Fireball Mail

[Roger Cole]

There is an old bluegrass song called "Fireball Mail" which has been sung by Roy Acuff, Osborne Brothers & many other country artists.  Was the Fireball Mail a real train or a fictional one?  If real, where did it run and on what railroad?  As I remember correctly, another railroad song, the "Orange Blossom Special" was being performed before the train actually was running.

[Mike the Choochoo Nix]

Written by Fred Rose, a fairly recent song. If there was a Fireball mail or a unofficial nickname for another train there should be some record.
Mike Nix

[Dale Reynolds]

Many RR songs are ficticious. One of my favorites is The Wabash Cannonball, where they say it goes everywhere, including Birmingham. This drove me nuts because I knew the real train only went between Detroit and St Louis. Then I figured out the song was written in c.1910 and the real train began c. 1948.  dale

[Stewart "Start" Rhine]

The Western Maryland Railway had the fireball logo on their locomotives as the railroad was known as the fast freight line.  Some of the WM passenger trains had an RPO and I remember hearing "Fireball Mail" as a slang term for their varnish runs.

[Roger Cole]

One verse makes a reference to Dallas, which the Wild Mary never came near

Let her go look at her steam hear her blow whistle and scream
Like a hound waggin' his tail Dallas bound bound bound the fireball mail

[Ira Schreiber]

But don't forget Dallas, Pennsylvania on the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad.

[Wayne Laepple]

That's Dallastown, Ira. Dallas, Pa. was on the Lehigh Valley RR north of Wilkes-Barre.

[Ira Schreiber]

Close, just no cigar.............

[Roger Cole]

There's a good YOUTUBE video featuring Roy Acuff's version of the song plus lyrics and a neat video from the steam era. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4VIOdzdHlM


I think I found the answer to my question.  I just discovered that Wikipedia has a list of named passenger trains in the US and Fireball Mail isn't listed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_named_passenger_trains_of_the_United_States_%28D%E2%80%93H%29

[Jock Ellis]

We used to have an assistant football coach in South Georgia from California, PA. Always thought that was weird.

[John McNamara]

There's also an Ohio, PA. See Ohio Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania - Wikipedia

[James Patten]

Also an Indiana, PA.

[Mike Fox]

Also Maine, New York

[James Patten]

Near Chicago, there's a Maine Township.  Their school district number is 207.

[Paul Uhland]

Don't forget Mexico, Missouri.