They call me the brakeman on the Kansas City line
Drinkin' whiskey with my coffee, takin' my sweet time
Now our fuel is burnin' hotter than it ever will again
The misty, misty moonlight is showin' signs of rain
And the tracks keep getting colder the further west we go
The snow starts falling faster and my coffee's getting cold
Our whistle blowin' louder than it ever has before
It won't be long till Christmas, I'll be knockin' at your door
The conductor is an old friend since 1962
He married my young sister when he was twenty-two
Sometimes we talk, sometimes we don't, the silence can kill a man
But we try to stay awake, any old way we can
We carry the strangest cargo, the world has ever seen
We've got boxcars full of matches and tanks of kerosine
We drive the nine-o-two from Dallas, this train, she's safe and sound
We love the smell of diesel, because we're California bound
As we pass the lights of Vegas, I remember how it use to be
How I spent my nights there gamblin' with a waitress on my knee
One hundred miles from Fresno, I remember that old flame
And wondered if she still knows that I'm the brakeman for this train
Yes they call me the brakeman on the Kansas City line
Drinkin' whiskey with my coffee, takin' my sweet time