The railroad has inspired a lot of music over the years, from ‘The Carrollton March’, written in 1828, two years before the first public railroad opened in the US, passing through tunes of jazz, blues, and Folk from the depression era, right up to the present day, when train-inspired songs are still written across all genres.

Given the abundance of great train music out there and the popularity of the miniature rail hobby, it has always surprised me that the two are not combined more often. Just as good food is best made when paired with appropriate wine, my opinion is that the aesthetic effect of a picturesque model railway could only be intensified by combining it with a carefully chosen backing track.

There are several possibilities for the realization of such a project. The simplest way would be to simply play the music from the speakers in the same room, but it may be appealing to some modelers to try to integrate the music more closely into their design. This could be achieved by hiding the speakers inside one of the buildings; Depending on the details and time of your design, there could be a ragtime piano coming from a western hall next to the track, Glenn Miller coming from a ballroom in town, or a modern rock band playing in a stadium or hall. concert. Purists may not like this idea, but for me it would also be an interesting project to put music on board a locomotive.

As already mentioned, there are excellent railroad songs of almost every genre and era, to suit most tastes and designs. But don’t just take my word for it! Here is a selection of suggested ‘combinations’, one of which may be suitable for you.

1. Music: Sixteen Tons – “Tennessee” Ernie Ford
Railroad: anything loaded with coal
A story about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by the great country Merle Travis. I like the 1955 version of Tennessee Ernie Ford, which hit number one for a total of 18 weeks. This could be played on any model railway with freight trains carrying coal, but of course it would fit better with a design set in the 1950s.

2. Music: Long Train Runnin ‘- The Doobie Brothers
Railroad: Illinois Central Line
A lighthearted funk-rock improvisation that peaked at number 8 on their 1973 recording of The Doobie Brothers. The lines “Well Illinois Central and Southern Central Freight / You’ve got to keep pushing Mom, you know they’re late.” set the ideal layout for this quite firmly as the Illinois Central line, but it could be paired with any line established in the 70’s. If you like this song but your railroad is set in the 90’s, try the Bananarama version from 1991 on! its place!

3. Music: Chattanooga Choo Choo – The Glenn Miller Orchestra
Railroad: anything steam
This classic jazz train song was written in 1941, setting it in the transitional era, but there is no question that it is best suited for a design that features primarily steam. The story and the train that inspired it are a bit confusing, as the song tells of a trip from New York to Chattanooga, but the 2-6-0 steam engine in question actually ran on the Southern Railroad. from Cincinnati, from Cincinnati to Chatanooga. Don’t let this little discrepancy deter you from trying this melody on your design!

4. Music: The City of New Orleans – Arlo Guthrie
Railroad: Illinois Central Line
Illinois Central has more than its fair share of great train songs, as this 1971 composition by Steve Goodman is set on it as well. Arlo Guthrie made it a hit the following year, and since then it has been a firm favorite with folk and country artists. Although its optimal match would be with an early 1970s Central Illinois model railroad, I don’t think anyone can fault it as long as its design introduces New Orleans.

5. Music: Rock Island Line – Lead Belly
Rail: Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad
First recorded by John Lomax in 1934, the number of versions of this song in later years allows it to be played with a wide range of model railroads set at the time. The old bluesman Lead Belly recorded several popular covers in the late 1930s and 1940s, but it was Lonnie Donegan who made it an international hit in 1955. This would be a great pick for anyone modeling Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad. , which opened in the 1850s and operated until its eventual abandonment in 1980.

6. Music: A Passage To Bangkok – Rush
Rail: any scenario in Asia
Something a little different now, for fans of progressive rock or those whose design is set in the East. This 1976 progressive song is about a train called ‘Thailand Express’, and while it may be fictional, there is a fancy train called ‘Eastern & Oriental Express’ whose line runs through most of Southeast Asia. There aren’t that many model railroads living in this part of the world, and most American and European enthusiasts model trains from their own country, but I didn’t want you to feel left out just because you’re a minority!

7. Music: Train Whistle Blues – Jimmie Rodgers
Rail: any steam
Jimmie Rodgers was one of the first really popular country musicians and grew up working in New Orleans and the Northeastern Railroad. His style of music was undoubtedly influenced by the working chants of the ‘gandy dancers’ that he would have heard during this period, and he ended up recording several train songs, of which my favorite is the yodel-icious. Whistle Blues Train. This would work well with any steamship design from the 20s-40s, but perhaps it would be especially congruent in a setup that models the New Orleans and Northeast or South Pacific Railroad, where it worked for a period later in its tragically short lifetime. One can’t help but wonder how many more great train songs he could have recorded had he not succumbed in 1933 at just 35 years of age to tuberculosis.

8. Music: Steel Rails – Alison Krauss
Rail: Any (1990s and later)
There are a lot of bluegrass / country train songs written in the 90’s and 2000’s, and in my opinion it’s often about “if you’ve heard one, you’ve heard them all.” I chose Alison Krauss’s 1990 single Steel Rails as being prettier than most, with an attractive mandolin line running through much of the song. The lettering isn’t specific to any particular line or locomotive so you could pair this with any design from the right era, but if you want to be really pernicious you might be better off with something in the home state of Krauss, Illinois.

My hope is that this article will inspire at least one or two of you to try pairing your rail with some train music, and I’m sure we’d all love to see a recording of the result. For those of you who are just starting out in the hobby and don’t even have your own design yet, there’s no reason why you can’t listen to some of these songs while dreaming of your future model railway.