The weather in Tall Tale can be hard to get used to for anypony not from the area.
So pretty much everypony else in Equestria.
Sure we got weather reports like anywhere else in Equestria, but there was the ever present possibility that the weather posted would be much, much worse, like the storm we went through with #3800.
But if you believed that the rains were ridiculous in Tall Tale, you didn’t what to be around when winter showed its head.
There were so many things that set Tall Tale winter's apart from anywhere else in Equestria. First, due to how tall the Smokey Mountains were, winter on the summit set in nearly two months before the first flakes ever fell on Tall Tale or Vanhoover. On top of that, once winter was in full swing, the snow that could fall on The Grade in the matter of a day was extraordinary.
A normal storm for the area would drop around 2-3 feet overnight, which isn’t that bad. However, that was blown out of the water when real storms set in. There is the term white-out, where there is so much snow falling that world is turned completely white and you can’t see a thing. And those conditions did set in a lot, but the worse storms that could hit were nicknamed “black outs.”
Black-outs were the nickname we gave to storms when clouds were so black and so plentiful, that it could turn a bright noon sky into a clouded night sky, along with dropping white out levels of snow.
The worst storm that had ever hit the line in the winter dropped over a foot of snow an hour for 8 hours in complete black-out conditions. Winters were so bad that I never went through one where the snow drifts on the summit didn’t eventually grow taller than the roof of my engine.
Which as you can expect is a very scary thing to experience, at least for the first few years.
All of us on the railway knew how bad the storms could be, and what signs showed a storm was coming. So when we saw the signs, we got trains off The Grade and closed it down, better to let it get covered and clean it in one go than fight it for however long the storm lasted.
We still ran other trains, we just had to send out all that didn't require crossing the mountains. There were a few times we tried to press our luck, but most of the time we wised up, chickened out, and went back to the yard.
But there was one winter, where we didn’t. It was the last winter we had complete freedom from the Canterlot nobles that would eventually take control of the line, but they were already sticking their noses in our business.
I was up on the summit with our massive rotary snowplow #02, clearing away snow from the blackout storm the night before. #02 was one of four rotary snow plows that were stationed in Tall Tale for use in clearing the line after heavy snowfalls.
#02 was by far the biggest out of the bunch, standing at an impressive 16 feet tall, with a rotor 13 feet wide. The massive rotor was run by a 210 psi boiler that was attached to a set of 2 cylinders cannibalized from an HG10 that was being overhauled at the time #02 was being built. Those cylinders turned a massive system of gears that allowed the pistons to turn the rotor at a max rpm of 120rpms. While that may not sound like much, #02 could easily cut through snow 13 feet deep and then throw it up to 200 yards away all day long.
At that moment we were cutting through around 12 feet of snow at a smooth 3 mph. It had been a while since we had maxed out #02, and watching the snow banks created come up to the bottom of my window, proved we were getting close to that point.
Watching the snow banks try to grow taller than the locomotive was, and always has been one of the craziest things I would ever see.
I sat back in my seat of #9335, the locomotive that was permanently connected to #02, before I looked over at Coal Dust, who busy keeping up boiler pressure as we pushed into the snow,
“How you holding up over there?” I called over to him.
“Oh just fine. I think they need to clean the pipes out on this thing, she’s trying to be hard on me.”
I nodded as I turned back to looking at the massive black box in front of me that was the plow, “Blow Torch warned me that might be the case, I'll have to let him know when we get back to Tall Tale tomorrow night.”
Just as I finished speaking, there was a cracking through the cab and another voice spoke up, ”Stokes, I can’t believe how much snow that storm dropped. We barely had a foot on the ground up here yesterday, and now, we’re pushing nearly 13.”
It was Blastpipe, who was up in the rotary with Crankshaft, controlling the massive machine. I looked over to my left, where a massive crystal was mounted to the backhead. This was part of a new radio system that had come out of the Crystal Empire, it was a wide broadcast system that allowed you to talk to and be heard by anyone who had one of the crystals, and was more clear than walkie talkies, along with the fact that the radio waves could reach farther.
The official name of the radio was Crystal Broadband Radio, but everyone just called it a CB radio for short. There were only a few examples of it on the railway as it was very expensive being a new product and technology, but management was planning to eventually get one into every engine on the road.
I picked up the mic for the CB and keyed it, “I know what you mean Blast, and I'm not too happy about it. Just keep an eye on the height of the snow in case it gets above 13, I don’t feel like getting yelled at for jamming up #02 like Axle Load did last year.”
”Ha! Yeah I'd rather not have to deal with that. Don't worry, I'll keep my eye on it.” I heard in reply.
