For a class on Religion in America I am doing a large project on the "railroad" religion, focusing on ghost stories (and hoodoo locomotives), the casting as the "hero" of railroad employees, and the use of railroad imagery in traditional religious applications (songs, gospel, etc.)

I would like to ask whether any of you have stories, images, songs, etc. that you think would be useful sources in such a project (of course I am already aware of mainstream ghost-stories, songs, etc.)

Thanks for any suggestions you have,

Chris

"This Train" is bound for glory, this train!
(a few more choruses of that,then)
"Don't carry nothin' but the righteous and the holy!"

Traditional black spiritual, but covered by Peter, Paul, and Mary.

Check out some of Johnny Cashes discography for train songs that might relate to spirituality. You might look up Odetta, Leadbelly, and few other prominent folkies. There are quite a few dialogs in the nature of that first song I quoted. Most of them echo the post-Civil War era, but a few may go into the early half of the 20th Century. I'd be interested in reading a listing of songs, rather than artists, which fall into the catagories you're looking at.

For some railway-related ghost tales from the copper mining region of White Pine County, Nev. see: http://nevadanorthernrailway.net/thrott ... 101007.htm

Moreover, the Nevada Northern Railway Museum in Ely, Nev. markets itself as the Ghost Train. From my M.A. thesis: “[Richard R.] Reynolds developed the tourist line as the ‘Ghost Train of Old Ely.’ The slogan refers to the propagated myth that in order to prevent scrapping of their beloved equipment, local railroaders would hide locomotive No. 40 and its wooden coaches, moving them between the shops at McGill and Ruth, often during the dead of night, thereby causing their appearance and then disappearance in an eerily, ghostly fashion.”

Chris,

I have a nice, one page story by the late Fran Wiener that might be applicable. It discusses a train handling incident and implies the outcome must have been divine intervention, without being preachy about it. The story was published in a joint issue of the Soo Liner, the corporate magazine of the Soo line Railroad Co., and The SOO, the magazine of the Soo Line Historical and Technical Society in October of 1983 to mark the Soo Line's 100th anniversary.

If you send me an e-mail, I'll send you a scanned copy of the story. I believe that this use qualifies under the "fair use" exception to copyright laws.

There was a television program of short stories, around the mid 1980s, and I think it was directed by a major filmmaker (Spielberg??). One episode featured a ghost train that a kid heard at night. Of course the subdivision was built on an old railroad right of way, and the train reappears. Not exactly a folk story, but a story nonetheless.

Go to Google and type in "railroad ghost stories". Some interesting stories there. I've also read some period ghost stories in old copies of "Railroad" magazine. Late 1930's and 1940's. I could look through them for you, if you want.

If you haven't already done so, check out B.A. Botkin and A.F. Harlow's "A Treasury of Railroad Folklore: The Stories, Tall Tales, Traditions, Ballads and Songs of the American Railroad".

It has some ghost stories.

Abebooks has several listings for it.

Also check out "Railroad Avenue" by Freeman Hubbard. Abebooks had 54 hits on it, most of them under $15. Don't forget that great old hymm, "Life's Railway to Heaven"

http://library.timelesstruths.org/music ... to_Heaven/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQ-T_tryaE0

Songs with railroad/spiritual connections:
I have a compilation CD with Down Bound Train by Chuck Berry (1956) followed by (Life Is Like a) Mountain Railway by Linda Ronstadt (ca 1973). Both songs go back to at least the 1920s; Down Bound Train is based on a poem The Hell Bound Train (but you sure as heck couldn't say that on the radio in 1956) and Mountain Railway was recorded years earlier as Life's Railway to Heaven.
Spooky streetcars:
At least one electric railway had a practice of renumbering cars that were involved in fatal accidents. Here in Southern California, the Los Angeles Ry. had two funeral cars back in 1911. As automotive hearses cut into the funeral trolley business, the larger car, Descanso (I) was rebuilt for everyday passenger service as car 1101 in 1921. After the first rebuilding it still had the distinctive stained-glass upper sash and clerestory windows, and many of the more superstitious Angelenos would not ride it. LARy then gave 1101 a major "makeover", replacing the upper sash with clear glass, rebuilding the body to an arch-roof configuration, and changing the number to 950. Now unlikely to "spook" anyone but a hard-core streetcar buff, it served until 1950, surviving into the LA Transit Lines era. The smaller car Paraiso became Descanso(II) and still exists, at Orange Empire Ry. Museum, where it is displayed during special events.

