lyrics to "The AC&Y"

                                              by Wayne Marks

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Intro:              Instrumental verse

                     When the trains first rolled on the AC & Y

                     The engineers smiled as the smokers left the station

                     Pumping billows of steam in the gray Ohio sky

Verse 2:        With the boomers on the line, the railroad was a workhorse

                     Hauling tons of limestone and new machinery

                     The Clinker Boys, the Big E's, the Dingers and the Mudhops

                     Moved mountains of freight for the rubber industry

Chorus 1:       The AC & Y was our fathers' railroad

                     It ran from Delphos to Mogadore

                     Now it runs through our dreams like a steam locomotive

                     Just close your eyes and hear the mighty engines roar

Verse 3:         Families waited on the platform at Bluffton

                     Rode the train to Delphos in 1923

                     On ribbons of iron they sailed through North Ohio

                     Through fields of corn as far as they could see

Verse 4:        They rode through towns like Elrose and Cordelia

                     Through burgs so small you'd see nothing but a shack

                     A brakeman tossed an orange to a boy in Pandora

                     The flagman blew kisses to some girls along the track

Chorus 2:       The AC & Y was our mothers' railroad

                     It ran through Copley and Arlington

                     Now it runs in our veins like hot burning coal

                     Just close your eyes and hear the mighty engines run

                     A splintered caboose in the dead of night

                     Brave men walked away from the wreckage

                     As the foreman checked the scene by lantern light

Instrumental Verse:

Instrumental Verse:

Verse 5:         At the Cork and Bottle, the railroad men would gather

                     Near the Brittain yard in Akron at the end of the day

                     Telling stories of the war and the passing of the steamers

                     How the dawning of the diesel wasn't far away

Verse 6:         Now trains still run by the old Copley station

                     Where McKeen Cars and Light Mikes rolled in the past

                     But put your ear to the wind and you still might hear the thunder

                     Of a steam-driven train and its lonesome whistle blast.

Chorus 3:       The AC & Y was our grandfather's railroad

                     It ran through Carey and Sycamore

                     Now it runs through our dreams like a steam locomotive

                     Just close your eyes and hear the mighty engines roar

Chorus 4:       The AC & Y was our grandmothers' railroad

                     It ran through Copley and Arlington

                     Now it runs in our veins like hot burning coal

                     Just close your eyes and hear the mighty engines run

                     Just close your eyes and hear the mighty engines run