“Trains” by Al Stewart

Al Stewart starts off by detailing how locomotives have allowed him and others to move around, fulfilling their own personal aspirations. But later on he references major international events in which these vehicles were also notably used.

Verse 1

In the first verse, it is revealed that Al and his peers traveled to and from school on trains.  And it also appears that they did so throughout their entire pre-college educational experience.

Al later mentions feeling as if “the city was calling” him. Or put differently, he had reached the point in life where he wanted to transcend his childhood environment and pursue his whole destiny. And the prospect of doing so was made more possible by the widespread presence of railroads. And to note, Al Stewart was born in 1945.

Verse 2

The second verse is based on a similar theme, but it is not as personal as the first. Rather it illustrates how, even “through the 19^th century”, the usage of locomotives have afforded people the opportunity to move about more freely. 

And as the passage comes to an end, the vocalist hints at its “military” applications also, or an idea like even back then some people were already thinking of using the vehicle in that regard.

And that notion then segues us into what we will call the second part of the song. Herein Al Stewart is not focusing on himself or fellow passengers but rather major wars and how trains were used therein.

In that regard, the vocalist commences by referencing one Jean Jaurès (1859-1914), whose death contributed to the onset of World War I. And the reason he is bringing up WWI, as alluded to earlier, is because it was a conflict in which trains were heavily utilized. In fact as the website of the Imperial War Museums explains, trains were one of a pair of “technologies that were crucial in shaping the First World War”.

Verse 4

This is also the same theme upon which the fourth verse is based. But in this passage, Stewart gets more opinionated or sentimental. He hints that the massive amount of soldiers who died in the WWI was made possible, if you will, by the usage of trains.

Verse 5

The fifth verse is the only segment of this song whereas trains are not mentioned at all. Instead the vocalist poetically delineates major historical events that happened after WWI. These references appear to include the Russian Revolution and the Great Depression. He also possibly indirectly acknowledges the rise of Nazism during “the nightmare years” of “the (19)30s”. 

Then after that of course came World War II, which Al refers to as “the same thing over again”, i.e. WWI on repeat.

Verse 6

Unfortunately, as detailed in the sixth verse, locomotives were used for a more nefarious purpose during WWII besides just transporting soldiers. And that was bringing Jewish prisoners to and from the German concentration camps. 

Indeed Wikipedia even has an entire page, entitled “Holocaust trains”, dedicated to studying this practice. The vocalist then proceeds to give an account of what it must’ve been like to ride aboard one of these trains. And it is pretty obvious that he is sympathetic to the victims of the Holocaust.

Verse 7

The seventh verse, in a sentimental sort of way, takes us back to the first. In other words, in his childhood Al Stewart perceived trains as such ‘innocent’ machines. And so it is with his second-verse recounting of the function they served in the 19^th century. But within the context of the World Wars, they transported so many people (many of whose names have been forgotten) to their deaths.

Verse 8

Thus the eighth verse shows that with this knowledge and understanding in mind, Stewart’s perception of trains is not that of the average man. Yes, he does still patronize them regularly and notices how the experience has even improved over time. 

But simultaneously, since he knows how these machines were employed during war, while onboard he can’t help but to think of those historical figures as mentioned above. So it’s almost as if the artist’s views trains as a machine that had been created for the good of man but instead has also been used to propagate death.

Verse 9 (Final Verse of “Trains”)

Then in the final verse he gets philosophical as opposed to nostalgic, historical or sentimental. And in that regard, Al comes to two conclusions. The first reads sort of like in the grand scheme of things, any and every device will be used for both good and evil. 

And secondly is something like, ultimately, “all our lives are just a smudge of smoke”, i.e. short and finite anyway. So even if the narrator possesses the kind of mind that associates locomotives with major historical tragedies, at the end of the day he can’t hate on trains.

“Trains” Facts

Artist(s): Al Stewart
Writing: Stewart
Production: Ross Hogarth worked with Peter White to produce this song
Release: September 21 of 1993
Album/EP: “Famous Last Words”

Was “Trains” a single release?

 No.

Al Stewart’s “Famous Last Words”

Renowned rock musician, Alastair Ian Stewart, released his famous history and folk song, Trains, in September 1993. It was the seventh track on his 1993 classic album, Famous last words. This project was the 12th studio album of Stewart, and it contained 11 tracks.

Stewart composed all the songs on the album except for three songs. He dedicated the album to the memory of the late Peter Wood. Wood was one of the album’s co-composers who died the year it was released.

The album was recorded in several Hollywood studios, including Capitol Recording Studios. Three producers, namely Peter White, Ross Hogarth, and Joe Chiccarelli, produced the album.

“Trains”, narrates his childhood memories as a Polish boy riding trains to boarding school. During those days, the railways were used to transport troops to the front lines of the World Wars and convey slaves and captives to camps in Poland.

The Role of Trains in the First and Second World Wars

The transportation of prisoners, mass slaughter victims, army troops, Holocaust victims and war spoils were mostly done through railway transport between 1941 and 1944. This was mainly because there were not enough large cars capable of transporting a large group and items.

The train system was built and managed by the German National Railway, the Deutsche Reichsbahn.

Despite the presence of trains by early 1900, the importance of the European railway organization came to light during the execution of the “Final Solution”.

The Final Solution was an expression implored by the Nazi German government which involved the mass capture and murder of European Jews.

The trains served different purposes at different times. They were used to gather the Jewish populations in transit structures called “ghettos”.

By late 1941, about 3.5 million Polish Jews had been transported to these ghettos by the use of trains. The trains were also used to forcibly transport Jews and other Holocaust victims from ghettos to extermination camps, forced labor camps and Nazi concentration camps.

From 1914, when the World Wars had just begun, Britain and Europe used trains as the transport means for sending off their troops, essentials (water, food), firearms and equipment across Britain and continental European border lines.