"Oh Railroad" genre: Country General
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	A song about the railroad and how some feel it is becoming antiquated.
	MP3.com CD: Milestones - buy it! CD: Milestones Credits: Word and Music By Roy Rivers - Copyright © 2002, Roy Rivers, All rights reserved.
	Story Behind the Song One late night, or rather one early morning, I was watching an educational station on cable tv. The program was about transportation in the modern world. The shows focus was about shipping, and its evolution. I thought it interesting how they told viewers that we should be using the aircraft to link us with far away countries... and ships and barges to move mass goods throughout the world and to major ports... and diesel trucks and trailers to transport these goods to all the remote places, and the myriad storage warehouses and stores of the world. When they mentioned trains, there seemed to me to be a different, almost hostile attitude. They spoke of trains as if they were dinosaur remnants that have outlived their usefullness. They said that in fact, the very distance between the tracks were a throwback to Roman times, and how this is the same distance a chariots wheels were apart from each other. They continued to relate that when wagons were used in Europe, they just made them to fit the ruts of the chariots... so these railways were built to the same standard. Two days later as I sat in my car waiting on a train, I noticed how the train had stacks of motor boats and diesel trucks and trailers. It hit me as ironic when along came the fuselage of a fairly large aircraft... minus it's wings. That irony is what fueled the lyrics to this song. This "relic" was carrying the very things we were "supposed" to be shipping on! I had a good laugh. When I started writing the song, I also envisioned the romance the rails have held for most of the writers of my time. I hope the song hit its mark. Lyrics I've been sitting here waiting On the train at the station It arrives at a quarter of eight Got my bags and I'm ready Gonna visit my baby I hope that she's not late I'm spending my time Staring down at the lines That will take me away from here Oh railroad, and I'm an engineer Well it's station to station Crossing all of the nation It's the line and the weight on her back And her hearts just a pounding And her whistle is sounding As she rumbles down the tracks Every day Pulling all of the way Now she's ready to pull in here Oh railroad, and I'm an engineer Well some say she's ready and it's time to retire Cause their profits are suffering and they're stuck in the mire And she's caught up in wonder from the stories they spin But if you look on her back, she's even carrying them It's the steel and the shaking And the curves and the braking And I smile as I take it all in It's the feel of the power Running hour by hour And the spirit of all the men There's something about All the ins and the outs And the passing through all those gears Oh railroad, and I'm an engineer

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