"There was that image and gang mentality. I understand it and I knew what it was about. They created a lot of self-mythology about bunking on the trains and all that, but I said 'I won't be doing any of that. I'm not 12 or 13'." - Mick Talbot on being in Dexys Midnight Runners

'Something 'bout you hit me like a freight train to the chest The day we met, my loneliness Left the room the second that you walked in' - 'Fever Dream' by Alex Warren (2026) - 📷 Location, date & taker all unknown (other than somewhere in the USA) but would love to learn more

'And they all just wanna look like Richard Hell and Tom Verlaine Some of my best friends are trains' - 'Some Of My Best Friends Are Trains' by The Waterboys (1984) - 📷 Kings Cross station, London, 1980, taken by Paul James

'Said to the man at the railroad station I want a ticket, just for one' Remembering Glen Hansard, 'Outspan' Foster in The Commitments (among many other things), whose premature and untimely death was announced yesterday.

An addendum to today's earlier post. Here's one of the coaches from the 'Be Stiff Tour’ of 1978 (where all the acts travelled the length & breadth of the UK to gigs on a special charter train) parked at London's Kensington Olympia station.

Happy birthday Rachel Sweet, 64 today, veteran of the bonkers yet marvellous initiative that was the 'Be Stiff Tour’ of 1978 (where all the acts travelled the length & breadth of the UK to gigs on a special ‘Stiff’ charter train).

Beyonce back in the days when she could ride the New York City B train without getting mobbed. Date & taker unknown.

'When we came to the station all the trains were rusty The doors were open and the windows broken in' - 'Cider Apple Re-constitution' by Al Stewart (1975) - 📷 Leicester, England, late-1980s, taker unknown

'When the train come in the station I looked her in the eye' - 'Love In Vain' by The Rolling Stones (1969) on this, Mick Jagger's 83rd birthday - 📽️ 'Brief Encounter' (1945)

'I don't care about economy, I don't care about astronomy But it sure do bother me to see my loved ones turning into puppets There's a slow, slow train coming up around the bend' - 'Slow Train' by Bob Dylan (1979) - 📷 Burton Salmon, England, 1992, taken by Napier Ned

'I'm staring through the window, wonder where you are Moving through the landscape at a million miles an hour' - 'Locomotion' by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (1984) - 📷 date, location & taker all unknown (any guesses on the location?)

Is 'Mystery Train' by Elvis Presley the best train song of all time? Brian Setzer of The Stray Cats, John Illsley of Dire Straits & a host of others think so & explained why when I interviewed them for my 2016 book 'The Train Kept A-Rollin''. What do you reckon?

'Only last night I found myself lost By the station called King's Cross Dead and wounded on either side You know it's only a matter of time' - 'Kings Cross' by the Pet Shop Boys (1987) whose lead singer, Neil Tennant, turns 72 today 📷 Keith Long

"Arriving at stations, leaving from stations, watching people at stations. A railway station in a big city is a kind of oasis. They're magical places, particularly the old ones." - Pete Brown, beat poet & lyricist (of 'White Room' by Cream, among several other train songs)

'You don't need money, don't take fame Don't need no credit card to ride this train' Happy birthday Huey Lewis who turns 76 today 📷 Dick Neumiller

A still unknown Elvis Presley at Sheffield station (or 'depot'), Alabama, on 4 July 1956 during a food stop while on route to Memphis from a recording session in New York City. Within months, he would be a household name.

"There are so many train songs. But I'm a little surprised there aren't even more. A lot of musicians write their songs on guitars. What does the fretboard of a guitar look like? Train tracks stretching away into the distance." - guitarist Jeremy Spencer, who turns 78 today

'Freight train, freight train, going so fast' - 'Freight Train', written by Elizabeth Cotten, covered by many - 📷 location, date & taker unknown (and if you know, then I'd like to know)

'Picture yourself on a train in a station With plasticine porters with looking glass ties' Happy Global Beatles Day everyone (I honestly never knew such a thing existed until an hour ago, but if you're going to celebrate anything, it may as well be the music of the Fab Four).

"The first time I ever went to the Science Museum was as a 10-year-old. I saw the big blue Deltic diesel, and that was it. A personal love affair of mine started at that moment." Happy birthday Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, who turns 67 today 📷 Bethany Marsh

Paul McCartney turns 84 today - happy birthday 'Macca' Strange but true. During World War Two McCartney's dad, Jim, worked as a lathe turner at D Napier & Son's making shell cases. Post-war, Napier designed the engines that powered the UK's fleet of Deltic diesel locomotives.

"Trains are percussive. Trains sing. If you don't like trains, you probably don't like music either." Happy birthday Peggy Seeger, who turns 91 today. 📷 John Cosford

'I'm a poor man's son from across the railroad tracks Only shirt I own is hanging on my back' - 'Uptight' (Everything's Alright) by Stevie Wonder (1966) - 📷 Meridian, Mississippi, 1954, taken by J Parker Lamb

'Have to catch an early train Got to be to work by nine' - 'Manic Monday' by The Bangles (1986) - 📷 Liverpool Street station, London, 1983, taken by @spencervignes.bsky.social

'And I'm standing on ice when I say that I don't hear planes And I scream at the fools, wanna jump my train' - 'Heaven' by The Psychedelic Furs (1984) whose lead singer, Richard Butler, turns 70 today - 📷 Doncaster, England, 1977, taken by Paul Townsend

'On a clear night you can see, where the rails used to be Oh it seems like ancient myth, they once ran to Hammersmith' - 'Trams Of Old London' by Robyn Hitchcock (1984) - 📷 Eltham Green, London, 1952, photographer unknown

Nothing says British eighties indie music more than, er, a class 25 hauling a rake of wagons in the shadow of a coal fired power station. And as for why Blyth Power chose to call their 1985 album 'Chevy Chase'? There, I'm at a loss. Answers on a postcard, pretty please.

'Do-do-do, come on and do the conga Choo-choo-choo, the train across the floor' - 'Do The Conga' by Black Lace (1984) - 📷 Corfe Castle, England, taken by Eiki Sekine

'Now it's a mighty long way down the dusty trail And the sun burns hot on the cold steel rails' Happy birthday Ian Hunter, lead singer of Mott The Hoople and beyond, born on this day in 1939 📷 Napier Ned

'Well there's a great amount of strain about getting on that train Every day and every night' - 'Fantastic Day' by Haircut 100 (1982) - 📷 Old Oak Common, London, 1960s, taker unknown