Engine 143 Lyrics & Chords By The Carter Family

Along came the F15, the swiftest on the line.
Running o’er the C&O road just twenty minutes behind.
Running into Cevile, head porters 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 he darted, against the rocks he crushed.
Upside down the engine turned and Georgie’s breast did smash.
His head was against the firebox door, the flames are 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 George, "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 they could not see.
And the very last words poor Georgie said,
Was, "Nearer, my God, to Thee."