As time went on, Silverstream felt like it’s going slower and slower. A few days have passed until it was finally time for the field trip. On that day when the bell rang, Silverstream made a beeline towards the cafeteria to get some food. Gallus met up with her after Sandbar wheeled him into the cafeteria. The lunch lady was just getting food set up for the students as Silverstream waited in the line that wasn’t there.
“You know everyone else has to wake up for the field trip,” Gallus informed.
“I know,” Silverstream responded, with a very gleeful tone, and full of excitement, “but we’re getting to see what most ponies don’t get a good look at.” Gallus just rolled his eyes at his girlfriend’s excitement. Sandbar and Gallus went to their tables after getting their meals.
“Damn, I’ve never seen her that excited before,” Sandbar said.
“I know, right?” Gallus commented.
After getting through their morning routines, Gallus, Silverstream, Rusty, and the other students that had signed up followed Fluttershy to the train station. The station was nearly empty with the exception of some of the staff. Silverstream looked at the clock while she stepped in place.
“Is she usually like this?” Rusty asked.
“Normally, she’s more excited than anxious,” Gallus explained. After a few seconds, they heard the sound of a loud whistle followed by the ring of a bell. The students looked to be a big locomotive with ten drive wheels and a number 4952 pulled into the station. It pulled up to the platform pulling two coaches and a caboose. This didn’t look like a passenger train given the coaches and the engine looked big for that anyway.
Rusty walked over to the engine where a pony stepped out. The stallion was a unicorn that had copper brown fur and a dark red mane and green eyes. He had a train whistle for a cutie mark and he wore wearing an engine driver uniform. “Hi-yah, Rusty,“ he said to the young colt.
“Hi, Uncle,” Rusty replied happily. The two ponies soon shared a hug laughing a bit.
“How’s my little nephew going?”
“I’m doing great. Thanks.“ Gallus and Silverstream approached them. “Everycreature, I want you to meet my uncle, Copper Whistle,“ Rusty explained. “He’ll be your guide for this field trip.“
The stallion approached the two griffs. “So, which one of you is the Silverstream Rusty told me about.“
“That’s me,“ Silverstream spoke, with her arm raised. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.” The hippogriff and stallion shook claw and hoof as Copper took notice of Gallus’s injuries. He tried not to stare, but the griffon had seen his reaction.
“It’s fine, sir,” Gallus spoke. “I got in over my head, to say the least.” He wasn’t sure if he should be explaining the full story around the creatures who were a part of it.
Terry the minotaur and Gregoria the griffon walked to the front of the big locomotive, admiring its size. “Wow! I didn’t know ponies could build such a thing like this,” Gregoria commented.
“Minotaurs would be impressed with this,“ Terry added. “Not much to look at with style, but I bet it’s a powerhouse.”
“Indeed,“ Copper spoke. “Would you like to take a look inside of the cab?“ The two students were happy with the offer and Silverstream was wanting to take a look too. The three were taken into the cab where a dusty earth pony was stoking the fire. Underneath the coal dusty, the earth pony had blue fur with a black mane a scruffy beard, and a burning rock for a cutie mark. He looked to Copper and the creatures climbing aboard.
“Um, you know that the coaches are behind Hilda, right?” the stallion grumbled.
“Come on, Dusty, I’m just showing the kids what happens in the cab.” The fire pony simply groaned as he closed the firebox and stepped aside. “Kids, this is our fire pony, Dusty Blast. He keeps our engine, Hilda, here steaming.“
“You named this engine… Hilda?” Gregoria asked.
“Well, most ponies I know name the engines they drive. I’ve named mine Hilda.”
“It’s a nice name,“ Silverstream commented, and then went near Gallus to whisper, “It sounded like Gilda, but the G is replaced with an H.”
“Yeah, I noticed that,” Gallus commented with a chuckle. She and the other students then looked at all of the controls, gauges, knobs, it looked so complex.
“How do you able to keep an eye on all of this?” Terry questioned.
“I only watch half of it,“ Copper Whistle explained. “Dusty watches the other half.”
“Yeah, and it’s not easy watching it with a bunch of creatures crowding the cab.“
Copper groaned and rolled his eyes at his co-worker’s attitude. “Don’t mind him. Keeping an engine like Hilda is a stressful one. Now, I want to show this to any other curious ones.”
