Trains

A slave since birth, Harriet Tubman escapes slavery for the first time from a plantation in Poplar Neck, Caroline County, Maryland, USA. She will be recaptured but will escape again making use of a secret network known as The Underground Railroad or The Freedom Train, which helped slaves escape to the Northern states. Harriet Tubman would make over 19 trips back South to help others escape and her 1987 biography was titled Freedom Train. The hope and succour provided by the Underground Railway will inspire the musical Freedom Train, and numerous songs, including The Ballad Of The Underground Railroad, by Charles L. Blockson, best-known in a version peformed by the actor Danny Glover. The metaphor of the Freedom Train will also be widely adapted and adopted during in the civil rights stuggle of the 1960s, in such songs as People Get Ready [1965] by Curtis Mayfield And The Impressions and Freedom Train [1969] by James Carr. There is also a compilation LP, Steal Away : Songs of the Underground Railroad by Kim and Reggie Harris.

Celebrated country violinist Fiddlin' John Carson records I'm Going To Take The Train To Charlotte, for OKeh Records in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Loy Bodine records Wabash Cannonball and Farmer Gray for Gennett Records in Richmond, Indiana, USA. He also records Fox Chase No1 and The Hobo's Dream, but both tracks are rejected.

Bill Cox records The Midnight Special in New York City, USA. The song is thought to have been inspired by The Midnight Special train operated by the Chicago and Alton Railroad between Chicago, Illinois, USA, and St. Louis, Missouri. In many ways, the song is similar to The Midnight Special made famous by Lead Belly some years later.

Blues vocalist Joe Pullum records Cows, See That Train Comin' in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

Buddy Featherstonhaugh And The Radio Rhythm Club Sextet, with Vic Lewis on vocals, record Jamboree Jive and Low Down Empty Railway Station Blues, for HMV Records in London, England, UK, Europe.

Legendary calypsonian Lord Kitchener with Cyril Blake's Calypso Serenaders record The Underground Train and Nora, for Parlophone Records in Abbey Road Studios, London, England, UK, Europe.

Duke Ellington And His Orchestra record Build That Railroad, Love You Madly and Great Times for CBS Records in New York City, USA.

Sax Mallard And His Orchestra record Turn Me Loose, Angels Sing, Slow Caboose and Darling Let's Give Love A Chance for Checker Records in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West record Railroadin' at Capitol Recording Studio, 5515 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. the track will not be released and is eventually presumed lost.

Tommy Brown records Double-Faced Deacon, V-8 Baby, The House Near The Railroad Track and Atlanta Boogie for Savoy/Regent Records in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

The Meade "Lux" Lewis Trio records Riff Boogie, Reminiscent Blues, Cow Cow Blues, Honky Tonk Train Blues and other tracks for Atlantic Records in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

The Gil Melle Quintet record Life Begins At Midnight, Night Train To Wildwood and other tracks for Blue Note Records at Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, New Jersey, USA.

Elvis Presley records Mystery Train, When It Rains It Really Pours and I Forgot To Remember To Forget, at Sun Studios, Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Judy Garland and her children arrive by train in New York City, USA, to fulfil her upcoming dates at The Town And Country Club in Brooklyn. On her arrival, Garland is met by tax demands relating to earnings in prvious years in New York State.

Pioneering country stars Hank Williams and Jimmie Rodgers (a.k.a. The Yodelling Brakeman), are posthumously elected to the newly-opened Country Music Hall Of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

Vocalist Eddie Jefferson records I Cover The Waterfront, Take The A Train and Night In Tunisia, in New York City, USA, for Riverside Records.

Joe Maphis And Rose Lee Maphis record Lonesome Train Boogie, There'll Come A Time, Speak To Me Little Darlin' and Picture On The Wall at Capitol Recording Studios, 1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood, California, USA.

Bobby Darin is the musical guest on CBS-tv's Judy Garland Show in the USA. Darin performs Michael Row The Boat Ashore and Canaan. He also duets with Garland on a selection of railroad songs.

Chris McDaniel is born in Rock Springs, Georgia, USA. He will find success as the keyboard player for Southern-country-rock band Confederate Railroad, whose 1990s hits included Trashy Women, Queen Of Memphis and Daddy Never Was The Cadillac Kind.

Blues guitarist and singer J.B. Lenoir records Alabama Blues Mojo Boogie and other tracks at Sound Studios, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Bill Wyman, bassist of The Rolling Stones, is producing recording sessions for the psychedelic band Moon's Train in London, England, UK.

The Railroad Record Club in the USA releases a set of three 12" discs, lasting for two hours at 33 1/3rpm, as Special Pressing number 4. The discs record the complete run of interurban train No. 108 from Chicago, Illinois, to South Bend, Indiana.

The Web are playing at Klook's Kleek, in the Railway Hotel, West Hampstead, London, England, UK, Europe.

Merle Haggard records Money Tree, Picture From Two Sides Of Life and The Legend Of Bonnie And Clyde in Capitol Recording Studio, 1750 North Vine Street, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. The band on the session includes Glen Campbell, Billy Mize and Lewis Talley [gtrs], Roy Nichols [steel], Howard Lowe [bass], Eddie Burris [drums], George French [piano] and Bonnie Owens [harmony vocal].

Phluph have a recording session for Verve Records in New York City, USA, during which they record Girl In Tears, Elliptical Machine, Lovely Lady, Death Of A Nation, Love Eyes and the Bob Dylan composition, It Takes A Lot To Laugh It Takes A Train To Cry.

Status Quo, Alexis Korner, Fairport Convention, Blond On Blond and others play at the Railway Institute, York, England, UK, Europe, in a fund-raising show for York Minster.

Jimmy McGriff records Blue Juice (aka Hi-Heel Sneakers) and Take The A Train in New York City, USA.

Grand Funk Railroad release their second studio album Grand Funk, on Capitol Records in the USA.

The O'Jays reach No1 in the Billboard Top 40 singles chart in the USA with Love Train.

David Bowie is detained by police on a train trip from Russia to Poland when he is found in possession of books about the Nazis. he defends himself by stating that the books are for research on a project.

Slow Train Coming by Bob Dylan peaks at No3 in the Billboard US Top 40 albums chart, during a thirteen-week run.

Bob Dylan begins his Slow Train Coming tour at the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco. Audiences on this tour boo because his conversion to Born Again Christianity has affected his music.

On his Slow Train Coming Tour, Bob Dylan plays the second of fourteen nights at the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco.

On his Slow Train Coming Tour, Bob Dylan plays the third of fourteen nights at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, California, USA.

On his Slow Train Coming Tour, Bob Dylan plays the fourth of fourteen nights at the Warfield Theatre, San Francisco, California, USA.

On his Slow Train Coming Tour, Bob Dylan plays the eighth of fourteen nights at the Warfield Theatre in San Francisco, California, USA.

A train is named Gracie Fields in honour of the world-famed singer and actress from Rochdale, Lancashire, England, UK, Europe. The new nameplate on the Northern Rail Class 156 train is is unveiled at Manchester Victoria Station by Gracie Fields' nephew, Douggie Wakefield, in the presence of the mayors of Rochdale and Manchester.

Having sold over 4.6m digital downloads, Hey Soul Sister by Train becomes the most downloaded song of all-time for Columbia Records.

Stereophonics release a new album, Graffiti On The Train, in the UK.

On a tour in support of his third album, Gilded, Blair Dunlop plays at Folk On The Pier, Cromer, England, UK.