Amen, Brother Bob, Amen........
although on the song "Last ride" I always pictured something a little older than the Northerns, since the engineer was "grooming his big iron steed," I always envisioned one of Santa Fe's ubiquitous Prairies or older 2-10-2s.
If you want authentic stuff that you know southern and western railroad men actually listened to, look no further than the "Singing Brakeman", Jimmie Rodgers.
If you can ever get a copy of his biography by Nolan Porterfield, you really get an appreciation of the man and his lifelong connection (and real affection) of railroading.
I am a grown man and I can still tear up at the account of how his friends on the Southern carried his portrait out of the engine cab, and helped unload his body from the baggage car that brought him home to Meridian.