself and we used to pound the heck out of that song.

Oh, while I'm here - you spoke earlier of the song "The Locomotion" as originally by Lulu. Again if I can probe my own "dark and forbidden recesses", Little Eva had the original (1963?) and was one of the many dance craze songs of the early sixties.

More on topic, one of my all time favourite railway songs is "City of New Orleans" by Arlo Guthrie. An atmospheric tale of the train of that name that ran between Chicago and New Orleans and its slide into obscurity and oblivion.

[Solario]

I have to confess that I remember watching the 6.5 Special on a Saturday evening and I am sure that the theme was sung /played by Don Lang & his Frantic Five with some shots of an LMS/LMR express. May have been a Royal Scot.

Another pleasant railway song is "The Waco Cannonball" by Willie Nelson, if I remeber rightly.

[John B]

Here's another little railway gem by that doyen of the slide guitar - John Fahey

"Last Steam Engine Train"

Here's a link to a Youtube version:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6HsD-HGKNYc

[giner]

Thanks for the link, JohnB.

Your mention of "Humouresque" reminded me of a parodied song sang to that melody. Not meaning to introduce any coarseness here, but in the interest of some humour, the first line went:

"Gentlemen will please refrain from urinating from the train while it is
stationary in the station."

The rest escapes me (sorry) . . . any takers?

The things we remember, eh?