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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    3 CD box set with 40 songs about Olympia WA plus a detailed 80 page book with the history behind the songs and a plethora of great photos. With over 100 Olympa musicians. Stunning!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Olympia - A True Story via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

This is a crazy story that happened right downtown at 4th and Adams. The
surprising thing is probably that more people weren’t killed. One guy was
putting a letter into a mailbox on the side of the station when it exploded in
front of him. He ran.
This song, like many, started as a demo. I kinda liked my organ playing on
this and kept some of it. My playing can be heard on the left while Joe’s vastly superior playing may be heard on the right.

Dougherty, Phil (2006) A Runaway Train Derails in Downtown Olympia, Killing One, on March 13, 1959. Retrieved on 9 July 2022 from www.historylink.org/File/7929

lyrics

Runaway train

March 13, 1959, a crewless runaway train
Crashed into the Union Pacific station downtown
It smashed right through and crossed
4th Avenue into the China Clipper
It killed a man and sent twenty more to the hospital

Runaway train

A train crew up in Tumwater forgot to set the brake
when they unhitched it
Fifteen cars of plasterboard and plywood, nine-hundred tons
A slight decline soon became thirty-five to sixty miles an hour
Its deadly cargo heading downtown

Runaway train

The train it hit the station at 5:44 pm
It sounded like a dynamite explosion, witnesses said
Kenneth Dilly was the station’s telegraph operator
His body was found in an attic a football field’s length away

Runaway train

Half a block of downtown was destroyed
A quarter million bucks in 1959 dollars
The State Public Services Commissionfound Union Pacific
negligent in every way
Olympia would never have a downtown depot again

Runaway train

credits

from Olympia - A True Story, released October 14, 2022
The True Olympians + Bob Hart - Guitar

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Tom Dyer and The True Olympians Olympia, Washington

The True Olympians were formed shortly after Tom Dyer moved back to his hometown Olympia in 2006. Their focus is primarily recording, though they do play yer occasional live show. Current members: Tom - vox, guitar etc,, Gene Tveden- bass, b-vox, Joe Cason - keys, b-vox, Lisa Ceazan- vocals, and Jeff Parkhurst - drums, b-vox. Jeff is the band's 4th drummer. ... more

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