Wabash Cannonball

[jts]

Ernest Tubb.

Hank Snow.

[James Heaps-Nelson]

From the great Atlantic Ocean to the wide Pacific shore...

Jim

[BaalChatzaf]

I loved those steam locomotives. I grew up in the late steam age. During my teens they started replacing steam locomotives with Diesels. The Diesels never had the primitive primordial power curve of the steam locomotives. Yes, the Diesels are more efficient and the are more cost effective but they lack life and soul. Steam locomotives actually breath!

[syrakusos]

Another theory ^[3] states that the song is based on a tall tale in which Cal S. Bunyan, Paul Bunyan's brother, constructed a railroad known as the Ireland, Jerusalem, Australian & Southern Michigan Line. After two months of service, the 700-car train was traveling so fast that it arrived at its destination an hour before its departure. Finally, the train took off so fast that it rushed in to outer space, and for all is known, it is still traveling through space. -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabash_Cannonball

Ma Kiley: Railroad Telegrapher on my blog.

The next day, on my way to run errands, I crossed a pair of street-level railroad tracks. There, I saw a camera on a tripod. I had seen it before, but this time, I stopped. The train cleared the crossing, and I pulled ahead and pulled over. Right after I got out of the car, the gates came down again. I introduced myself and Stuart told me that this train had been waiting for 45 minutes.

He has a YouTube channel, “myrailvideos”. (See here.) I was wearing a Taggart Transcontinental t-shirt. He probably did not get the reference, but a train is a train; and we chatted while he recorded the rolling stock. About 15 minutes later, I caught up with it on the Mopac. The signs on the highway all say “Loop 1”, but everyone local calls it the Mopac. Even so, many do not know of the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, which merged with the Union Pacific in 1980. (Government regulations and lawsuits delayed the completion of the merger until 1997.) Wikipedia here but also MissouriPacific Historical Society here.

[jts]

 

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jerry,

Re your last post, really cool.

I listened to all three in a row.

I admit, the first video got my inner social justice warrior aggravated with cultural misappropriation. As the self-righteous outrage welled up in my bosom, I began to see visions of fully-loaded WWII German trains entering concentration camps.

"Stop it!" I cried to myself. "What's wrong with you?"

Then I went to the second and third videos and began to see Dagny among the hillbillies of my youth. She was barefoot and toting a jug of moonshine...

"Stop it!" I cried to myself again. "Stop it right now!"

Just because I was born twisted doesn't mean I have to grow twisted.

 

 

(I'm funning... Watching all three in a row really was super-cool. The change in scenery fell at a great time for me.)

Michael