"Hey, key that for me." Dusty called from his side of the cab. I did and reached over towards him, "Hey Blast, you ever going to go back to working with Ash Pan? Seems like you've been stuck with Crank for awhile."
We both expected Blastpipe to reply, but instead, Crankshaft's voice came through the CB, "I wish he would! Dusty tell Ash to stop getting in trouble and getting stuck on yard shunter duty, that's my job and I want it back!"
Dusty and I couldn't help but laugh. Even though Crankshaft and Blastpipe didn't have any actual problems with each other, they weren't the best mix when it came to a crew. Crankshaft was used to being a yard shunter, and he enjoyed that job. But since Ash Pan couldn't help but get himself into some sort of trouble, he kept getting stuck on yard duty as a punishment. This forced Crankshaft to take over Ash Pan's job with Blastpipe. Eventually Crankshaft got better about it, but it did lead to him getting assigned to help Blastpipe anytime Ash was indisposed, like training new ponies in the yard. On the bright side, Blast and Crank were able to develop a better working relationship.
As we continued to pound away at the snow in front of us, my mind started to wander as it often did on long trips over The Grade when I wasn’t stressed to hell and back. My mind immediately went back to the day before, before the line had been closed due to the weather.
Me and Dusty had just arrived in Tall Tale with a 275 of loaded coal cars after spending the previous night in Vanhoover.
As I brought the train to a stop on Incoming Track 2, I looked up to the sky and immediately noticed the incoming sighs of a black-out. “I guess we’re only getting one run in today Dusty. Black-out’s rolling in.” I called to the other side of the cab.
A few seconds later I heard a faint, “So it is.” come from Coal Dust as he too took notice of the sky.
We barely discussed it any further as a yard worker came up and uncoupled us from our train, and I proceeded to move us off toward the shops. #9366 was due in for an inspection and pipe cleaning, and black-out or no, it was still going to be done.
It was confirmed not to long after we pulled into shop bay 7, as we were dumping the fire, that The Grade would be closed down until the weather cleared up.
As I said, that didn’t mean that the railway ground to a halt. It just meant that we couldn’t send any trains north out of Tall Tale, or south out of Vanhoover. So as I was walking back to the shops after talking to the yard master, I wasn't surprised to see a train assembled and ready to roll out, sitting on track 2.
I was, however, surprised to find the 225 led by HG10 #9320, the first of the class, lined up for a run up The Grade about twenty minutes after the line had been closed.
Curiosity got the best of my, and I walked over to figure out what was going on. As I got closer to the engine, I saw a head poke out the engineer’s window, and smile at me, “Well hi there Stokers, what are you doing walkin’ around the yard in this weather?”
I had to try not to laugh, the old stallion had been a friend of Hotbox, Brake Check. I always found it funny how he talked to me like I was still 7 years old, even when I was 23. “Oh just heading back to the shop to help inspect #9366. What are you doing?”
“Oh just about to take this train over The Grade.”
“But didn't they closed The Grade to all traffic like, half an hour ago.”
“We did.” Said another voice behind me, making me jump.
I turned around to find Spotlight standing behind me. “We did close the line, but we just got a telegram from Vanhoover saying that their hospital is running low on supplies. Those supplies are on this train, along with food and other products that their stores are running low on. So considering that the storm coming in is a big one, I said that we'd get the train to them today.”
He then looked up at Brake Check, “Brake Check there just happened to be walking past my office when I was discussing this with Red and Ditchlight, and volunteers himself and Funnel Flare to haul the train.”
“And we don't regret it.” Came a call from the other side of #9320, making it logical that it came from Funnel Flare, Brake’s fire-stallion.
I looked past Spotlight toward the mountains that held The Grade, and saw the clouds rolling in. “As important as this may be, I still see it as risky. That blackout looks like it will be in full force in less than an hour. Wouldn't do anyone any good if Brake and Funnel got stuck up there.”
Spotlight cracked a smile, “That's why they aren't going alone.” It was at that moment, a yard shunted pushed a rotary snow plow, #04, down onto the front of the train. Being the newest of the rotary plows made for the railway, it didn't require being permanently attached to a locomotive.
There was a heavy clang as the couplers of the rotary and locomotive locked together before I caught onto what Spotlight was planning, “I get it, you'll man the rotary and keep the line ahead of the engine clear.”
Spotlight chuckled, “Well me and Knuckle, but yes that's the plan.”
I nodded, then turned to continue my walk back to the shop, “Well I'll get out of your mane then. The faster you leave the better chance you have of getting over the summit before to much snow sets in. #04 is only built to handle up to seven feet after all.”
