Hello steam fans,
"They gave him his orders at Monroe, Virginia,
saying Steve, you're way behind time"
No doubt most everyone here is familiar with this song. Maybe someone can help with a couple questions. Farther on in the song are the words, "It was on that grade that he lost his................" and here some versions say "airbrake" while some say "average". The justification for "airbrake" seems to be that Engineer Steve was driving the engine like a race car, defeating the airbrake. "Average" I thought meant how the train was running with respect to its schedule, but that makes no sense since the second line says that he was already behind from the start. Now I find in author Katie Letcher Lyles's book "Scalded to Death by the Steam" that "average" can also mean loss of brake air pressure. How does driving too aggressively cause loss of brakes and which term do you think is better?
Another thing that always puzzled me is the line "You see what a jump he made". Do you suppose this simply refers to the train's fall from the trestle?
"The Wreck of the Old 97" is my favorite train song, having been given it on a 78 RPM record (still have it) about 1954, so it's about time I cleared this up! Thanks for any insight. I'll appreciate it.
