//------------------------------// // The Silverton Train // Story: Lonesome Whistle // by Vauclains Understudy //------------------------------// “Ever worked with ore trains before?” asked M as she was hitched to the front of a string of empty ore cars. “I’ve done some freight work out of Ponyville with my Santa Fe engine,” said Ironside, “But no, never pulled an ore train.” “Well, they’re no trouble when they’re empty,” M replied, “It’s when they’re loaded that it becomes a pain.” “To whom, you or me?” asked Iron. “Both of us,” said M, “These grades will do a number on you if you aren’t careful.” “Why? Have you ever gone over the side?” asked Iron. “No, but 476 did once,” replied M, “He still gets the heebie-jeebies whenever he runs downgrade on the High Line. He’s lucky to still be running.” The High Line was the portion of the Silverton Branch Line that ran several hundred feet above the river on a rather skinny ledge. K-28 no. 476 once fell off the line and tumbled down the slope. Though seriously damaged by the fall, he was eventually repaired and brought back into service. Despite his survival, 476 always felt uneasy running along the High Line alone and always tried to double-head with another engine whenever he could. Once M was given the all-clear signal, Ironside gave two blasts from her hooter whistle, pushed the Johnson bar forward, released the air brakes, and eased back the throttle. Jets of steam shot out from the cylinders, discharging condensed steam and water from them. Once M knew her cylinders were purged, she had Ironside shut the drain cocks. The engineer opened the throttle a bit wider and notched back on the Johnson bar. The ore cars jerked a bit as their couplers picked up the slack, but the motion wasn’t violent enough to knock Ironside out of his seat. As soon as M knew the last car on the train was moving, she had Iron open up her throttle all the way. She figured it would be fun to highball on the journey to the mines since she wouldn’t be able to do so during the trip down the grade to Durango. It also meant that she got the first loads of ore from the mines and could depart sooner. Like their original namesakes, the towns of Durango and Silverton were connected by a narrow-gauge branch line that used to connect to the main line at Durango. The Equestrian counterpart to the Denver and Rio Grande Western, like its predecessor, had been shut down long ago, and only certain sections of the line remained. Princess Celestia had spent some time away from Equestria during her solo reign. The purpose behind her absences was to observe the progress of humans. It was for both industrial and military purposes; in case the humans became hostile, Celestia would have long before copied and developed the technologies they possessed thereby giving the ponies a better chance of surviving whatever fights broke out. In the end, however, she discovered that most humans denied Equestrians from ever having existed; the term “equestrian” in human parlance denotes the rider of a horse, and not the horse itself. She did find, however, that certain human technologies were worth copying and developing, and those that were helped modernize Equestrian life on an unprecedented scale. M and her ore cars reached the entrance to the mine shaft at about 4:30 in the afternoon. The sun was already setting on the horizon, so it would be dark by the time the ore train was fully loaded and set to depart for Durango. As Ironside and M sat by the entrance, they could hear explosions from deep within the mine as workers set off sticks of dynamite in order to remove the ore from the shaft walls. Needless to say, mining was a seriously dangerous job. Everything from cave-ins to gas fires could abruptly end the life of any miners working in the shafts, although there was also the added danger of stumbling into a dragon’s lair. As a result, Celestia made sure that miners were paid well for putting their lives on the line. Pretty soon, the first cartloads of ore were being brought out from the mine and rolled up the ore trestle. This was an above-ground structure that held a giant trough within its woodwork that stored the ore collected from the mines. Four large chutes were connected to this trough, and these chutes dumped the ore into the cars of the waiting ore train below the trestle. This allowed the ore trains to be loaded more quickly, meaning that more trains could be loaded and sent down the branch line to Durango. Each mine cart had to be hauled up the trestle one at a time. The bodies of the carts were much narrower than their axles, meaning that when the cart was tipped over all the ore fell between the rails and into the trough. As soon as the trough was full enough to completely fill M’s ore train, the chute pony pulled the chain that lowered the four chutes toward the first four cars of the ore train. The ore fell by gravity into the hopper cars. The chute pony raised the chutes as soon as the ore began to form peaks above the tops of the hoppers, preventing unnecessary spillage. With her first four cars loaded, M pulled ahead until the next four hoppers were aligned with the chutes. The process was repeated until all twelve of the ore cars were fully loaded. Ore trains were required to have cars in multiples of four since the chutes of the ore trestle could not be controlled individually. With her train fully loaded, M and her engineer began the trip through Silverton and down to