Engine One-Forty-Three

"Engine One-Forty-Three" (Roud 255) is a folk ballad in the tradition of Anglo-American train wreck songs. It is based on the true story of the wreck of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway's Fast Flying Virginian (FFV) near Hinton, West Virginia in 1890.[1][2]

The song's earliest documented appearance was in Railroad Man Magazine in 1913 as "The Wreck on the C. & O.", while its earliest recording was in 1924. The first use of the title "Engine One-Forty-Three" was for a recording by the Carter Family in 1929, which became one of the group's best-selling records and the basis for many subsequent recordings.[3]

  1. ^ Lyle 1985, pp. 40–54.
  2. ^ Waltz, Robert B.; Engle, David G. (2021). "The Wreck on the C. & O." The Traditional Ballad Index: An Annotated Bibliography of the Folk Songs of the English-Speaking World. California State University, Fresno. Retrieved November 23, 2021.
  3. ^ Cohen 2000, pp. 194–197.