“I know what this thing maxes at, I designed it for Celestia’s sake! I haven't lost my mind yet Fire Stoker!” I heard Spotlight call back to me as I walked away and he climbed into the snow plow.
I just laughed, and continued on my way back to the shops. Me and Coal Dust spent the next four hours in the shop with the inspection ponies and then the pipe fitters, as we gave 66 a good once over.
We then left her in the hooves of the backshop crews as we left to take a 175 to Hoovington with one of the local freight 2-8-0’s, #741, while 66 had her brick arch rebuilt. We arrived back in Tall Tale with a rack of freshly repainted passenger cars at around three in the afternoon.
I always found it funny that our shops had every facility imaginable, including a locomotive paint shop, but we didn’t have a shop set up to paint passenger cars.
Despite the fact that it was three o’clock, we had to have our headlight on, as the blackout had finally started to set in over Tall Tale, making it nearly as black as a moonless night.
As I brought us to a stop once again on incoming track 2, the Tall Tale yard master, Slip Coach, came up to us, “Alright guys, take this ol’ gal over to shed 3-2, and put her away. We have enough engines and crews out right now, so you guys are off the hook till tomorrow.”
Coal Dust and I looked at each other before I turned back to Slip Coach, “Can do Slip.” There was a clunk behind us signaling that the locomotive had been uncoupled from the train. With that, I opened the regulator as one of the switch ponies ran ahead and set the road.
15 minutes later, #741 was in her berth in the sheds, and Coal Dust and I were on our way back to our bunks. I went to sleep that night with barely a thought on my mind, as snow heavily feel outside the four walls around me.
I woke up the next morning to find Tall Tale buried under five feet of snow. Usually, the summit of The Grade was under twice the snow that covered Tall Tale, making me guess that the summit was under at least 10 feet of snow.
I, however, wasn't intimidated by the heavy snowfall. I was a Tall Tale colt, born and raised, so I was quite used to what could and did happen during our winters.
I pulled on a pair of “clean” denims, slapped my engineer’s cap on my head, wrapped a scarf around my neck, and walked out of the bunk house.
As I made the short walk to the main yard office, I looked around at all the towns ponies clearing snow off and away from their houses, more often than not seeing a pony pulling a wagon loaded with snow towards the rail yard.
Our back shops would take all the snow collected from around the town, melt it down, and then use it to fuel the boilers that ran the equipment used in the shops. This arrangement meant that the city was always clear of high snow drifts, and the shops barely ever had to use the railway’s water, which massively cut costs.
As I approached the yard office, I could hear the weering of a pack rotaries coming from the yard. These were the rotaries that kept the yards clear of snow so the trains could still run.
They were basically the same design as the rotaries used to clear the line, except for a few small things. First, they were smaller than the main line rotors, standing at a maximum of 8 feet tall, with 5 foot rotors. The other main difference was the rotor didn’t shoot snow out to the side. Instead, it put it onto a conveyor belt that then deposited the snow into custom built 70 foot long gondolas, which when full, would be left in the shops to suffer the same fate as the snow that came from town.
I walked into dispatch, and made a beeline for File’s desk. He was the only dispatcher I could handle first thing in the morning, and nearly everypony knew that by now.
“Mornin’ Files.” I called as I leaned on his desk.
The grey-green unicorn looked up from the paperwork he had been doing, “Morning to you too Stokes. Enjoy your afternoon off?”
“Oh yeah, but I can only be away from the railway for so long. So, what have you got for me?”
Files dug through the papers on his desk, then handed me a clipboard with a set of papers on it, “Well you’ll be getting your fix today, we put you on rotary duty with #9335.”
I looked the papers over, it was a straight forward run. We push #02 up The Grade as it clears the line of all the snow, and inspect as we go to make sure the line was ready to run trains again. Simple, easy, straight forward snow clearing run.
“This shouldn’t be too hard. Uh, where is #02 and 9335 at? It doesn’t state it on the paper.”
Files’s eyes widened just slightly for a second, before he dug through the papers on his desk again, “We didn’t know where it would be because we took it out of the snowshed to be worked on. Someone gave me a paper telling me what bay it was in at the shop. Ah here it is.”
He pulled another paper out of the piles on his desk and hoofed it to me. On it, it stated that #02 and her connected locomotive #9335 were in shop bay 11. I gave everything one last look over before nodding and looking back to Files, “Alright, I got everything I need. Thanks Files I’ll see you later.”