“Oh, sure,” Gregoria responded. She, Terry, and Silverstream soon left the cab. Copper offered other creatures inside of Hilda’s cab, and some were wanting to check it out. Everyone else would be waiting inside the two coaches. Silverstream could see a pegasus helping Gallus get comfy in one of the seats. The pegasus was a mare that has light red fur, with a long blonde mane, and what looked to be a lantern for a cutie mark and she wore a conductor’s uniform.
Curious, the hippogriff walked into the carriage. “Okay, kid,” the mare said, “Are you comfy?”
“The best I can be with a body like this,“ Gallus chuckled. “Thanks a lot.” He and the mare looked over to Silverstream, who approached them. “How was it like being in the cab?”
“It was kind of short,” the hippogriff sighed.
“I guess you’ve met Dusty,” the mare guessed.
“Yeah, that was kind of the issue.”
“Eh, just ignore him. He’s still getting used to all of these new creatures in Equestria.”
“Of course he is,“ Gallus said sarcastically.
The mare chuckled before she turned her attention back to Silverstream. “Anyways, allow me to introduce myself,“ she said, “My name is Tail Lamp, and I’ll be your conductor for this trip.”
“Nice to meet you,” Silverstream said. She shook her hoof as she looked at the other students that were in the coaches.
“Gotta say… it’s pretty jarring to see so many different creatures in one place, even changelings.”
“You get used to it,” Gallus noted.
“It’s probably because I’m usually on freight trains. I’m on passenger trains whenever somepony has to call in sick. Anyways, if you kids need me, I’ll be in the caboose.” Tail Lamp walked away back to her post, leaving the students to do their things in the coaches.
After showing a few more students the inside of the cab, everyone sat in the coaches as Copper Whistle pulled a chain. Hilda’s whistle blew and they pulled out of the station. They were heading to Canterlot, the first part of the field trip. Along the way, some students sat back and relaxed, watched the scenery go by, or get started on their extra credit.
The trip was taking longer than it usually would. Tanzanite, a dragon who was on the hefty size, approached Rusty. “Hey, Rusty, are we taking a different route?” he asked.
“What do you mean?” the young unicorn asked.
“I mean we’re going kind of slow and this isn’t the route I’ve heard about that goes to Canterlot. We should be crossing that leads around the mountains.”
“It could be because we’re on the freight line,” Gallus guessed.
Tanz and Rusty glanced at the griffon.
“Exactly,“ Silverstream confirmed. “We’ve read that most freight trains are long and heavy so they have to take a different track that can hold their weight.“
“Plus it cuts down on the traffic,“ Rusty added.
Tanz looked to be impressed by this. “Huh, neat,” he commented. He walked back to his seat now that his question was answered and he had information to add to his report.
“You two read that part in those books I gave you?” Rusty asked.
“Yep,” Gallus noted. “It makes a lot more sense for why we haven’t seen freight trains while we’re traveling by train. Though, I still think we should’ve seen them if we were flying.”
“How fast are we going?“ Silverstream asked.
“My uncle says that she can go at 50 mph at best,“ Rusty responded. “So, this trip might be a little slow compared to the friendship express. Though, on the bright side, we’ll get to see the shunting yard. Can’t be there unless you work there.”
The thought of being able to see most ponies didn’t get a chance to look at was an exciting one. After a while, they soon felt the train coming to a stop. Looking out the window the students expected to be at the station. Instead, they saw a plentiful of sidings with the rolling stock moving around and ponies walking around doing their work. Tail Lamp walked into the coach and got the students’ attention.
“Alright, we’re here,” she called. “Everyone, stay in one group and don’t wander off.“ The students did as they were told while Tail Lamp helped Rusty and Gallus get out of the coach. When they were out, the students watched Hilda start pulling away without the coaches.
“Where are they going?“ Terry asked.
“Copper’s getting Hilda turned around for their trip to Manehattan,“ Tail Lamp informed. “While we wait for them to get ready, let’s see how a freight train gets set up.“ The conductor led the group carefully through the yard until they reached a set of stairs, which led to a bridge so ponies could get across the tracks safer. Here the students could get a good view of the yards.
