Farther Down the Line

Gone are the days
when train whistles
blew my blues away.
What once took
an afternoon now
takes under an hour:
steam has progressed
to diesel and electric.
Thanks to local fanatics,
a little steam train
still trundles past on time,
blowing a fainter whistle
farther down the line.

Kim M. Russell, 13th January 2026

My grandson enjoying a ride on the Poppy Line steam train a few years ago.

It’s Tuesday and time for Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub, this week with Melissa, who reminds us that, on this day in 1968, Johnny Cash performed and recorded an album at Folsom State Prison in Folsom, California.

Melissa gives us some background to Johnny Cash, his first live album and the song ‘Folsom at Folsom Blues’, as well as the lyrics and a video clip, to inspire us to write a poem about whatever it evokes. We may write in any form but should keep our poems to twenty lines or less.

I took my title from the final verse of the song: “Well, if they freed me from this prison, if that railroad train was mine / I bet I’d move it on a little farther down the line.”

30 thoughts on “Farther Down the Line”

    1. Thank you so much, Melissa. I was very fortunate to have travelled on old steam trains when I was little, and my father worked on them for a while too. The Poppy Line train can be heard quite clearly in the summer, but sadly not in our village.

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  10. Great line choice to use from the lyrics. I don’t live far from a train station and some days you can hear the ramblings of the new high speed trains. Love the photo it displays his delight in this train adventure.

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  11. First, your grandson is adorable!!!! Yes, there are train clubs (although that’s not what they’re called) that run special events on beautiful restored old trains. We took one up into the Berkshires, a beautiful countryside are of Massachusetts…scenery was beautiful and there was even a dinner served on the train, white linen cloths etc. We’ve also ridden on the old COG train that goes up to the top of Mount Washington….coal shoveled in to keep it going! Murder on the Orient Express is a movie I’ve enjoyed specifically because of the train!

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    1. Thank you, Lill. We have quite a lot of steam trains in the UK, mostly run by volunteers, especially the one that runs through Yorkshire to Whitby, the Bluebell line on the south coast, and we have more than one here in Norfolk. I can’t begin to imagine the trains and the scenery you describe.

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  13. I love the line you chose from the song ~ trains of all varieties possess magical qualities (I’ve always believed} and your poem is the perfect illustration of that magic.

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