The grey dispatcher smiled and waved as I turned to walk away, “Later Stokes.” There was a few seconds pause before I heard him yell, “Hey wait!”
“What?”
“Keep an eye out for the telegraph lines, we can’t get in contact with Vanhoover or any of the signal boxes on their side of The Grade, so there’s gotta be a break somewhere.”
I thought about this for a second. The telegraph lines were mounted on the outside rail of the south bound track, and ran from Hoofington to Vanhoover. They were the only way we could have contact with the signal ponies on The Grade while they were on shift. Usually snow falls, no matter how heavy, couldn’t knock out the telegraphs, as the lines used over The Grade were nearly two inches thick, and hidden under the top of the rails. However, they were under a great amount of tension, so something like rocks coming down and hitting the other side of the rail could cause enough stress to snap the telegraph line.
I shrugged as I called over my shoulder at Files, “Snowfall must have knocked a few rocks loose like it did a couple years back. I'll keep my eyes open.”
As I opened the door that lead to the yard, I heard Files call from his desk, “Thank Stokes, have a good run.”
I just waved without looking as I walked out the door and made my way over to the shops to collect #9335 and her Siamese Snow Blower.
Sure enough, I found it right where the order said it would be, in shop bay 11. As I walked in I noticed a large stallion climbing out of the rotary’s cab. He was a burly earth pony stallion, who had started working the shops around the same time I did, only he was 19 when he started. His name was Blow Torch, and was actually the pony I usually went looking for when #9366 needed work.
“Mornin’ Torch. How’s everything looking in there?” I called as the black stallion with a red and yellow mane dropped onto the shop floor.
“Stokes it's been a while. I guess 66 is still running fine.” Blow Torch replied, his Tall Tale accent almost hidden by his low, gravelly voice, as he walked over and gave me a hoof bump.
I winced a little from the impact of Torch’s hoof. The stallion was nearly as big and strong as they came, and could be quite intimidating if you didn't know him.
Made one hell of a hoofball center in high school though.
“Yeah 66 has been running fine. Though I think her brake shoes are wearing out.” I said as we walked back over to where the snow blower and her engine sat waiting. “So what's up with these two?”
Blow Torch just waved a hoof, “Oh nothing, just checking them over quick, first time being steamed up in months and all. They should be fine, but let me know if it seems like 35’s pipes are choked up. I was only told about this at the last minute, so I didn't get a chance to have Superheat clean the smoke box and replace the boiler pipes.”
I nodded as I started my once around the engine, checking everything over for myself, “Can do Torch. I think I can handle things from here. I'm sure you got something laying around in the back that needs to get taken care of.”
Blow Torch laughed, “There always is. Later Stokes.”
I gave him a quick hoof bump as he walked past, his hoofsteps quickly getting drained out by the heavy machine sounds coming from the back shop.
As I was finishing up looking #9335 over and cleaning out her ash pan, I heard the bay door open and a few ponies walk in “..o I told the colt to screw off and what not, ‘cause I was not dealing with some greenhorn’s bs after a long day of yard clearing. Next thing I know I’m on the ground and the colt’s on top of me, trying his best to beat the shit out of me. He got a few good hits in, but five minutes later, the rest of my cider was gone, I was walking home, the paramedics were just arriving, and the colt was still out cold.”
I knew the voice of Crankshaft well, and I knew how he could act when someone got between him and his nightly cider, or tried to pick a fight with him. Those usually went hoof in hoof though.
I climbed up into the cab and looked out to the bay door, to see Coal Dust, Crankshaft, and Blastpipe walking toward the engine. As the got a little closer, I could see a grin appear on Coal Dust’s face a second before he yelled out over the shop bay, “Oh honey, where are you!”
When you've spent the last five years of your life in a locomotive cab with the same pony day in and day out, you begin to act like idiots toward each other to keep each other from going crazy.
Then again, you had to be kinda crazy to work on a railway in the first place.
I sat back in the engine’s cab before calling back, “Up here Darling! Wait with a shovel so I can bean your head in.”
There was calm for all of six seconds before the four of us burst out laughing. As the three blubbering idiots rolled around on the floor, I climbed out #9335’s cab, still laughing.
I walked over to Dusty and helped pick him up off the shop floor, before turning toward the other two he had walked in with. “Hey Blastpipe, Crankshaft. Take it you guys are running #02.”
“Yes sir.” Blastpipe replied with a nod as we turned and walked over to the snow blower.
“Well then, it looks like we’ll have an easy day without trouble.” I then cracked a smile and looked back at Crankshaft, “As long has Crankshaft can keep his hooves to himself.”