Emerald the dragoness saw a six-wheeled tank engine pulling a boxcar under some sort of chute. She saw some ponies take some pickaxes and poles to break up blocks of ice that slid into some slots that were on the boxcar’s roofs. “What are they doing there?“ she asked.
“That’s a refrigerator car,” Tail Lamp explained. “We use that for transporting food, so it’ll not spoil.”
“Oh, that’s clever.”
“How about those cars holding logs?” Terry asked, pointing to some flatcars being loaded.
“Oh, good, you found the flatcars,” Tail Lamp noted. “It’s one of the bits of cargo that’s too heavy and inefficient for air transport.“
“Like those rocks?” Gregoria asked, pointing to some trucks of coal.
“Minerals are also a material that’s difficult to transport by air,” Tail Lamp noted. “This coal is likely for the engines here.”
“So what’s going to Manehattan?” Gallus asked.
Tail Lamp took a look at her note before pointing back to the refrigerator cars, which were being taken away and placed with some other boxcars. Silverstream then noticed a gondola car rolling by itself before coupling up to the line of rolling stocking heading to Manehattan.
Looking in the distance, she could see a hill at the end of the yard, where a shunter was pushing some rolling stock that was being uncoupled in bits so it could roll down the hill and be switched onto the right tracks. She let her classmates know about it and they were amazed.
“How do they switch the tracks so fast?” Emerald questioned.
“Try asking the pony in that building,” Gallus responded. He managed to point to a tower that would get a good view of the yard. “That’s the job for the switch pony.”
“You seem to know a lot about railroads,” Tail Lamp commented.
“When you have to stay in bed until you can walk again, it pays to have something to pass the time.”
After watching the yard in motion for a bit longer, the conductor led the students down the bridge and headed to where the hippo engine was. They found Hilda slowly spinning on a turntable before stopping and moving forward. Silverstream did her best to contain herself so she didn’t fly closer to the big and possibly hurt herself.
Copper Whistle stuck his head out of the cab and waved to the students, some of which like Rusty waved back. “What are those things Hilda’s pulling up to?” Gleaming Pearl, a hippogriff, asked.
“That’s a water tower and that’s a coal chute,” Tail Lamp informed pointing to the respective items. “Since locomotives are so big and we have to refuel their coal and water these constructs make that much easier.
The students watched as Dusty Flare climbed up the ladder attached to the tender, and used a hook on a pole to pull the water tower’s spout over to him. Once it was close enough, he opened a cap on the tender then pulled a cord to pour some water into the tank.
“Is there some sort of a system connecting the water to the engine’s boiler?” Pearl asked.
“Sure is,” Lamp noted. “If you want to ask questions about steam engines, ask Copper when you have the chance.” The student made sure to remember that. Rusty looked over to Gallus and Silverstream to see how they were doing. While the hippogriff was enjoying what she was seeing, Gallus seemed to be glancing around for about a minute as if he was looking for someone.
“Gallus, are you okay?” the colt asked.
The griffon stopped looking around and looked at his classmate. “Yeah, I’m just spectating around,” he spoke. Gallus went back to watching Hilda, who had finished being filled up with water, and moved forward to get some coal.
After she had fully refueled, Hilda went to couple up with the freight train going to Manehattan. The shunting engine was just putting the two coaches onto the front of the train so the students could ride in. They quickly got on board the coach with Rusty and Gallus needing some help again. After they were taken care of, Tail Lamp spoke up.
“Alright, everyone, the coaches and the caboose are now separated by the rolling stock,” she explained. “However, I thought of a solution in case of an emergency. Just wave this flag here.” She handed a red flag to Rusty. “I’ll be checking out of the caboose occasionally.” The conductor left to return to her caboose. “I swear they need to think of a better way of communication.”
Rusty made sure to hold onto the flag as they heard Tail Lamp blowing her whistle to notify the engine crew it was time to go. With a blow of Hilda’s whistle, they slowly pulled out of the yard.
It wasn’t long until they were trundling down the tracks. Given the engine’s locomotive speed, it would take longer for them to get there compared to the friendship express. Most students had brought something to help keep them entertained, some of them had brought some books to read while some had brought cards. Gallus had some weights with him so he could try some physical therapy.
