Silver Ghost

On a cold and rainy night, I was sitting in the light Of my switchman's shack on my post on the mountain The storm was pretty bad and the telegraph was dead But it was just eleven hours 'til the dawn Then much to my surprise, the telegraph jumped back to life As I read the code I thought, "Could this be true?" A train was on it's way, headed up the mountain grade But she didn't have no engineer or crew At the other switch they tried to put her on the mountainside But she kept on coming up the mountain grade Well I quickly doused the light, to try to see into the night Maybe I could spot her headlight in the rain She was pounding down below, I could hear her whistle blow And I thought, "Lord that's a high and mournful sound" Then the telegraph began, there's a cave-in at the mine And a hundred men are buried 'neath the ground Lord she's coming now I see, around the bend and straight at me And her boiler's glowing red as coal in hell The headlight switches wide, searching all the mountainside But the only sound she's making is a wail Then I recognize the train by the number and the name It's the Miner's Silver Ghost Old 41 Then she vanished up the track, by the lonely switchman's shack Like a mother who was looking for her son Now I heard a story, of how an engine went to glory Over fifty years ago on this same line It was steamin' for a cave, and there were men who needed saved But it missed the curve and trestle near the mine And every now and then you'll hear a whistle on the wind If a mountain slides and many men are lost It's a high and lonely wail, searching up and down the mountain It's the train they call the Miner's Silver Ghost The train they call the Miner's Silver Ghost The train they call the Miner's Silver Ghost