In the Live at the Olympia recording, Stipe dedicates this song to his deceased grandfather and explained that during his childhood, his grandfather would take train trips between Washington DC and Atlanta, GA. Before he would depart, he gave each of his grandchildren a penny to place on the track, so that after the train had left each of them had a squished penny to remember him by until he returned. That would explain all the images of coins and trains, but I'm not sure about the rest of the song.
In the Live at the Olympia recording, Stipe dedicates this song to his deceased grandfather and explained that during his childhood, his grandfather would take train trips between Washington DC and Atlanta, GA. Before he would depart, he gave each of his grandchildren a penny to place on the track, so that after the train had left each of them had a squished penny to remember him by until he returned. That would explain all the images of coins and trains, but I'm not sure about the rest of the song.