My hands down favorite (and my Daughters) is "The Banshee Train" by Odds Bodkin with ilustrations by the late Ted Rose.

Wonderful story - fantastic illustrations.

Try to locate a copy of Ghost Train by Tony Reevy. It's an expansive compilation of railroad ghost stories from across the US, from hoodoo engines to phantom lanterns, and IMHO the definitive resource on the subject. A personal favorite is a rather gruesome tail of revenge which took place on the old North Pacific Coast/North Shore right-of-way near White's Hill in Marin County. This Reevy guy really did his research to dig up that one.

I seem to remember the book being sold at Roaring Camp when I worked there (doubt it still is), and believe I also saw it at the California State Railroad Museum bookstore. Should be available off Abebooks.com, if not Amazon.

P.S: On the subject, Roaring Camp's founder, the late Norman Clark, is still said to frequent railroad's shop. A number of people claim to have seen him over the years, including many who never knew him in life and were suspicious enough to question others about a drop-in from "a big guy in a suit who didn't look all there" -- and who didn't look too happy about whatever they were doing to his engines!

That was Spielberg's "Amazing Stories". The first one was the "Ghost Train". It's avaliable on Netflix (even instant) if you have it. I just watched it, and it must have been the first time in 15 years I've seen it again. Acting isn't first class, but there are a few good lines in it.

The main character was a 100-yr old man that, when he was 10, fell asleep on the tracks and caused the wreck of a train he was supposed to board. He was now moving into his son's home which was built on the old ROW right where the accident happened. He believes that the train will return so he can finally board.

To Tony Reevy's Ghost Train: American Railroad Ghost Legends I would add Katie Letcher Lyle's Scalded to Death By the Steam ("The true stories of railroad disasters and the songs that were written about them"). Finally, Norm Cohen's Long Steel Rail: The Railroad in American Folksong which is an extensive (over 700 pages) scholarly (Univeristy of Illinois Press) look at the subject.

sc 'doc' lewis

All of your advice and help was excellent-but I have a few more quick questions. Does anyone know of any good Kate Shelley-esque stories where a non-railroader prevents a wreck by flagging a train-ideally one with a song about it?

Also, does anyone know of any songs about ghost-trains or hoodoo locomotives?

Thanks for all your help

GHOST TRAINS--Hank Snow on the album Railroad Man (RCA Victor LPM 2705/LSP2705)

It was early in the fall and a-blowin' up a squall
From the trestle you could hear the weirdest moans
With a mighty lonesome cry came a whistle from the sky
And it chilled the very marrow in my bones
Then a loud, rushing roar, like you never heard before
Turned the blood to icy water in my veins
As I watched with rising fear, something strange was drawing near
And I saw in the clouds ghost trains

Ghost trains, ghost trains, what a fearful sight
The Cannonball and Number Nine were racing thru the night
Just as they passed me by, I heard the engineer cry
Give her coal, give her coal, shovel it on
You could see the fireman grinnin', in the engine that was winnin'
But I knew before the finish they'd be gone
But he knew before the finish they'd be gone

You could see the driver's roll as they shoveled on the coal
And the black smoke came pouring from the stacks
As they thundered thru the sky, I am here to testify
You could hear the wheels a-clickin' on the tracks
Thru the smoke and the steam, you could see the headlights gleam
Now I have no proof, but still the fact remains
You may doubt it, but I swear, there were cinders in my hair
When I saw in the clouds ghost trains

Ghost trains, ghost trains, what a fearful sight
The Cannonball and Number Nine were racing thru the night
Just as they passed me by, I heard the engineer cry
Give her coal, give her coal, shovel it on
You could see the fireman grinnin', in the engine that was winnin'
As I watched I saw them fade into the dawn
As he watched he saw them fade into the dawn

Also look at versions of "Asleep at the Switch" and "Bill Mason" together with the variant (original source?) "Bill Mason's Bride".

sc 'doc' lewis