Railroad poem

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:09 pm

I did not write this but fellow railroader sent it to me. I did work for a railroad many years.

Subject: Railroad Poem

RAILROAD POEM!

Last night as I lay sleeping,

I died or so it seems.

Then I went to Heaven

But, it was only in my dream.

But it seems St. Peter met me

at the Pearly Gates.

He said, "I must check your record,

So stand right here and wait."

I see where you drank alcohol

And swore quite often too.

Fact is you've done many things

That a good person shouldn't do.

We can't have people like you up here,

Your life was full of sin.

Then he read the last of my record,

Grasped my hand and said, "Come in."

He took me to the Big Boss, who said,

"Take him and treat him well."

He worked for the railroad, Sir.

He's had his share of HELL!

Author Unknown...............

guppy · Post by **guppy** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:15 pm

the railroad is big business in this area..lots of the men in my family work there....

good poem....

BTS · Post by **BTS** » Sat Dec 30, 2006 9:25 pm

Gee Okie................ Barkin up me tree...........

Here's one I like too....

I used to be a railroad bum a living on the go

I rode freights from Canada down to Mexico

From sunny Cal to Minnesota where the rippling waters falls

I never seemed to have a dime but I had myself a ball.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

I walked in the Silver Dollar in Reno one night

I Dropped a quarter in a one armed bandit

The lemons lined up rightTook my winnings then played poker

And I won ten thousand more

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore

When cotton's white in Tennessee

And shrimp boats sail in Maine

Peach picking time soon will find me ridin' a Georgia train

Couse I get restless when I'm still

I guess I always will Want to keep traveling all my life over another hill.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li loI used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li loI used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore...

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:27 pm

guppy;501039 wrote: the railroad is big business in this area..lots of the men in my family work there....

good poem....

Yep, it was a big thing where I grew up too. My dad had worked there for thirty years and his brothers and my brother and brother inlaw. I hired on the day I was 18 and worked until I retired.

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:30 pm

BTS;501128 wrote: Gee Okie................ Barkin up me tree...........

Here's one I like too....

I used to be a railroad bum a living on the go

I rode freights from Canada down to Mexico

From sunny Cal to Minnesota where the rippling waters falls

I never seemed to have a dime but I had myself a ball.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

I walked in the Silver Dollar in Reno one night

I Dropped a quarter in a one armed bandit

The lemons lined up rightTook my winnings then played poker

And I won ten thousand more

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li lo

I used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore

When cotton's white in Tennessee

And shrimp boats sail in Maine

Peach picking time soon will find me ridin' a Georgia train

Couse I get restless when I'm still

I guess I always will Want to keep traveling all my life over another hill.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li loI used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore.

Singing hi le hi lo he li le li loI used to be a railroad bum but I'm not anymore...

Very good. It used to be a real dangerous place to work. Got fairly tame in later years. I knew a few personally who got killed there.

There were hobos who lived by the tracks and ventured into neighborhoods and asked for work to eat. Most people fed them and some did have work for them. Burl Ives once was a hobo for real. I used to go into their camps and watch them cook etc. Never had a fear.

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:33 pm

Kathy Ellen;501109 wrote: Hello (((((((((((Okie)))))))))))))))))), It's your friend Kathy. Wow, I loved your poem. It's so good to see ya here at the FG. Missed hearing from you lately. It's fabulous at the beach lately....very cold, but the blues are runnin and the fisherpeople are pullin them in left and right. Think there will be good eats tonight. Did you know that there is a real "Bigfoot" in a town called Ada. There was a big show on cable about the bloke. You better watch out that ya don't meet him on a dark night:wah: What are ya cooking tonight? I bought a breadmaker and made some facaccia bread. Then I made some delish facaccia pizza. Yummo. Take care.

((((((((((Kathy!))))))))))) Good to see you. I have been to Ada many times. I never saw a Bigfoot tho. I used to go eat at Bobs bbq and it was the best in Oklahoma. Bob was about 6'6" and over three hundred. I could not eat a full order of ribs and trimmings. Especially if I wanted some of his homemade banana cream pie.

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 7:26 pm

Hello my dear friend Okie:-4

Even though our dear friend Aussie Pam is flying home to Oz, I know she would agree that we need an Okie poem or story about the railroad...:-4

Give us one soon ok:-6

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:50 pm

Kathy Ellen;501109 wrote: Hello (((((((((((Okie)))))))))))))))))), It's your friend Kathy. Wow, I loved your poem. It's so good to see ya here at the FG. Missed hearing from you lately. It's fabulous at the beach lately....very cold, but the blues are runnin and the fisherpeople are pullin them in left and right. Think there will be good eats tonight. Did you know that there is a real "Bigfoot" in a town called Ada. There was a big show on cable about the bloke. You better watch out that ya don't meet him on a dark night:wah: What are ya cooking tonight? I bought a breadmaker and made some facaccia bread. Then I made some delish facaccia pizza. Yummo. Take care.

