Does anyone know any railroad folklore stories?
My thanks to railfan. It’s nice to know my efforts have brightened someone’s day. There are a few heroes of traditional railroad folklore, some immortalized in song, although at times the truth gets a little “spin” placed on it. Prime of these legends, slightly misrepresented, is “the great one,” John Luther “Casey” Jones. On an early, misty, fog shrouded April morning in 1900, near Vaughn, Mississippi, Mr. Jones got himself into a jackpot that cost him, as well as 18 others, their lives. The truth is slightly different than the lyrics of the song, “Ballad of Casey Jones” which was written by an African-American engine wiper not long after Mr. Jones’ demise. His skills as an engineer were formidable and he carried along with him a reputation as a “crackerjack” hogger. The man himself had a strong sense of what was proper and expected of a human being. This is demonstrated by the fact that his fireman was a black man named Sim Webb. On the Illinois Central at this time in history, engin
