//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Equestrian Railways 
// by shadowspark101 
//------------------------------//

Chapter 2
After the two boys had realized what a big hole they had lied themselves into, they did the only sensible thing that they knew how to do. And that, was to panic.
“Damn it damn it Damn it,” John huffed as he paced along the same stretch of flooring that he had been pacing for the past hour. By this point, he had worn quite a bit into the flooring, as Benn could only see him from his knees up.
Benn grunted. “Okay, so what should we do? We can’t just admit that we lied and that we have NO idea how to run a railway. I mean, it would be a shame to all rail fans, this is almost every rail fan’s dream.” He said, as he looked over at the window looking out into the yard. “Hey John. Stop pacing and come here for a second. What do you see out there in that siding over there?”
John hopped out of his hole, and walked over to the window, he peered out. “Where, I don’t see anything, just those 4-4-0’s that the older pony told us about.” He said, glancing out at the line of 4-4-0’s getting ready for work. Soon, Benn slapped him in the back of the head. “OW! What was that for!?”
Benn pointed again. “Not them. Over there, near those wagons. Doesn’t that engine look like it’s made of metal, and it doesn’t look like a normal pony engine. It seems, familiar.”
John rubbed his eyes, then looked again to where Benn had indicated. “Now that you mention it. Yeah, it does,” He then suddenly thought of something. “I think I’ve got an idea, but we’ll need that engine first. We better go find Mr. Hoover and tell him.” With that, the two boys left the office.
Mr. Hoover was just walking out into the yards. He liked going for a stroll when his employees were around. It made him remember that, even though there was a Nationalizing of the railways, at least there were ponies that would keep going till the very end to keep the railway running. But his was shaken out of his thoughts, when all of a sudden his crews jumped quickly into their engines. “What is going on?” He asked the crew of one of the engines.
The pony, an Earth Pony, stuck his head out. “Coalburner saw something over there, they looked like two shaved monkeys, they’re so close to the yard limits, we just hope they leave.” He said, before looking around. “AAHHH!! There!” He yelled, pointing frantically near the sidings, where the two humans were, walking around an engine.
Mr. Hoover laughed. “Now is that anyway to talk about your two new bosses-to-be?” He asked, then whistled loudly. “Boys! Come here, I need to introduce you to the crews.” He called.
John and Benn were over at the R.I.P lines. These lines were used to store locomotives and rolling stock that was due to be taken to the scrapyards outside of Baltimare to be cut up or left there to rust. The boys were quietly poking and inspecting the engine, with John taking some notes and sketching in a sketchpad. Both were shocked at what they were seeing. Not only was this engine made of metal like the locomotives on Earth. It WAS an engine from Earth. Both boys looked over as they were being called by Mr. Hoover. They looked at each other, then nodded before walking over the Earth Pony Stallion.
Mr. Hoover grinned at the two humans as they approached. “I see you two are getting around fine. And you seemed to be looking at that weird engine that appeared out of nowhere last month,” He then looked over at the crews hiding in the cabs of their engines. “It’s alright everypony, they won’t hurt you,” The crews looked out of the cabs at the two humans. “C’mon now, at least say hello. These two could be the only thing standing between our company’s identity and nationalization.” That got the crews attention. They hopped out of the cabs and came over to the two humans, and welcomed them to the sheds. Benn spoke up.
“Mr. Hoover. You said that the B17 just appeared out of nowhere last month.” He said, causing Mr. Hoover to blink.
“A B what?” He asked, looking at his crews, who just shrugged and scratched their heads.
“A B17,” John said calmly. “That metal engine over there is one engine from our world. It was built for fast secondary express trains, and sometimes mixed traffic work, and most were named after famous football teams from Benn’s country. We have a plan, but we need that engine put into service in order to try it out.”
Mr. Hoover just chuckled. “Well, it’s not like the thing won’t run, it’s just that…” He trailed off before speaking up again. “That thing is known to eat coal like a trainee guard at a buffet. It’s nearly impossible to keep steam up, and none of my crews know where to start looking in order to get her moving.”
John and Benn looked at each other, before John spoke up again. “Well,” He said. “If you can’t get the B17 moving because of those problems, we can help you out.” He grinned, before Benn spoke up.
“Y’see, B17’s and most engines from Earth have mechanical stokers, so constantly having to shovel coal back and forth is almost completely unnecessary,” He said as a matter-of-factly. “And what you could do, is let us test it out against one of your 4-4-0’s. Because you said it yourself that these engines just aren’t what they used to be. And it can give you a one-up on the EQN.”
Mr. Hoover sighed, he knew that there was no getting around the nearly flawless logic that Benn had presented to him. “Alright,” He said, looking at the two humans. “I see what you mean about getting a one-up on the EQN. But we need to know most of the controls in the B17-or whatever it is, and suppose that this little experiment fails, then what would you do?”
John chuckled. “Easy, we build our own version of the engine. I’ve been jotting down notes and sketching ideas for a class of 4-6-0’s based on the best of Britain’s 4-6-0’s. I call it, the ‘Fort’ class.” He said, before showing his sketches and notes of the engine to Hoover, who took the notepad from him and started looking over the notes and drawings.
