Daddy, What's a Train?

Daddy, What's a train? Is it something I can ride?
 Does it carry lots of grown up folks and little kids inside
 Is it bigger than our house? Well, how can I explain
 When my little boy asks me, "Daddy, what's a train?"
 When I was just a boy living by the track
 Us kids'd gather up the coal in a great big gunny sack
 And then we'd hear the warning sound as the train pulled into view
 The engineer would smile and wave as she went rolling through
 She blew so loud and clear
 That we covered up our ears
 We counted cars as high as we could go
 I can almost hear the steam
 And the big old drivers scream
 With a sound my little boy will never know
 Daddy, What's a train? Is it something I can ride?
 Does it carry lots of grown up folks and little kids inside
 Is it bigger than our house? Well, how can I explain
 When my little boy asks me, "Daddy, what's a train?"
 I guess the times have changed and kids are different now
 Some don't even seem to know that milk comes from a cow
 My little boy can tell the names of all the baseball stars
 I remember how we memorized the names on railroad cars
 The Wabash and TP
 Lackawana and IC
 Nickel Plate and the good old Sante Fe
 Just names out of the past
 And I know they're fading fast
 Every time I hear my son look up and say
 Daddy, What's a train? Is it something I can ride?
 Does it carry lots of grown up folks and little kids inside
 Is it bigger than our house? Well, how can I explain
 When my little boy asks me, "Daddy, what's a train?"
 We climbed into the car and drove down into the town
 Right up to the depot house but no one was around
 We searched the yard together for something I could show
 But I knew there hadn't been a train for a dozen years or so
 All the things I did
 When I was just a kid
 How far away the memories appear
 And it's plain enough to see
 They mean a lot to me
 'Cause my ambition was to be an engineer
 Daddy, What's a train? Is it something I can ride?
 Does it carry lots of grown up folks and little kids inside
 Is it bigger than our house? Well, how can I explain
 When my little boy asks me, "Daddy, what's a train?"