We all burst out laughing again, even Crankshaft. He knew that picking a fight with him while at the bar had basically become a rite of passage for new railway workers. He really didn’t care, and could tell when somepony was actually picking a fight with him or was just going through the motions. He went easy on the new colts, mostly.
We each climbed into or respective machines and started the processes of getting them ready for use.
“You read over the papers for this?” Coal Dust asked as he stocked #9335’s fire to life.
I nodded as I looked over my gauges and made sure everything was set, “Yeah, it’s just a normal snow clearing run. We just have to keep an eye open for telegraph lines once we get to the summit, Files told me that they can’t get in contact with Vanhoover or an of the signal boxes on that side of The Grade.”
That made Coal Dust pause for a second, “Huh, snow must have caused another rock slide or something.”
I couldn't help but chuckle again, “That's exactly what I said. I doubt that it’s any major problem though.”
It was then the CB next to me cracked to life, ”We’re ready to go up here if you are Stokes.”
I picked up the CB’s receiver, “Yeah we’re good to go back here. What are you gonna start out running the rotor at?”
It was a very important question to ask, as the rotor’s speed dictated how much snow it could handle, and how fast. If I went too fast with the rotor running too slow, it could jam, and that causes all sorts of headaches. I shuddered a little as I remembered the flank chewing Axle Load got from Spotlight the year before when he had gotten #02 jammed up, causing one of her connecting gears to shatter.
Blastpipe’s reply broke me from my thoughts about Axle Load, “I’m planning to start her out at 8, then bring her up to 10 once we pass 8 feet.”
I did a few quick calculations in my head, determining that I travel at a max of 8 mph, at least until the snow got up to be around 7 feet thick, after that, I’d probably be lucky to make a max of 4 or five until we got over the summit. “Alright, just let me know when we get up around 7 feet up there, don’t need the rotor jammed.” I replied.
”Amen to that.” Was all I got back.
I gave a blast of 35’s whistle to signal to somepony near by we were ready to leave the bay we were in, and that we needed the doors opened. Sure enough, two young colts ran from one of the bays to our right, and opened up the doors.
I gave them both a thankful nod, as I blasted the whistle one more time, before cracking open the regulator. #9335 started to ease herself out of the shop bay and into the winter sun, thick white clouds of steam coming out of herself and the snow plow in front of her. It looked as if a beast was being woken up from a nap.
Ironic how that was basically what was happening.
We quickly made our way across the yard, and soon enough, we were positioned at the snow covered entrance to The Grade, the bank in front of us reaching nearly 6 feet tall, and we weren’t even out of the yard yet.
”Alright, give me a second to get the rotor spinning.” Blastpipe said, quickly being followed by the “faint” sound of cylinders as he brought the massive blade up to 80 rpm.
As we waited for the rotor to spin up, Coal Dust and I looked up at the pass in front of us. The Smokey Mountains looked like one big snow drift, complete covered in a thick layer of white. I turned to Dusty after a minute of looking up at the mountain, “Looks like we got a long day ahead of us.”
“132 miles at 5 miles per hour, that what, 26 hours? Yeah it’s gonna be a long day.” Coal Dust said with a sigh, sitting back in his chair.
Just then, a whistle came from #02, signaling that the rotor was up to speed, and Blastpipe was ready to go. I just nodded to myself, before once again cracking the regulator, and pushing into the snowbank in front of us, officially starting our long day.
Thankfully, the snow on the way up the Tall Tale side of The Grade was very light, even with the fact is was over 8 feet deep, so I was able to keep us going at 8 mph, taking just under seven and a half hours to get to the summit.
It was about five in the evening when we got to the other side of the summit, and the sun was starting to set. As we started down Nightmare, the snow started to grow lighter, yet I didn’t increase our speed. Keeping an engine under control going down Nightmare took a large amount of skill. Doing it when the rails were covered with snow, and possibly ice, took a real expert of the line.
We were about a third of the way down Nightmare, when I caught sight of something as we rounded a corner. It was a large clump of snow that was built up taller than the snow around it. I cracked a little bit of a smile as I picked up the CB receiver, “Looks like we found our rock slide. I’ll take it in easy, just be ready.”
I watched as the drift grew closer, and slowly applied the brakes harder, keeping us under control on the steep downgrade. #02 was built out of an incredibly strong steel, especially when it came to the rotor. We had come across rock slides on the line brought down by snow before, and #02 would either just push the rocks till we got back to the yard, or chuck them like it did snow, and the only damage would be some scraped paint and a missing gear tooth or two. As I brought us closer to the drift, I prepared for the sound of the rotor meeting rocks for the first time, but instead I was meet with the ear-piercing sound of metal on metal.