Hoover blinked, then whistled for a pony. “Blueprint!” He called, and a Unicorn mare walked up to the three of them. “I want to you get the works to begin drafting blueprints of this locomotive,” He then looked at John. “Since you designed this locomotive, after you’re done with the test on that B17, you are to go help Blueprint with designing the blueprints of the new locomotives,” He then called over two more ponies. “Coalburner, Berkshire, I want you two to help John and Benn get that B17 fired up for the test. It’s going to be running trials against our fleet of 4-4-0’s to see how much of an improvement it is compared to our fleet,” He turned to John and Benn, but the two were already climbing into the cab of the B17. He chuckled. “They remind me of myself when I first started, no experience what-so-ever, but I was sure willing to work.” He said to himself, then he walked over to his office.
Meanwhile, John and Benn were poking around the cab of the locomotive. They had both agreed on the test of the B17, which was number 61643 ‘Champion Lodge’. To their surprise, the engine was in great running shape, no levers were out of place, and no pipes were cracked in the cab.
“So Benn,” John said. “What’s the plan for the test, I mean, this is very sudden to just drive this B17 on a service on the BNFR. We don’t even know the schedules and timetables.”
Benn nodded. “Well, what I’m thinking is, we get Champion Lodge up and running, then we test the controls out ourselves, and by that I mean I will test them, while you take notes. Then we have Mr. Hoover give us permission to take over one of the trains that would normally be pulled by a 4-4-0, and we run that service to show them the speed of the B17, then we can compare the times that were run.” He explained. “And then you can put the notes of this run, into building your ‘Fort’ class of engines.”
John nodded, and both of them continued messing with the levers, while John took notes of where everything was, from the throttle, the regulator, the brakes, sanding gear, and so on. When some of the crewponies came with the coal and water, the boys told them about the plan.
“Seems like it could work,” A driver said. “I mean, with what you said about this class of engine really makes it sound promising.  And the service that I think you should take is ‘The Fillydelphia Flyer’, that service is supposedly the railways fastest service,” He finished, as the two humans got a fire going in the firebox of the locomotive. “It will start off in Fillydelphia, and here in Baltimare is where we have a crew change, so I think we’ll need to have an engine change instead for the test. Also, you’ll end up running into Canterlot station, there you’ll have to go to a turntable and turn round for the trip back.” He finished, before handing John and Benn the schedule and timetables.
Soon a pony called out from the tender. “She’s full with coal, and we’re finishing up topping off the tank.”
Benn nodded. “Alright,” He then turned to the ponies. “Stand back, let’s get this engine running.” When the water towers hose was clear of the engine, and the ponies had hopped off. He then released the brake, and opened the throttle into the reverse position. And slowly ‘Champions Lodge’ began moving out of the siding and into the yard, to the shock of all the crews and staff that were watching.
John examined the sight glass. “Looks like we have enough water for the test. But I think we should take it easy for the time being, just to be safe.” He said, as he opened the cylinder cocks, which released steam and condensed water from the cylinders. He then closed the cocks when enough water had been released. “So, let’s get this B17 into the station.” He grinned, before pulling the whistle, which gave off its signature shriek.
Benn nodded, before they sidled up into Baltimare Station’s bay platform 2, to wait for the Fillydelphia Flyer. The boys quickly went over John’s notes that he had taken down about the controls of the B17. “How about this?” Benn asked. “You be fireman for the trip to Canterlot, and I’ll be fireman on the way back.” John nodded.
The two didn’t wait that long though, for about five minutes later, another whistle sounded out. And after that, The Fillydelphia Flyer pulled into the station, at the point of it, a run-down, and very worn out 4-4-0. Both boys just couldn’t bear to look at the engine, it was coated with grime and dust, with only a bit of black paint showing. And leaked steam from its inside cylinders.
The stationmaster came hurrying up to the two boys. “Thank Celestia that you two erm… Humans are here, and you have your own engine too.”
“What’s wrong?” Benn asked.
“The engine pulling the Flyer failed, its right cylinder has a major leak in it, they can get it to the shops light, but another engine is needed. We were told by Mr. Hoover of your ‘test’, so you two can take the Flyer onto Canterlot, we’ll have another engine waiting when you return to Manehattan.”
“Yessir,” Benn said. He then looked at John. “Can I rely on you for a strong fire John?”
John raised an eyebrow. “Can I rely on YOU to not get us killed going to Canterlot?” He asked rhetorically, crossing his arms.
Benn nodded, then after the 4-4-0 had been moved out of the way, the B17 moved to the train, and John coupled the engine and cars together. He was surprised to see that the couplers looked the same. He chuckled as he coupled ‘Champions Lodge’ to the Flyer.
Mr. Hoover walked up to the platform, along with a pony, who the boy’s recognized as Regulator.
“Thought you boys would like some company,” Mr. Hoover called. “Regulator knows the line from Baltimare to Canterlot like the back of his own hand. He’ll be going with you to make sure you get back in one piece.” He said, as Regulator climbed into the cab.
John looked back, as he heard a whistle, and saw the guard waving green flag. “Right of way Benn,” He said. “Let’s get going.”
Benn nodded, and opened the regulator. And, hissing steam from its cylinders, and with a long blast of the whistle, ‘Champions Lodge’ set off with The Fillydelphia Flyer, bound for Canterlot Union Station.