Durango. The process of loading the ore trestle was very slow, so darkness had already fallen by the time M was ready to leave. Her headlight and indicator lights shone bright and clear as she marshaled her way through the sea of traffic littering the main street of Silverton. The tracks ran right through the road for its entirety; at the end of the road was the start of the branch line to Durango. Ironside kept the bell and whistle busy as he signaled ponies and their carts to let his train pass. Once the train was clear of the traffic, Iron opened up M’s throttle and let her accelerate until the train was cruising at a steady 35 mph. He would be mainly working the brakes during the descent to Durango, and M wasn’t allowed to exceed 15 mph along the High Line, so Ironside needed to cover the distances in as little time as he could. About 20 minutes after leaving Silverton, the train reached the point where the downward descent began. Ironside shut off M’s throttle and returned her valve gear to full forward, allowing air to circulate through her cylinders and prevent a vacuum from forming, which would otherwise suck all the oil out of her cylinders and cause her to seize up. As he began actuating the brakes to prevent the train from speeding out of control, he began to realize that Gallow and Big Mike found themselves in a very similar situation the day they lost the freight train in the Draconian Pass. As memories of Gallow began to pop up in his head again, he sat back in his chair and sighed. “Hey, you OK?” asked M when she felt his hooves let go of the brake handle. “Huh? Oh, yeah,” Iron replied, “Just thinking about my friend back home.” “Why?” she asked. “Well, it’s kind of a long story, but she was in a situation like this when she drove my freight engine into the Draconian Pass and lost the freight train,” he answered. “And that’s when everything went wrong?” the engine inquired. Iron nodded in reply. “Man, you just can’t escape those bad memories, can you?” said M in a somewhat complaining way. “I’m sorry, M,” Iron said back, “I’m trying to, I swear.” “Look, just concentrate on getting us down in one piece. That should keep your mind busy,” M said. It was just as well that he should, as the train was now approaching the High Line. Ironside applied the brakes harder, at least he tried to. Realizing that his trip down memory lane had caused the air pressure in the brake line to run low, he shut off the brakes entirely and turned on the air compressor. M was frightened a bit by the feel of her brakes coming off entirely. “Ironside, what’re you doing?” “Just giving the brake system a chance to recharge,” he replied, “Don’t worry, M, I won’t let you run away.” As he said this, he reached forward and pulled the Johnson bar back all the way to the full reverse position, followed by him opening the drain cocks. “Ironside?” asked M. “Relax, M,” Ironside responded in a calm voice. He reached for the throttle and opened it a quarter of the way. M yelped and shuddered as she felt steam flow through her cylinders and out her drain cocks. What made her uncomfortable was that the steam was flowing the wrong way. What Ironside was doing was called counter-steam braking. By reversing the direction of steam flow within the cylinders, Ironside was using M’s running gear as the brakes instead of the actual brake shoes. M felt her speed drop as the train entered the High Line. Ironside slowly closed the throttle once more. “Sorry, M,” he said softly, “I should’ve warned you before I did that.” “It’s OK, man,” she replied, “I just didn’t expect you to be one of those engineers.” “What do you mean?” he asked. “Well, you used me as the brake,” she answered, “I really don’t like being used as a brake. It feels wrong, and it does hurt a bit.” “I’m sorry,” Iron said again. “You did what you had to,” she replied, “We were going too fast for the High Line.” “I still don’t like knowing I did something uncomfortable to you,” he said. “You can’t please everyone, man,” the engine answered, “And please stop apologizing so much. You shouldn’t doubt everything that you do.” Ironside nodded as he realized just how true those words were. “Then you know that that won’t be the last time I use counter-steam braking on you.” “I know,” M answered, “I just want you to do so only when you really need to.” Ironside went back to using the brakes, as the air pressure in the pipes had once again reached a suitable level. He let his mind wander a bit again, but this time he mused over what M told him. She could read the thoughts in his head. “I was being serious when I told you to stick with me,” she said after a while. Ironside nodded again. “You’re quite a wise engine,” he said in response. “Well, there’s that and I’m trying to watch out for you,” she said, “You’re the first engineer I’ve had in a while. I’d like to have you stick around.” Hearing M’s voice kept reminding Ironside of all the time he had spent with Pinkie Pie. He wiped his eyes as he began to miss her. “I remind you of her, don’t I?” asked the engine. “Yeah…” the engineer answered. “Well, think about it this way: perhaps you were assigned to me for a reason. Maybe the world doesn’t hate you.” “You always seem to know how to make me smile, M,” Ironside said in a thankful voice. “Anything for a friend,” she replied. Ironside chuckled softly. “It’s like every friend I have loves to tug my heartstrings.” “Then you were blessed with some very special friends,” said M.