Engine 143

Engine One-Forty-Three

The Carter Family

Along came the FFV, the swiftest on the line

Running o'er the C & O road just 20 minutes behind

Running into Seville headquarters on the line

Receiving their strict orders from a station just behind

Georgie's mother came to him with a bucket on her arm

Saying, my darling son, be careful how you run

For many a man has lost his life in trying to make lost time

And if you run your engine right you'll get there just on time

Up the road she darted, against the rocks she crashed

Upside-down the engine turned, and Georgie's breast it smashed

His head was against the firebox door, the flames were rolling high

I'm glad I was born for an engineer to die on the C & O road “

The doctor said to Georgie, my darling boy, be still

Your life may yet be saved if it is God's blessed will

Oh, no, said Georgie, that will not do, I want to die so free

I want to die for the engine I love, one hundred and forty-three

The doctor said to Georgie, your life cannot be saved

Murdered upon a railroad and laid in a lonesome grave

His face was covered up with blood, his eyes you could not see

And the very last words poor Georgie said was nearer, my God, to Thee