Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker, Peggy Seeger - The engine had reached the distant signal... | Текст песни

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• Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker, Peggy Seeger
• The engine had reached the distant signal...

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The engine had reached the distant signal
When the broken steam pipe began to scream -
John Axon and his mate couldn’t reach the driver’s brake
For the cab was full of scalding steam, poor boys,
The cab was full of scalding steam.

John Axon he knew that his regulator Was still wide open and on full power,
He couldn’t turn it off for the way that it was blocked,
And the cab was full of scalding steam, poor boys,
The cab was full of scalding steam.

They hung on the side and they both took turns
At shifting the regulator from afar,
They prodded at the bar with the pricker and the dart
But they couldn’t move the iron bar, brave boys,
They couldn’t move the iron bar.

Well, I was hanging outside of the cab on the fireman’s side. It was only a matter of seconds you
could be on the footplate at all, and we put coats over our heads to try and get to the regulator.
That was the main thing, to shut that, because we’d steam going on, and we’d no brake ourselves, and
we’re being pushed by an engine behind. And we were approaching the top then. Well I, I got a fire
iron out of the, the alcove at the side there, and tried to knock it down but it was only a short
regulator, and it was in second regulator, so it had to come right over and back again to shut. If
there’d have been first port we could have knocked it down and it’d have automatically shut. But
with it being in second regulator it was no use, no possibility.

John Axon, he got to the fireman’s side
And over the scream of the steam did say -
We’ll have to get outside if we want to stay alive,
Or this’ll be our dying day, poor boys,
Or this’ll be our dying day.

The guard, he was waiting to pin down the brakes,
The train it didn’t slow down that day -
He stood in the van with the brake stick in his hand
And he knew she was a runaway, poor boy,
He knew she was a runaway.

I’m watching him go over the top, we’ve left the banker. He’s gone over the top, all but what he
should do - this man’s failing to stop, we’re still going, there’s something wrong on’t engine. On goes
the brake.

John Axon, he cried to his fireman: Jump!
It is the only thing you can do,
While I hang on the side and I’ll take a little ride,
For I’ve got to see the journey through, brave boy,
I’ve got to see the journey through.

Jack realised the position was hopeless, we’re still steaming up the bank and gathering speed. He
ordered me to jump, to try and get some wagon brakes down, and to draw the guard’s attention to
put his brake on as hard as he could. I jumped, and I stumbled a bit on the ballast, picked myself up,
grabbed the brakes of the wagons as they were passing to drop them, but it was an impossibility to pin them. I had about six or seven down but it was no use, they was only bouncing up, and then of
course the train’s going away from me and the guard’s coming towards me, so I chased back to the
guard, shouting to him - ‘Alf, put the brake on, we’re away!’

John Axon, he was all alone, there on the engine side,
The train it reached the hilltop and began the downhill ride,
The sun it was still shining, the sky was still as blue.
He gambled with his life that day, and this John Axon knew.

After the guard’s van passed me, I looked round again and saw it disappearing over the hill.

Ooooh…
You’re on your own, mate,
Ooooh…
King of the footplate,
Oooh Johnny, oooh Johnny,
What makes you do the things you do, Johnny?
Oh why do you have to see it through, Johnny?
Oooh, oooh, oooh, Johnny.

It’s a seven-mile drop from Bibbington Top, oh Johnny,
It’s one in fifty-eight and you’ve no steam brake, oh Johnny,
She’s picking up speed and the power is freed; it’s a prayer you’ll need,
But you’ll never make it, Johnny.

Every yard o

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