Johnny Cash sings this song about his son wanting to ride one. I am glad to say that I rode one with my son from Germiston to Johannesburg when he was little.
I heard this song by Jim Reeves when I was a teenager, and it made me think of a story I heard. The station master in Bulawayo sent a locomotive to Botswana, and in the middle of the night he woke up realizing that there was one coming in on the same line from Botswana. I was told that his hair turned white overnight as he realized there was going to be a head on collision. We all make mistakes in life, but some are bigger than others, and some are fatal.
This song is featured elsewhere, but it fits in with this subject.”I guess the sound of the outward bound, made me a slave to my wandering ways.” They say that at one point in history the station in Bulawayo was the longest in the world. I may be wrong, but I think it was Frank Ifield that gave the Beatles their big break by letting them appear on his show.
This is one of my favorite love songs. It is also featured elsewhere, but again, it fits in with my feelings for the old steam machines.
I used to love singing this song. I had recordings of it by Jim Reeves and Charles Jacobie, but I can’t find their recordings on the internet. It became real to me when I was in Nashville, and only had a very little bit of money. The song says: “My pocket book is empty, my heart is full of pain.”
Blue Train of the heartbreak line
I just thought of this song that I have in another section. This one of the early songs I used to sing that got me into the business.
I used to love singing this song too. When I was a teenager a friend at school invited me to go on holiday with him to Botswana, and we rode the train there and back. It was very exciting. In fact we stayed with his uncle who had a store next to the train line in Mahalapye. I also have a Gospel web site. If you want to check it out, go to: http://countrygospelandbible.com/