WHEN IT'S A TIE
We start our trip with anticipation and pride
We hope this trip will be an enjoyable ride.
We check our orders and warrants before we start.
If we are to survive we have to take them to heart.
We mount our train and test our air.
We check everything with lots of care.
Industry tracks are all over town.
We head out and go all over town.
Safety is the foremost though during our trip.
We talk about it via the walkie talkie on our hip.
Upon a road crossing we do come.
Whistle and bells blasting, the automobile makes a run.
The crash and the grind is more than we can take.
The whole crew is wide awake.
We never know just what we will find.
It is so awful, we wish we were blind.
From the weight behind there is no way to stop.
He didn't make it, call and ambulance and a cop.
Another thought as to what we might find.
Will it be anything like it was the last time.
If only he had heeded the red lights flashing,
He would not be lying there with his teeth gnashing.
It is not for us to say who will live and who will die,
When we meet in the middle and it's a tie.
At all road crossings they will try to beat.
If only a tie, for us, it is just a repeat.
The wrecker and ambulance are now gone.
We are left to finish our trip all alone.
We try to blame ourselves and that is bad.
We did all we could with the rules that we had.
We finish our trip and our crew is gone.
We then thank the good Lord that our crew made it home.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C) 1996
A SIGHT TO BEHOLD
A thunder clap and it starts to rain.
A red block has stopped our train.
The rain drops glisten as they pass through our head light.
They are falling from somewhere in the dark night.
The dust and the smog has finally cleared.
They became less and less as the rain neared.
Two bands of wet ribbon steel lead off into the night.
Our path is marked by the reflection on the rail by our head light.
The signal changes and we pull on our train once more.
Lightning fills the sky and the rain starts to pour.
As the rain hits our engine, it gets harder to hear.
From inside the cab, we have nothing to fear.
It is a beautiful sight that few ever behold.
We watch the show as our wheels grab the rail and try to hold.
In a little while, we will will out run the rain.
As we pull and strain and get speed to our train.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C)1996
STEAM TRAINS
The steam trains and their whistles are now in the past.
New iron horses are here that are strong and fast.
They can do more work than was even imaginable before.
What the steam trains pulled is now, mostly folklore.
While sitting at a crossing, waiting for a diesel train to pass,
Automobiles backed up for miles will attest to the difference in class.
The cars on a steam train, you could about count on
your hands and toes.
The number of cars on a diesel train, the Lord only knows.
But, try as I might, I can not forget the past.
In my heart, the steam train will always last.
You could look at a timetable and the steam trains ran on time.
The diesels are all extras, and as to when they will run,
I would not wager a dime.
Thinking back to a time when I had a lot of time to play.l
Watching steam trains go by, filled a lot of my day.
Now, only a steam train special will occasionally pass our way.
Young ones now, can only guess at what it was like when
steam trains ruled the day.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C) 1998
PEOPLE AND TRAINS
At the railroad a lot of changes have taken place.
It sure has turned into a big rat race.
It sure was nice when people ran the trains.
Now, Computer Assisted Dispatching really is a pain.
It was just only a short while back,
We could all sit and listen to the clickedy clack.
The click and the clack are now all but gone.
Welded rails has taken away that song.
The fireman is a thing of the past.
We all knew that he wouldn't last.
Now, the brakeman is on the way out.
It won't be long, there is no doubt.
They have taken away the conductor's place to ride.
And somehow, we have taken all of this in stride.
The conductor spread goodwill as he waved from the end
of the train.
Now, with no place to ride, on this one thing,
he will have to refrain.
The engineer will probably be the next to take the fall.
Then the conductor will be left to do it all.
At the rate they are going, it is plain to tell,
Before too long, there will be no one left to ring the bell.
A dream in the eye of those who would command,
Is to have a train that is no longer manned.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C)1996
TEXAS HEAT WAVE
As I walk down the tracks the heat waves rise toward the sky.
It is so hot that even the lizards are about to die.
Just out of my reach are the little pools of water
that move about as I walk.
They evaporate and are gone just as quick as my words are
when I speak.
As I walk, clouds of dust kick up from my feet.
It is so hot, even the sun flowers are cowed by the heat.
The air I breath is not a relief.
The hot parched air causes my lungs grief.
The reflected heat from the rock and steel,
Is almost unbearable but, it is the only thing I can feel.
My feet are so hot I can hardly stand.
When I grab hold of anything, it burns my hand.
As I drink water, I have to stop and wonder,
About the water that runs out of me as if I were a colander.
Some of the heat will break when the sun goes down.
It is the only relief that I have found.
In a few months it will start to cool,
Because a change of seasons is the rule.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C)1996
LIVE LONG LIFE
I have been working for the railroad all my live long life.
The only thing I had been married to longer was a gal I
called my wife
Playing with trains is a lot of fun.
And I have the biggest train set under the sun.
I started out switching and trying to make my mark.
Now it is thirty years later and I am still here in the dark.
When I am on the road and on the other end,
Seems somebody forgets how to get me home again.
I live by a phone while I am at home,
And out of a grip when I am gone.
I get on board and head for the other end,
And pray that the train will stay on the rail until I get
tied up again.
Switching in the yard is for the most part, pretty hard.
There are a lot of trains and boxcars to keep me on my guard.
I come to work to make my day.
Twelve hours later and I am ready to hit the hay.
When I get to work, I am already tired.
I consider myself lucky if I can get off duty before
I get fired.
I now think back to where it all begin.
There sure have been a lot of trains run since then.
I am not as fast as I used to be.
My parts are wearing out, I think on that, we all can agree.
When I hear a sound like bark being stripped from trees,
I don't worry because it is just the worn out cartilage
in my knees.
Now, that my career train has made it out and has started back.
I pray that it will make it home before it jumps the tracks.
O.W.(Smokey)Cleveland
(C)1995
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