I started with a shovel

I started with a dream

Stoking up the firebox

To get a head of steam

Coal dust on my hands

I had cinders in my eyes

I remember mamma waving

As the train rolled by



I'm a railroad man

I've got steel rails on my mind

Got this engine in my blood

Got to get on down the line

Listen for my whistle

And see my headlight shine

Got to grab on to that Johnson bar

And make those drivers whine



Then one day, that old engine it was mine

Had my hand upon the throttle

And my eyes on the line

Tip my hat to the old-timers

That taught me what I know

Haul down on that whistle

As I haul on down the road



I'm a railroad man

I've got steel rails on my mind

Got this engine in my blood

Got to get on down the line

Listen for my whistle

And see my headlight shine

Got to grab on to that Johnson bar

And make those drivers whine



Now the steam trains are gone

The way all things have to go

I'm driving a big diesel now

And hauling iron ore

Hauling timber, hauling people

To where they have to go

All the way from Hudson Bay

To the Horth Bay Shore



I'm a railroad man

I've got steel rails on my mind

Got this engine in my blood

Got to get on down the line

Listen for my whistle

And see my headlight shine

Got to grab on to that Johnson bar

And make those drivers whine