Sea shanty TikTok: Watch bizarre railway rendition of viral trend shared by Scotrail

Scotrail have shared a bizarre rendition of the latest viral trend to take off on social media.

The song tells the story of whalers waiting on a resupply ship, its title in reference to The Weller Bros, an Australian whaling company that operated along the southern coast of New Zealand from 1830 to 1840.

Signing off from their Twitter duties at midnight on Monday, Scotrail staff bid goodnight to their followers with a ‘nightmare fuel’ TikTok video of user, Luke Nisbet, who used a filter to impose his eyes and mouth on to the front of a Scotrail train bound for Glasgow Queen Street as he mouthed the words to sea shanty, Wellerman, which has gone viral in recent weeks.

Sea shanties are a type of “work song”, that was once a common fixture of most maritime settings.

The traditional songs once sung to make hard labour at sea a little more bearable are gaining a resurgence in the 21st century, thanks in part to a Scottish postman.

The term dates back to what is believed to be the mid-19th century, and the songs were sung to pass the time and make the hard graft of life out at sea a little more bearable.

The Wellerman song tells the story of whalers waiting on a resupply ship that operated along the southern coast of New Zealand from 1830 to 1840.

Nathan Evans, who first uploaded a video to TikTok of himself singing a version of the folk song, ‘Wellerman’ on December 27 which has since racked up millions of views and has seen the viral song be turned in to remixes across the platform.

In response to Scotrail posting the video, one user wrote: “Nightmare fuel. I love it.”

Another added: “I don't think I'll be able to sleep for a long time after watching this.”

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