Silver Ghost

(Sterling Whipple)



On a cold and rainy night I was sittin' by the light

Of my switchman shack a mine post on the mountain

The storm was pretty bad, the telephone was dead

But it was just eleven hours till the dawn.



Then much to my surprise the telegraph jumped into life

As I read the code I thought could this be true

A train was on its way headed up to mountain grade

But she didn't have no engineer or crew.



At the other switch they tried to put her on the mountain side

But she kept on coming up the mountain grade

Then I quickly dowse the light to try to see into the night

Maybe I could spot her headlight in the rain.



She was poundin' down below I could hear her whistle blow

And I thought Lord that's a high and mournful sound

Then the telegraph again there's a cave-in at the mine

And a hundred men are burried neath the ground.



Lord, she's coming now I see her round the bend and straight at me

And her boiler's glowin' red as coal in hell

Her headlinght switchin' wide searchin' all the mountain side

But the only sound she's making it's a wail.



Then I recognized the train by the number and the name

It's from miners Silver Ghost ol' 41

Then she vanished up the track by the lonely switchman shack

Like a mother who was looking for her son.



Now I once heard a story how an engine went to glory

Over fifty years ago on this same line

It was steaming for a cave-in there were men needed savin'

But it missed the curve in trestle near the mine.



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 and searching up and down the mountain

It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost.



It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost.

It's a train they call the Miners Silver Ghost...