He panted a bit as he struggled to lift his weight. Silverstream only sat beside him as he struggled to lift up his weight. She did jump in when the injured griffon dropped his weight in exhaustion. “Easy, Gally,” she warned his girlfriend.
“Silver, I just want my muscles back to normal, so I can get out of this wheelchair,” Gallus proclaimed. He tried reaching for the weight on the floor, struggling in the process. Silverstream couldn’t see him struggle like this and just handed the weight to the griffon. Gallus just sighed before he tried to resume his exercise.
After a while, they made it to the big city of Manehattan. They did not stop at the station they usually would and were instead brought to the freight yard, which looked to be almost as big as Canterlot’s. Silverstream looked out the window and saw multiple shunting engines moving back and forth. She couldn’t see an incline anywhere.
“Where’s the hump?” the confused hippogriff asked.
“Manehattan doesn’t have a hump yard,” Rusty guessed. “I think the reason why Canterlot has one is that it’s the central station of Equestria.”
“He’s right,” called a familiar voice. Tail Lamp walked into the carriage along with Copper Whistle.
“Hold on,” Gallus asked. “Shouldn’t someone be in charge of Hilda?”
“Her brakes are on,” Copper reassured. “We’ll have her put in the roundhouse and head into town to grab some lunch. You kids remember to bring some bits?” The students nodded and a few even showed their bits to they had.
Tail Lamp then led the students out of the yard and they waited for Copper and Dusty to show up. When they showed up, they all grabbed a bus (which was a long cart being pulled by two ponies) and headed downtown to find a restaurant.
While they rode there, Copper Whistle decided to chat with his nephew. “So, you know that the railroad was extending to the new kingdoms?“ the engineer asked.
“You mean like the Dragon Lands?“ Rusty asked.
“Not just that, they say that they’re also extending to the changeling hive and the minotaur village.”
“They are?” Terry asked, overhearing their conversation.
“Most of them are going to be for passenger trains,“ Copper Whistle noted. “Although, I’m sure I heard one of the higher-ups say something about using the stones from there for construction purposes.” Terry was curious about this and went to ask Emma and Tanz how they thought would work.
Eventually, they got a diner that Gallus recognized. Walking inside, they could see a yellow unicorn with a golden shovel for a cutie mark. “Hey, Gold Digger!“ the griffon called.
The young stallion looked to the griffon and waved to him. “Hey, Gallus, Silverstream,” he spoke as the two creatures he remembered approached the counter. “What brings you two here?”
“We’re on a field trip by train,” Silverstream beamed.
“That… doesn’t sound too exciting.”
“It’s a goods train,” Gallus noted. “So we get to see things normal ponies don’t.”
“Oh, that makes much more sense.“ Gold Digger looked at the railroad crew and the other students, who the customers and staff were looking at since they were only used to interacting with ponies. “Okay, so you and your friends just find a place to sit and we’ll get you some menus.“
The students did as they were told and found various seats around the diner. They took some time to sit and chat while waiting for their food to get ready. Some things were like what if the gemstones that griffons used would be used to improve locomotives or help power new ones. Another question would be if the tracks would be extended to other parts beyond Equestria.
These questions probably wouldn’t be answered for a while but they were still fun to think about. After grabbing lunch, everyone got back to the yards, where the return train was prepared. Hilda was steam up again and they got her coupled back up to the train. Before they could leave, they would have to wait for the friendship express to clear the tracks.
Eventually, they were given the green flag and started their journey home.
Later on down the line, Copper Whistle was checking line when he saw a pegasus in a conductor’s uniform flying down the track waving a red flag. He blew Hilda’s whistle to single to Tail Lamp to put the brakes on and they soon came to a slow stop. The pegasus with a flag flew up to the cab of Hilda and explain the situation.
“A couple on one of the coaches broke,” the pegasus explained. “I tried to flag down the engineer, but he was already too far ahead for me to catch up.“
“So, what, do we push the coaches to the next station?” Copper asked.
The pegasus looked at the long train that Hilda was pulling. “You sure you’ll be able to do that? You already look fully loaded.”
