5. Queen of Peace – Nasonville Valley –

About the Song

“Queen of Peace” is the story of bringing a steam locomotive to life.

Engine No. 1, Queen of Peace, is an American-type 4-4-0 steam locomotive on the Nasonville Valley Railroad. The song begins early in the morning, while the railroad is still quiet and the locomotive rests inside the engine house.

From opening the engine house doors and preparing the locomotive, to oiling the valve gear, filling the lubricators, laying the fire, and watching the pressure slowly rise, the song follows the ritual familiar to every live steam engineer.

Then comes that wonderful moment when the safety valves begin to sing. The locomotive is alive.

Onto the turntable she goes. The mainline is aligned, the whistle sounds, the throttle opens, and Queen of Peace begins another day’s journey over the Nasonville Valley Railroad.

Queen of Peace

Verse 1

Rising early in the morning, with the dew upon the rails,
The valley lies in silence beneath the misty veil.
Engine Number One, the Queen of Peace, still slumbers through the night,
An old American Four-Four-Oh, waiting for the morning light.

The engine house doors swing open wide, the day is just begun,
We pull her from her resting place to greet the rising sun.
Her tender’s filled with water, her boiler topped up too,
And every moving part is checked like railroad men must do.

Chorus

Roll on, Queen of Peace, roll on down the line,
Through the woods and over trestles where the morning sunlight shines.
Hear her whistle echo through the valley wild and free,
She’s the pride of the Nasonville Valley Railroad Company.

Verse 2

The valve gear gets its oiling, the lubricators filled,
The old girl gets the care she needs from hands both strong and skilled.
Charcoal soaked in kerosene is laid upon the grate,
A single match brings life again to this iron lady’s fate.

The fire begins to crackle, the smoke climbs toward the sky,
The pressure slowly rises as the morning passes by.
One hundred pounds upon the gauge, the moment we’ve been waiting for,
The safety valves begin to sing like they’ve done years before.

Chorus

Verse 3

A sharp blast from the whistle tells us she is ready now,
We roll her to the turntable and line her up somehow.
The bridge turns slow and steady till the mainline comes in view,
And every rail ahead of us is shining bright with dew.

I climb aboard the tender deck and glance down at the track,
Two short toots upon the whistle answer softly back.
I crack the throttle open and the drivers start to bite,
The Queen of Peace comes back to life with all her strength and might.

Bridge

Puffing, chuffing, breathing steam, her exhaust beats strong and clear,
The smell of coal smoke in the air is music to the ear.
The rails begin to sing beneath her as she gathers pace,
And every mile reminds us why we love this special place.

Final Chorus

Roll on, Queen of Peace, roll on down the line,
Past Shirley Covered Bridge and through the tall old pines.
Across the mighty trestles and the valleys far below,
On the Nasonville Valley Railroad where the live steam engines go.

Roll on, Queen of Peace, let your whistle proudly ring,
Through the tunnels and the mountains where the forest birds still sing.
From the morning’s first light until the setting sun we see,
The Queen of Peace forever rules the Nasonville Valley Railway.

Outro

The sun is high above us now, the old girl’s running free,
And every trip reminds us what a railroad ought to be.
So when you hear that whistle call across the valley wide,
Come ride the Queen of Peace and share the journey by her side.

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