The Legend of the Atlantic Coast Line

[Verse] Rolling down those Southern tracks, steam was rising in the air The Atlantic Coast Line train was a sight beyond compare Through Carolina softly, ‘cross Georgia's fertile fields It carried dreams and hobo songs, with a whistle like a shield [Verse 2] Coal and sweat and iron wheels kept the rhythm of the night With a lonesome whistle blowing, cutting through the pale moonlight From Richmond down to Tampa Bay, she healed the broken hearts The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, tearing boundaries apart [Chorus] Oh, the steel rails sang a song, the steam clouds kissed the sky The legends on the Atlantic Coast, where dreams were set to fly With the rumble of the engine, and the call of distant shores The story of a railroad, and the steam that never bored [Verse 3] Conductors knew each traveler by the twinkle in their eye From soldiers heading homeward to the drifters bound to fly The coastal hills and valleys watched the iron giant move Every town it passed through knew they had something left to prove [Bridge] Of black smoke and iron horses, where the stories come alive The Atlantic Coast Line breathed where the fevered dreams arrive Memories etched in steel tracks, that no time can erase We still hear the echoes of that ghostly railroad race [Verse 4] Mothers waving handkerchiefs, coal dust in the wind The flames that drove its engines made sinners out of men It brought lovers back together, and tore some clean apart The Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, the pulse of Southern hearts