I have been to Ada many times. Mostly working on wrrecks but have also took my family there to eat at Bobs barbecue. Bob was about 6'6" and over 400 pounds but has died and his son ran the place for a bit then sold it. Great place. If anyone had seen Bob in the dark they might have thought they saw Bigfoot.

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:55 pm

Kathy Ellen;788677 wrote: Hello my dear friend Okie:-4

Even though our dear friend Aussie Pam is flying home to Oz, I know she would agree that we need an Okie poem or story about the railroad...:-4

Give us one soon ok:-6

I will have to think on that. Maybe soon. I lost my hard drive and I had some poems on it I had written. I dont know where the typed out versions are right now. Pam is certainly a snow bunny. I would be scared to do that. There is a great poem about The Face Upon The Floor. It was about a saloon in Steamboat Springs. I understand there is truly a face painted on the floor there.

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Fri Feb 29, 2008 10:59 pm

Ahhhh... Roguery !!!!!! Yep, another railroad poem, Okie!!! I had a really odd trip back to Australia - the plane got diverted and in short I got home very late - but safely. Grin. And it's COLD here - I mean, go figger. I expected cold in the Rockies. Where I was they'd already had 400 inches of snow (and a ski season month yet to go). Last year it was 300 inches, all up. But it's actually already snowing in the mountains here, and this morning we put the fire on. Maybe, Kathy, we should all head to a spa somewhere neat - maybe on a tropical island.

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 5:39 am

AussiePam;788763 wrote: Ahhhh... Roguery !!!!!! Yep, another railroad poem, Okie!!! I had a really odd trip back to Australia - the plane got diverted and in short I got home very late - but safely. Grin. And it's COLD here - I mean, go figger. I expected cold in the Rockies. Where I was they'd already had 400 inches of snow (and a ski season month yet to go). Last year it was 300 inches, all up. But it's actually already snowing in the mountains here, and this morning we put the fire on. Maybe, Kathy, we should all head to a spa somewhere neat - maybe on a tropical island.

Yes, Here's to Roguery......miss it lots:-1

Thanks for the cosmo...will save it for later since it's 7 am. Just started to snow a bit...looks lovely. Glad you're home safe and sound....hate when the plane is diverted.....trip is long enough.

Yes, we need a spa...think we have a masseuse here at forum garden, I'll send him over to Oz.:wah:

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 6:49 am

To Roguery:-4 This one's for Okie:-6

The Railroad Man.

Three cheers I say for the railroad

man,

The man whose nerves of steel

Brave death as only a hero's

can,

With every turn of the wheel.

The hazard of the rail is rife

With greater risk than war;

The Mauser takes one noble life,

The grinding wheels a score.

The service, better year by year,

Is pushed with keenest vim;

Yet new conveniences come clear

In railroad life and limb.

Excessive hours have grown in

length,

Till Nature fairly reels;

While flesh and blood exhaust their

strength___

And then the deadly wheels.

Responsibility and risk

Confront him all the while.

What wonder he is brief and brisk,

In honest soldier style ?

His heart how fearless, warm,

sincere,

His handshake how intense.

And What a head, so cool and

clear

In sudden exigence.

His faith and trust in man beget

A faith in God as well,

What railroad man was ever yet

At heart an infidel ?

No better friend on earth than he,

No more unflinching foe;

With honest need how kind and free,

How harsh with sham and show.

Then cheer the heroes of the rail,

Befriend them if in need;

The Knighthood of the grimy mail,

The Chivalry of speed.

__Harry Edward Mills.

AussiePam · Post by **AussiePam** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:00 pm

Maybe I'll start a Roguery thread? Grin. Watch out for it!!!

In the meantime, here's another fine railroad poem

Mystery Train

I hear the plaintive whistle moan,

Lonesome, sad and low.

Where it's been, no way to tell,

Where it's going I dont know.

It's coming up the river bottom,

Long and black and lean.

It's single light, probes the night,

I stand there in it's beam.

Should I ride away tonight?

I can only dream.

It calls my name with every puff

Of coal smoke belching forth.

"Come ride with me, the sights you'll see!

We'll see the frozen North,

Then turn around and go to sea.

Come on man, go with me!"

librtyhead · Post by **librtyhead** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 1:33 pm

I love sitting in my backyard in the summer, when everything is quiet and I hear that whistle blow from the coal train. Great poems!:guitarist

Kathy Ellen · Post by **Kathy Ellen** » Sat Mar 01, 2008 2:31 pm

librtyhead;789122 wrote: I love sitting in my backyard in the summer, when everything is quiet and I hear that whistle blow from the coal train. Great poems!:guitarist

When I lived in Jersey City, we had railroad tracks a few blocks away. I also loved the hear the train whistle from the coal trains:-4