I quickly applied the brakes and brought the train to a near instant stop, as we had only been doing 2 mph.
“What the hell was that?” Dusty yelled as we started to recover from the quick stop.
“No idea.” I said as I picked up the CB, “Hey Blastpipe, you guys ok up there?”
It took a second for a response, but soon enough I heard a reply, ”Yeah we’re good. Don’t know what that was all about, but I think we hit whatever knocked out the telegraph line.”
“I think you’re right on that one. You calm down #02, we’ll go check out what’s up with the rotor.”
”Roger that.”
I pulled the reverser back, and edged the snowblower away from whatever we had hit. I then pulled the brakes and fully applied them to hold everything in place. I looked over at Coal Dust, “You coming with?”
He shrugged, “Might as well. Got nothing better to do till we figure out what’s up.”
With that we climbed out the windows of #9335 and onto the snow banks that came up to just under her window sills. We sank into the snow a good two or three inches, but it was still able to hold our weight.
We walked up to the front of the snowblower, and jumped down onto the track. We looked over the rotor, and found that it had been slightly bent in by whatever we had hit.
“Damn, we must hit something pretty hard to do that.” Dusty said, before we turned back to the snow pile that was the cause of our problems. Sitting a little ways above the track, was what looked like a brown rock that was smeared with red paint.
“Is it just me, or does that not look like a rock?” Dusty asked as we looked at the ‘rock’.
I reached in and started to brush away the snow around the object, and was shocked by what I found.
“What the hell, is that doing there.”
Instead of being a rock like we had thought, what was actually buried by the snow, was a knuckle coupler, still contented to a rail car.
“Dusty, go get Blast and Crank. Now.” I said without taking my eyes off the knuckle. I heard Coal Dust stumble up out of the pit that we were in.
I then climbed onto the coupler and began digging at the snow around it. Slowly, I exposed the hoof-rail of a caboose.
I had found the door and dusted off of the right wall by the time Coal Dust returned with the others, to find me staring at said wall.
“Crank?” I asked over my shoulder
“Yeah?”
“You were the one to shunt Spotlight’s train together right?”
“Uh-hu.”
“What was their cabooses’ ID number?”
“Um 10977.”
I could tell they knew where I was going with this. So there wasn't as much shock when I moved away from the wall, and the faded black numbers 10977 stared back at us.
“But, that shouldn't be possible. Spotlight and the others made it to Vanhoover! R-right?” Crankshaft said, as the shock of seeing the caboose’s ID wore off.
Coal Dust shook his head, “As far as I know, they were never confirmed in Vanhoover. The telegraph lines went down before a confirmation was sent.
I climbed back onto the caboose’s rear runner, and wiped the ice and snow off of the door, and looked in the window. “Hey there no one in here!”
“That's ok! They didn't bring any brake ponies with them! They just wanted the caboose as a marker to make sure they still had their entire train!” Blastpipe quickly shouted to avert an actual panic.
“So what does this mean?” Crankshaft asked.
I looked at the back of the caboose, and took notice of the ladder at the left side of the hoof-rail, “I don’t know, but I plan to find out.” I said before I started to climb up onto the roof of the caboose.
As I stood on top of the caboose, which was covered by a foot and a half of snow, I looked out at the massive pile of snow that was in front of me. ”No.” I whispered under my breath as things started to stick together in my head, and I wasn’t liking what I was coming up with
“Hey guys, get up here.” I called into the pit that the others were standing in. It didn’t take long for the others to climb onto the roof with me. By the looks on their faces, it didn’t take long for them to come up to the same conclusion I had.
“I’m gonna try to find the head end, you guys coming with?” I asked. I got a nod from the other three, and we soon found ourselves walking along the massive snow banks up to the front of the snow pile.
We looked over the massive pile from all sides, and finally were able to find what looked like a cylinder shape. “Hey, I think this is it!” Blastpipe called, as he began to dig at the snow. We all quickly joined in, hoping everyone buried was still alright.
After digging out about a foot’s worth of snow, we hit metal. After brushing it off, we were easily able to determine that it was part of an HG10.
“That's the whistle!” I yelled as we continued to clear away snow. The whistle however, was sideways, proving that the engine was on its side.
We continued to clear snow away, we were able to uncover the cab’s roof, and the vents in the middle. We quickly ripped the vents off and looked down into the cab.
Sitting inside the cab were the unconscious forms of Brake Check and Funnel Flare.
