Union, Marengo,

Huntley, Elgin,

Harmony.

Stillman Valley, Byron,

Oregon, Mendota, Dixon.

Stockton, Elizabeth,

Galena, Princeton, Chitown.

Back and forth,all directions,

North and south, up and down.

No matter where you go,

every town along the rails,

across the prairie sing.

Rock Island, Tampico,

Amboy, Burlington, Walnut.

The lonesome rails

touched them all,

from chugging, staming dinosaurs

to gleaming streamlined flashes.

Galesburg, Kewanee,

Normandy, Ohio, Manlius.

Princeville, Edelstein,

Sparland, Henry, Lacon.

Chilli, Speer and Bradford,

Bureau to Peoria,

all the places on the road.

Villa Grove, Tolono,

Sadorous, Monticello.

All points east, all points west,

These diesel hulks brought the rest,

north and south.

Rock Island, Grand Detour,

Springfield.....

Some of the places on the rails

must be guardians of the tales

and heed the conductor's call.

And everywhere in the Prairie State,

along the rails, a name is whispered

Lincoln.