Life is Like a Mountain Railway (Railroad to Heaven)

M.E. Abbey wrote the words in 1891. Charles D. Tillman wrote the words.

It's gone through many minor changes over the years. Mostly, it's been shortened, by having new versus that borrow words and phrases from multiple older verses.

Life is like a mountain railway, with an engineer that's brave
We must make the run successful, from the cradle to the grave,
Heed the curves and hills and tunnels, never falter never fail,
Keep your hand upon the throttle, and your eye upon the rail.

Chorus:
Blessed Savior, thou will guide us, Till we reach that blissful shore,
Where the angels wait to join us, In God's praise for evermore.

As we roll along the mainline, they'll be storms and they'll be night,
They'll be sidetracks unexpected, on the left and on the right,
But with the straight always before us, and our hearts upon the prize,
They'll be no disembarkation until we reach paradise.

As you roll across the trestle, Spanning Jordan's swelling tide;
You behold the Union Depot, Into which your train will glide;
There you'll meet the Sup'rintendent, God the Father, God the Son,
With the hearty, joyous plaudit, "Weary pilgrim, welcome home."

You-Tube Videos of This Song

• Merle Haggard

• Boxcar Willie

• Johnny Cash, Earl Scruggs, Carter Sisters, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Click here to return to the Classic Train Songs page.

Whatever else you get out of our pages, I hope you come away with some great ideas for "sharing the joy."

And please stay in touch!

    - Paul Race

All material, illustrations, and content of this web site is copyrighted (c) 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
Classic Train Songs(tm) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this page or this site, please contact us.