That was all I needed to see. I shimmied my way through the cold hole where the vents used to be, and eased myself into the engine’s cab. I quickly checked them over, and found that they were, thankfully, both breathing.
“They're out cold, but breathing!” I called up to the three outside the cab.
“We got to get them out of here.” Crankshaft stated as he leaned into the cab and looked over the same seen I was.
“Yeah, but what can we do? It’s not like we can un-bury the engine and tow it back to Tall Tale, the entire train is still behind it. And judging by the fact the engine is on her side, I doubt that the rest of the train is still on the track.” Coal Dust stated from out of sight.
“Blastpipe, Crankshaft, if we can get these two back to #9335, do you think you could get them back to Tall Tale?” I asked
Crankshaft looked back behind himself, most likely at Blastpipe, before he responded, “Yeah I think we can do that.”
I nodded as I looked down at the two unconscious ponies at my hooves, “Alright. Crank, come down here and help me pick these guys up. Blast, you and Dusty stay out there and pull them through.”
Crankshaft nodded, and dropped himself into the can of #9320, which was now starting to feel crowded. It took a little bit of effort, and the dying light wasn’t helping anything, but we soon had both Brake Check and Funnel Flare on the snow bank next to their buried engine.
As I was about to pull myself from the crumpled cab of #9320 to help carry Brake and Funnel back to #9335, when something clicked inside my head, “Shit!”
The other three paused what they were doing and looked at me, “What’s up Stokes?” Coal Dust asked.
“#04 was coupled up at the front of 20 right before they left the yard, and Spotlight and Knuckle were manning it! They’re still buried under here somewhere!” I yelled in a panic.
Blast, Crank, and Dusty looked at each other, before Dusty quickly shoved Brake Check and Funnel Flare onto Crankshaft’s and Blastpipe’s backs, “You two get them back to #9335 and get going to Tall Tale. I'll stay here and help Stokes find the others. Don't try and debate, just go!”
Crankshaft and Blastpipe looked at each other, before nodding and taking off across the snow as fast as the could to 35, their precious cargo in tow.
Coal Dust then turned to me and helped me out of #9320, “You got a plan?”
“No, I got nothing.” I looked around, trying to come up with an idea of where the rotary snow plow might be underneath all the snow.
Coal Dust walked over to the cleared section of boiler, “Well the best place to start would be the front of #9320, so that’s where we’ll start.”
We both began to dig along the length of the engine’s boiler, and were soon able to find the the smoke box door. We dug around the door for a while, before Coal Dust found something.
“Hey Stokes! I think I found it!”
I ran over to him to see that he had unearthed part of #04’s roof, underneath #9320. That had me worried, if #04 had been forced underneath #9320 during whatever happened, it could mean that #04 had been crushed, and we were already too late for Spotlight and Knuckle.
We didn’t let that slow us down as we began to dig away at the snow around the roof of #04, with 2 feet of snow piled up around us already. As we dug, we banged on the roof of the rotary snow plow, when, ”Hey! Is someone out there!” Somepony called from below us.
Dusty and I stopped dead, it took only a moment for us to realize who had spoken, “Spotlight! Is that you!” I yelled at the roof.
”No, it’s Knuckle, Spotlight’s out cold right now. He got messed up pretty good when we came off.” Came the metal muffled response.
I looked over to Coal Dust, who just stared right back at me. I then turned back to the roof, “What happened?”
There was a few seconds pause, before Knuckle replied, “We were going along just fine, rotor cranking at 85rpms, doing about 40mph, and easily cutting through the three-ish feet of snow on the line, when we got onto Nightmare. At first everything was alright, but then we hit a small rock slide, and the front truck jumped the track. We got to this corner, and the snow blower climbed the ledge, dumped us on our side, and things went to hell from there.”
I couldn’t do anything more a second, as what Knuckle said sunk in. I couldn’t even imagine what it was like to go through that, especially trapped in a massive metal box. “Look Knuckle, just hang in there a little longer, we’ll get you out soon, and get you and Spot back to Tall Tale as fast as we can. Just hang in there man.”
”I’ve been stuck in this freezing metal death trap all night, I can hold out a little longer, but I don’t know about Spotlight.
I nodded to myself, “We’ll do our best, but I don't know how we’re gonna get in. We don't have torches to cut the roof or sidewall, and there’s no way to get to either of the rotor’s doors.”
There was another few seconds pause before Knuckle responded, ”The first box car behind #9320 has all sorts of maintenance stuff in it. We don't normally run rotaries as fast as we were running this one, and he wanted everything on hoof. I’ll bet you every bit from my next paycheck that there is a set of torches in there, if you can find them.”
