I think the 'father son and holy ghost were the 3 who died in the crash Buddy Holly, Ricky Valens and 'The Big Bopper' plus the pilot. The last train to the coast a euphemism for going to heaven. The pilot was not qualified to fly on instruments, it was night and in a snow storm but Holly swapped places with another band member so as to arrive at the next stop in time to buy new underwear before the show, ( I knew underwear came into it) , The other band member went by bus instead, As they were about to board the plane the Holly joked to the other guy ''I hope your bus crashes''
The reply was 'I hope your plane crashes''. Just 5 miles off the runway the plane did crash, but the crash was not seen or heard by anyone as the storm was so bad.