Crawshay became immortalised in South Wales folk-lore as having introduced one of the early steam locomotives in South Wales. Although technical evidence of its existence seems slender, there was nothing slender about the words of the song, which like
Sospan Fach was sing (and maybe it still is) for generations on pay nights, or after a notable victory by the Newport rugger team, or most often on the past on arrival of the last train at valley stations on Saturday nights. The original ditty does not often find its way into the milk-and-water versions of some folklorists; the first two lines went:
Crossher Bailer had an engine, and the engine wouldn't go,
So they pushed the bloody engine all the way to Nantyglo...
Having betrayed at the early age of six a promising interest in railway history by enquiring at the family breakfast table next morning, the meaning of certain words in the song as heard through the bedroom window the previous night, purposeful glances ensued across the table, followed by a rapid change of subject. But the next time the family went in state by train, perhaps to Tenby or Weston-super-Mare, I pointed to the magnificent Great Western 4-4-0 bringing in out train, and inquired in a loud and penetrating voice, 'Dadda, is
this Crossher Bailey's bloody engine?'