The Pennsy Aerotrain
© Lannie Dietle 2025
We drove up to the horseshoe curve,
And we parked there beside the bend.
We had come to see the future,
But found the beginning of the end.
We waited at that famous curve
To see that Pennsy Aerotrain.
A greenhouse like a Chevrolet,
And a nose like an Aeroplane.
An aluminum streamliner
Like nothin' you've ever seen.
Was she an aeroplane, or a train,
Or maybe somethin' in between!
She was majestic in the distance
As that big turn she rolled around.
By the time she got to our side,
She was shakin' the very ground.
She was pullin' ten shiny coaches
In their futuristic glory,
But the age of the passenger train
Was headin' on into history.
She ran from Philadelphia
On west to that Pittsburgh town.
They only ran her for a year,
And then they shut the Pennsy down.
No fancy streamlined train like that
Could compete with the modern car,
And people were flyin' on airplanes
When they needed to travel far.
But that new Pennsy Aerotrain
Was really somethin' for to see.
I saw her there in Altoona
Way back when I was only three.
Oh, I saw her in Altoona
Back when I was only three.
I saw her come around the bend
As she rolled on into history.
Yeah, I saw her rumble round the bend
As she rolled into history.
I saw her rumble round the bend
As she passed into history.
As far as genres go, this song is something of a genre bender. To me, it sounds a bit like a cross between Appalachian bluegrass and Irish folk music, and I like to think of it as being bluegrass adjacent.
L. Dietle
