if you want to curb the steam and be positively mean
and keep the locomotive at the station
you can shut the standpipe down it's the only one in town
and lock the coal box without explanation
 
when the whistle starts to blow and the train would like to go
and everyone in town is in elation
the black smoke billows high and is blocking out the sky
and steam converges upwards from the station
 
the engine driver's cue is normally from you
you don't give it so he can't release the train
the signal he well knows is essential 'fore he goes
he wonders what has happened to your brain
 
he pulls the little lever which lets steam begin to fuel
and the brake begins to shudder on the train
he has to make a judgement to go or wait for you
you just stand there withholding it in vain
 
he measures in his mind the people in a bind
if the train will never ever leave the town
the cargo will be late he simply cannot wait
so the whistle and the lever are pulled down
 
with the steamtrain's trip begun the driver feels he's won
though he slightly worried why no signal came
put it down to human error no need to worry more
he was gaining speed now the next town was his aim
 
unknown to engineers and the stationmaster's peers
a little cow had settled on the rail
the driver hit the brakes and was overcome with shakes
as the train had gone and barely missed his tail
 
this must be why the signal had never come to pass
he never had a guilty thought of it again
but the driver was mistaken why no signal "go" was taken
bearing down head-on ...... was another train
 
copyright 2002 Blue Who & Oldshoe