The line "For the railroad they're going to open next spring / Will life up from London to Birmingham bring" suggests that the song was created in 1837 before the opening of the London-Birmingham Railway in 1838. However the original plan had been to open the line at the same time as the line from Liverpool to Birmingham was opened i.e. July 1837 (see Bar030 A new song on the opening of the Birmingham And Liverpool Railway); but difficulty in constructing the Kilsby Tunnel in Northamptonshire delayed the opening of the line to London. This song may have been written before the day was known about, putting its earliest date at 1836. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_and_Birmingham_Railway
Latest Date
1838
Evidence for Latest Date
Openeing of the London to Birmingham Railway
Source of Text
Roy Palmer (Touch on the times ISBN 0140811826), says that this is a shortened version of a text in the British Museum 1876 e 2
Where Printed
Birmingham
Roud
Indexed B62823 but not numbered
First Line
You Birmingham lads, come listen awhile,
Source of Music
No tune given
Comments on Song
The balladeers hope that trains would be used for travel to prize fights was well founded. Excursions trains taking spectators to fights were popular.