“Better than just waiting for another engine to crash into it. Those passengers can’t wait for another solution.” The conductor simply shrugged and flew back to the train with Hilda following behind. Some students had stuck their heads out of the coaches to see why they had stopped and heard about the plan.
“We’re going to push another train?“ Tanz questioned.
“Sounds like it,“ Rusty commented.
“Can they even do that?“ Gregoria asked. “How would they see where they’re going?“
“Well, if Tail Lamp helps, she could probably flag them down if there’s something in the way.“ Most of the students would ponder about how this was going to play out.
A few minutes later, Hilda came to another stop with half a train of coaches sitting on the line in front of her. A couple of the passengers were complaining about being stuck. Copper whistle carefully moved his engine forward until they were coupled to the train. The passenger train’s conductor took a rest in the caboose while Tail Lamp flew up to the front, holding two flags with her.
Slowly but surely, they carried on down the line. Tail Lamp kept an eye out for anything that might give them trouble as Copper watched the engine’s speed. Hilda was a slow engine going at her regular pace, but since they would have to take extra care now, she was practically going at the same pace as running pony. In addition, they were sent onto the goods line, which was different from what the passengers were used to.
After taking their time, the mixed train finally made it to Canterlot. They stopped at the station so everyone could get out of the coaches. The students were told to leave their coaches too as unplanned things appeared to be happening.
“Why do we need to get out?“ Silverstream asked. “Can’t we just drop of those coaches and just drop us back home?“
“You’d get whiplash if you stayed in a coach getting shunted,“ Copper Whistled warned. He and Dusty were just stepping out of the cab. “Wait inside the station, we’re going to deal with what happened here.“ Silverstream and the rest of the students listened and headed into the station waiting room while the workers figured out what to do with the coaches that broke away.
Most students passed the time by checking with Fluttershy if their reports were good, others just brought out their cards again. Silverstream kept checking out the window to see what was going on. Wanting to help calm her down, Rusty decided to give his input.
“You know, things like this tend to happen,“ the colt noted, “But my uncle says worse things have happened.“
“Like what?“ Silverstream asked.
“Runaway for one. Whether they’re either an engine without a driver or a line of rolling stock that breaks away, most of the time those things end in a crash. Those can be serious depending on the cargo.”
Silverstream could only imagine how bad that could go. “So, we got lucky with the coaches?”
“Apparently. I’m impressed that Hilda based to push them with her train. I could’ve sworn I heard her wheels slipping.”
“That could’ve been bad on the climb to Canterlot.” Rusty just simply nodded not wanting to add more to this. Then a random idea struck the hippogriff. “What do you think it would be like to be an engine?”
“Like a living locomotive?“
“Yeah. How do you think could work?”
“Hmm, it kind of depends on how flexible you want them to be.”
“I think I’d keep them still. Though, I’m not too sure about how the faces would look. Just a pony’s head on the front doesn’t sound right me.”
“Maybe not.” After chatting around for a little bit, Copper Whistle soon walked in. “Okay, we’re good to head home now.” The students all headed outside and board the coaches that were heading to Ponyville. They sat back and enjoyed the last leg of the trip before they arrived at the station. Everyone started heading back to the school, though Rusty stayed behind to give his uncle a goodbye.
“Thanks for the trip, Uncle Copper,“ he said.
“It’s my pleasure, little one,“ the engineer said. “I’m glad you’re doing good at school. You’ve made some new friends.” He looked towards Silverstream, who helped Gallus onto the platform. “Welp, I better get this new shipment down to Appleoosa. Take care, Rusty.” With that, Copper Whistle climbed back into the engine’s cab and drove away.
“Bye, uncle,” Rusty called waving goodbye. Once the train was out of sight, he walked back home alongside Silverstream and Gallus.
“There was a lot more going on with trains than I thought,” Silverstream admitted.
“Well, there are things that surprise us in and out of Equestria,” Gallus shrugged.
“You think there are other creatures who use railroad systems?”
“Who knows,” Rusty shrugged. The friends made their way back to school, possibility to do some extra credit with what they had learned, but still thinking if there were other railroads out there. It could be possible, but that would be a story for another day.