Dusty and I didn’t waste a second, we quickly climbed out of the hole that led down to the roof of #04, and went back to the roof of #9320. “Alright, he said that the boxcar was the first in the train. So that means that all we have to do it find the rear tender and hope that the first boxcar we find is the one we need, and isn’t broken open.” I said to Dusty as we got up next to 9320.
“Easier said than done man. Plus, my hooves are starting to freeze from digging through all this snow.” Dusty replied as he rubbed his hooves together to try and warm them up.
Just hearing him say that made my hooves feel colder than they had, forcing me to rub them together as well, “True, but there’s not much we can do. We have to keep going, or Knuckle and Spotlight are screwed.”
It was about then we heard the sound of an engine storming up the mountain, draining out the sound of a rotary plow hard at work. It was about then we noticed the noise was coming from in front of us, coming up the line from Vanhoover.
“What in Celestia’s name?” I barely heard Dusty mutter, before I moved so I could see around the corner we were stuck on. What I saw was like a godsend.
Charging up the line was the 10 foot wide rotor of #02’s little sister, #07 one of the rotaries that was stationed in Vanhoover, who looked like was running flat out. There came two quick blasts from her whistle, before she came to a stop a few feet in front of me.
I walked over to #03’s door, which opened up to reveal the friendly face of Ash Pan, who had gotten stuck in Vanhoover by the storm after acting as the replacement firepony for a freight that had been the last train let out of Tall Tale's yard. “Ash, sweet Celestia am I glad to see you!” I said as the rotor came to a full stop.
“I can say the same for yourself Stokes. We were informed about what was going on and hauled ass up here. I brought most of the shop with me.” It was about then I noticed an absolute ocean of ponies coming out of the six passenger cars that we hooked up behind #9327.
That’s when Ash Pan’s words registered in my head, “Wait. You were in Vanhoover, and the telegraph lines are snapped, so how did you hear about us being stranded?”
“Well, even with you being sent out, Tall Tale needed a way to communicate with us. So they got in contact with some friends, and after contacting two dozen radio operators, they set up a relay system where messages from Tall Tale would be sent to Appaloosa, then to Ponyville, then Canterlot, up to the Crystal Empire, and then finally down to us. Took about seven times as long to send and receive messages, but it allowed communication. Crankshaft and Blastpipe stopped at the signal box on the opposite side of the summit, whose operator got in contact with Tall Tale, who in a roundabout way got in contact with us back in Vanhoover, and we hauled ass up here.” Ash Pan explained, as the shop ponies ran past us back to the passenger cars, an unconscious Spotlight and banged up Knuckle in tow.
I watched the ponies load themselves, shocked that they already had Spotlight and Knuckles out of #04, as Coal Dust walked up behind me, “Come on Stokes, let’s get back to Vanhoover. First drink is on me.”
I didn’t say anything, I just nodded as I climbed into #07, joining Ash Pan and Rocking Grate, #07 boiler operator, and sat down at the back of the snow blower behind the pistons, and just zoned out.
Brake, Funnel, Spotlight, and Knuckle were all sent to the hospital after making it to either end of The Grade. Brake Check and Funnel Flare were both in relatively decent conditions, each mostly suffering from frostbite after spending the night on underneath a snow bank, the worst injury either of them got was received by Brake Check, being a sprained right forehoof.
Spotlight and Knuckle came out of the ordeal a little worse. Knuckle came off the better of the two, receiving a concussion, a broken rib, and a sprained rear hoof. Spotlight was able to stabilized when he got to the hospital, and regained consciousness two days after the wreck. He had received a nasty concussion, two cracked ribs, and a deep laceration across the back of his head. He would eventually fully recover, but never went back to fully work for the railway. Sure he did the office work required of him to help run the railroad, but he never ran another train over The Grade. He was scared away from the one thing that had once been his entire world.
Cleaning up the wreck of #9320 and #04 was easier than we had thought it would have been. Only the first quarter mile of the train came off the line. We dug out the last derailed railcar, an old wooden box car if I remember correctly, and then hooked up three HG10’s to the rear coupler on the caboose, and just yanked them out of the snow. We then had to dig the derailed cars out, or yank them out with a crane, if the snow on top of them wasn’t too thick. It took four days to clear up the wreck and fix the destroyed track, before The Grade could reopen.
We didn’t know it at the time, but this would be the main building block that the noble shareholders would use in a case to to prove that Spotlight and the others weren’t capable of running the railroad.
By the first day of spring, which was only two months later, the nobles had full control of the line.