Chuck Berry's greatest vehicle song , and one of his best songs , period , barring possibly "Maybelline" , was "Downbound Train".The original "SS396" was released (Twice) as a promotional 45 by Paul Revere and The Raiders. It's been comped a couple of times on Raiders collections , and even on the first "Mexican Rumble: Psych- Out South of The Border" (!!). 'Night Train" was always believed to be about a train , but , maybe also about that FINE beverage (Buy it by the bottle , puke it by the roadside.), if only as an in - joke . When James Brown got around to doing a vocal version (The first?) , he rattled off all the train's destinations ("Miami , Florida, Atlanta , Georgia !)......