Country music, "Old Steam Train,"--by Rex Dallas.

And yes, all the British railway terms tell us where the song and Dallas are from--Australia!

I guess some of the Aussie's like American country, and steam, too!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bjx4-LgTpRc

Trains were very much a part of popular music if you go back to the 1940s; after all, they were about as much a part of the landscape as tap water! Among the ones that stand out, at least for me, is "I thought About You," written in 1939 by Jimmy Van Huessen and Johnny Mercer. Here is a 1957 recording by Ella Fitztgerald:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxEJKo_zHdY

"The Chesapeake and Ohio" was written by Carl Sigman and Herb Magidson, and recorded by Ella Fitzgerald and Tex Beneke in 1951. This is Beneke's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmMOgpJrSgM

Another favorite of mine, "Runaway Train" by Rosanne Cash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rusxEHQG_ow

Speaking of Roseanne Cash--"My Baby Thinks He's a Train."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYLWmOt_BX0

My own money seems to think it's a train--a bullet train! Here it comes, there it goes!

An early 1970's "pop video" (well before such things became mainstream) that would give todays Health & Safety & The Office of Rail Regulation heart failure.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8zt1V043hg

Filmed on the Isle of Wight Steam Railway if you need a "Preservation" connection....

and don't forget Albert Hammond....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwdvbREwwDc

Oh my, you tickled these old brain cells, and made me recall this sequence from a "Bollywood" movie--"Dil Se," which on Wikipedia translates as "From the Heart."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKX5x3KZXfY

Apparently the Indians are big romantics who love to go to movies--

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dil_Se..

Looking for something else (which I didn't find), I ran into this, by Queen--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEjU9KVABao

Here is a version of "Orange Blossom Special" by The String Cheese Incident. This group was predominately a bluegrass band which has morphed into multiple genres. They do other train themed songs in their shows, no two of which have the same setlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddaUjYYcmPY

This entire thread needs to be moved to the "Railfanning" section as none of this has anything to do with real preservation, but......

There have been books written about railroads and music and other forms of art (theatre/film/etc/).

The only ones I'm bothering with here:
*John Denver's last studio album, released in August 1997, only two months before his death in a plane crash, was an ostensibly children's compilation of railroad-themed songs, titled (of course) All Aboard! It might have been completely ignored save for his untimely passing; instead it won Denver a posthumous Grammy for "Best Album for Children."
*Even though it has nothing whatsoever to do with railroading, we can't ignore "The Loco-Motion," penned by Gerry Coffin and Carole King, for an obscure reason:
Though originally made popular by "Little Eva" Boyd, it was swiftly covered/"stolen" in a French version by then-up-and-coming eighteen-year-old singer Sylvie Vartan (more likely her label/handlers); the French version charted in October 1962 and was later made into a heavily cliche-filled TV video, featuring a miniature railway:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fD2I2Rmgs7g

The Parisian park miniature railway, with a LONG history all its own dating back to 1878(!), still operates today as part of what we could call an amusement park, not looking much different:

https://www.jardindacclimatation.fr/en/ ... etit-train

Did anyone mention - Josh Turner's "Long Black Train" featuring #610 throughout the video?

OK, how 'bout "Last of the Steam-Powered Trains" by the Kinks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtfoJ8pPE5c

"But I live in a museum, so I'm okay"... Recorded just two years before I started my active years at IRM, I can't believe I never ran into this song until a few years ago... It could have been my theme song, back then.

The music and this video are outstanding. Definitely one of my favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IItlT10uwWs

Big Iron Horses by Restless Heart

*

My favorite is the City of New Orleans. Arlo Guthrie is my kind of folk singer.

And my grandfather worked those trains in the Railroad Postal Service cars.

Ted Miles

If I tried hard enough, I could claim that just about anything from beers/breweries with a railroad-themed name/label to National Park Service visitation numbers, from The Monkees' Last Train to Clarksville to Black Lives Matter, from Biden's "Build Back Better" bill to James Garfield's assassination, from COVID-19-related masking/restrictions to national petroleum production policy, from Romanticism-era artwork to Japanese anime, somehow relates directly to rail preservation.

My discretion has kept me from broaching a LOT of topics here.......

And incidentally, the exact etymology of the word "highball" as a drink is still murky, with my dictionaries identifying at least three various possible etymologies: One relating to ball signals, one saying servings of whiskey in golf club bars in 19th century England were called "balls," and one somewhat speciously alleging it referred to a ball in a steam gauge on a speeding locomotive..........

Well folks,

I figured I would add a tune from the 1980's which has not made the list yet.

Railfan and model railroad enthusiast Rod Stewart had this smash hit back in the 1980's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vPrtOFKPWY

The tune is one of my favorites from the era. Video featured a number of scenes filmed at Hoboken Terminal in New Jersey, as well as some NYC subway footage.

More to come later (after I can find the videos)!

From Astraila...

Two from folk band the Waifs....

Crazy Train... maybe their earliest hit... sometimes preformed while dancing on the bar... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snNXZn2mL8Q

Maybe their best... Bridal train... about the charters train at the end of WWII to bring war brides to Sidney to [get on a ship to the US... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3k7OncTVHkI