50 Best Country Songs About Trains

Best Train Songs in Country Music

There’s a certain kind of feeling that comes with trains in country music. It’s not nostalgia in a postcard way, not pure wanderlust either, but something caught in the noise between the whistle and the wheels. You can picture late nights on a platform, the cold metal air drifting in, the sound pulling out ahead of you while you’re stuck deciding if you’re leaving or staying. That mood sits in songs tied to trains, even when the tracks are metaphorical. Some of these tunes take the image straight, others use it sideways, but they still land in the same place.

Country doesn’t own trains though. They show up across pop, rock, country, and R&B songs, each carrying different weight, sometimes freedom, sometimes regret. In country, the train feels heavier, tied to distance and time, something you can’t hold still. That’s why it hits differently when a fiddle leans into the rhythm or a voice drags out the word “train” until it rattles. And not every pick here names a station or a track outright. Some wrap that restless energy into love, leaving, or the kind of waiting that never clears.

The best way to catch that restless train energy is to hear it moving through the music. These are the country songs that pull it off, carrying the rhythm, the distance, and the weight of the rails. Here are the best country train songs.

1. 'Folsom Prison Blues' by Johnny Cash

2. 'City of New Orleans' by Willie Nelson

3. 'I'm Movin' On' by Hank Snow

4. 'The Wreck of the Old 97' by Johnny Cash

5. 'Wabash Cannonball' by Roy Acuff

6. 'Freight Train Blues' by Roy Acuff

7. 'Midnight Train to Memphis' by Chris Stapleton

8. 'Orange Blossom Special' by Johnny Cash

9. 'Train, Train' by Blackfoot

10. 'Waiting for a Train' by Jimmie Rodgers

11. 'Texas 1947' by Guy Clark

12. 'Fireball Mail' by Roy Acuff

13. 'The Golden Rocket' by Hank Snow

14. 'Casey Jones' by The Grateful Dead

15. 'Engine, Engine #9' by Roger Miller

16. 'The L&N Don't Stop Here Anymore' by Johnny Cash

17. 'Choo Choo Ch'Boogie' by Louis Jordan

18. 'I Heard That Lonesome Whistle Blow' by Hank Williams

19. 'Smokey Mountain' by Hank Williams

20. 'Last Train from Poor Valley' by Norman Blake and Tony Rice

21. 'Hobo Bill's Last Ride' by Jimmie Rodgers

22. 'Long Train Runnin'' by The Doobie Brothers

23. 'Blue Train' by The Nashville Bluegrass Band

24. 'Midnight Train' by Hank Williams

25. 'Through the Window of a Train' by Blue Highway

26. 'I'm a Train' by Albert Hammond

27. 'Freight Train Boogie' by The Delmore Brothers

28. 'Pan American' by Hank Williams

29. 'Train of Love' by Johnny Cash

30. 'Last Train to Clarksville' by The Monkees

31. 'Big Train (From Memphis)' by John Fogerty

32. 'The Wabash Cannonball' by The Carter Family

33. 'Train 45' by Ralph Stanley

34. 'The Hobo Song' by John Prine

35. 'Runaway Train' by Soul Asylum

36. 'The Train That Carried My Girl from Town' by Doc Watson

37. 'All Aboard' by The Del McCoury Band

38. 'Night Train to Memphis' by The Statler Brothers

39. 'Waitin' on a Train' by Gene Autry

40. 'Crazy Train' by Ozzy Osbourne

41. 'Mystery Train' by Elvis Presley

42. 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down' by The Band

43. 'This Train Is Bound for Glory' by Woody Guthrie

44. 'Midnight Special' by Creedence Clearwater Revival

45. 'Train Whistle Blues' by Jimmie Rodgers

46. 'Hobo's Lullaby' by Woody Guthrie

47. 'Railroad Bill' by Crooked Still

48. 'Last Train to San Fernando' by Johnny Duncan

49. 'Engine 143' by The Carter Family

50. 'Take the A Train' by Duke Ellington