Well, I just came down from Chippewa
I had a station wagon and a hundred dollars
I was thinking about the girl I'd lost a year before
I hadn't seen her for some time
I thought that I might go on by
When your memory came flooding in
And you closed that door

Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I was a diesel locomotive
I'd come whistling down your track
Crashing in your door
Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I didn't have a heart
And you'd need a shovel for the coal
Just to get me started
Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I was a freight train 

Well, every time I talk to you
And I hear your jealous lies
I feel like I've been left abandoned
On some old railway side
And every time I hear your voice
My water just gets cold
My stoker will not stoke
And my boiler will not boil

Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I was a diesel locomotive
I'd come whistling down your track
Crashing in your door
Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I didn't have a heart
And you'd need a shovel for the coal
Just to get me started
Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I was a freight train

Well, every time I fell behind
And I could not get ahead
I wish someone would pull the lever
And give me a little sand
And every time I slip behind
Even further back
I wish some switchman would come out of the fog
And change my track

Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I was a diesel locomotive
I'd come whistling down your track
Crashing in your door
Wish I was a freight train, baby
Wish I didn't have a heart
And you'd need a shovel for the coal
Just to get me started

Wish I was a freight train baby
Wish I was a freight train