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Correct us if we're wrong, but we think this is the first book about train songs. It's high time for a book on a genre of songs that runs into the hundreds (probably thousands when you think of songs like "Wabash Cannonball" or "Rock Island Line" which have been covered by numerous artists) .It's not surprising that there are so many songs about the subject, because there's something about a lonesome train whistle, or the rattle of steel wheels on the tracks that stir emotions deep in the human soul. Trains symbolize freedom, travel, sad partings or joyful reunions, along with a yearning to see what's around the next bend.Small wonder then that songwriters from Birmingham, Alabama to Birmingham, England, have taken trains to their hearts, describing the whole gamut of feelings that the sights and sounds of locomotives evoke.