But it’s a mighty rough road from Lynchburg to Danville
And from Lima it’s on a three mile grade
It was on that grade that he lost his air brakes
see what a jump he made
He was goin’ down the grade makin’ 90 miles an hour
When his whistle broke into a scream
He was found in the wreck with his hand on the throttle
A scalded to death by the steam
Then the telegram come to Washington station
and this is how it read
Oh that brave engineer that run old 97
he’s a layin’ in old Danville dead
When I was a kid we had a different version, the second verse started somethinglike:
He was goin’ down the hill makin’ ninety miles an hour
When the chain on his bicycle broke
They found him in the grass....
I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.