Train That Never Returned, The

DESCRIPTION: A train sets out, but "Did she ever return? No, she never returned, Though the train was due at one. For hours and hours the watchman stood waiting For the train that never returned." The song describes some of those who waited for it
AUTHOR: Music by Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording by Fiddlin' John Carson); Stout-FolkloreFromIowa's source claimed to have learned it in 1888
KEYWORDS: train railroading separation death derivative
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Stout-FolkloreFromIowa 53, "The Train That Never Returned" (1 text)
Randolph 694, "The Train that Never Returned" (1 text)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 215, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text, filed as "c" under the parodies)
Richardson/Spaeth-AmericanMountainSongs, pp. 42-43, "The Train That Never Returned" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lyle-ScaldedToDeathByTheSteam, p. 31, "The Train That Never Returned" (1 text, tune references)
Spaeth-WeepSomeMoreMyLady, p. 139, "The Train that Never Returned" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #23794
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Did He Ever Return" (OKeh 45176, 1928; rec. 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship that Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Wreck of Old 97" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Rarden Wreck of 1893" (tune & metre, theme)
cf. "The Flying Colonel" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Whitey Johns, "The Train That Never Arrived" (Romeo 1205, 1930)
NOTES [24 words]: I am assigning the Whitey Johns recording to this title, without having heard it, but I'm calling it a SAME TUNE to be on the safe(r) side. - PJS
Last updated in version 4.2
File: R694

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