Skimbleshanks, the railway cat The cat of the Railway Train There's a whisper down the line At 11:39 When the night mail's ready to depart Saying: Skimble, where is Skimble? Has he gone to hunt the thimble? We must find him, or the train can't start All the guards and all the porters And the stationmaster's daughters Would be searching high and low Saying: Skimble, where is Skimble? For unless he's very nimble Then the night mail just can't go At 11:42, with the signal overdue And the passengers all frantic to a man That's when I would appear and I'd saunter to the rear I'd been busy in the luggage van Then he gave one flash of his glass-green eyes And the signal went all clear They'd be off at last to the northern part Of the Northern Hemisphere Skimbleshanks, the railway cat The cat of the Railway Train You could say that by and large It was me who was in charge Of the sleeping car express From the driver and the guards To the bag men playing cards I'd supervise them all More or less Down the corridor, he paces and examines all the faces Of the travellers in the first and the third He established his control by a regular patrol And he'd know at once if anything occurred He would watch without winking And he knows what you were thinking And it's certain that he didn't approve Of hilarity and riot So the folk were very quiet When Skimble was about and on the move You could play no pranks with Skimbleshanks He's a cat that cannot be ignored So nothing went wrong on the northern mail When Skimbleshanks was aboard It was very pleasant when they'd found their little den With their name written up on the door And the berth was very neat, with a newly folded sheet And not a speck of dust on the floor There was every sort of light You could make it dark or bright And a button you could turn to make a breeze And a funny little basin You're supposed to wash your face in And a crank to shut the window should you sneeze Then the guard looked in politely And would ask you very brightly Do you like your morning tea weak or strong? But I was just behind him And was ready to remind him For Skimble won't let anything go wrong When they crept into their cozy berths And pulled up the counterpane They all could reflect it was very nice To know that they wouldn't be bothered by mice They can leave all that to the railway cat The cat of the Railway Train Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat The cat of the Railway Train Skimbleshanks, the Railway Cat The cat of the Railway Train