Upgrading the Railway Network

by The Stainmore Phoenix

Chapter 28

The accident investigation was conclusive and wrapped up in short order, but another problem sprung up, that would lead to the biggest disaster Equestria ever saw.

A new set of crewcolts had been hired on in Maretropolis. However, they were much worse than first thought. They blatantly ignored rules and constantly were getting themselves into all sorts of trouble with the law.

“Young idiots,” huffed Brick Arch. “Bettin' anythin' they'll get into trouble.”

“Tooa reet. ah 'ope neya 'un else gets i' on thea stupidity,” a large black with red stripped unicorn named Fuse Injector said.

They watched as the new crewcolts began fly shunting long lines of wagons at dangerous speeds. The two older hooves groaned and went to sort out this mess and take care the shunting that needed to be done.

“Who needs them?” one of the new colts. “Always butting in and telling us to do it right.”

“Right, who cares about this Gresley fellow? He's a fat and lazy so and so who only tells people what to do,” another huffed.

The others agreed.

“Our way is better and we'll prove it,” a fifth said.

And prove it, they did. They broke every rule and did every wrong maneuver in the book. They didn't care and ignored every reprimand. Even suspensions and reallocations didn't work. They had pin ups insulting every designer and CME known to man and pony kind.

“These young 'ooligans aren't goan learn. what's it goan tek, eur deyth?,” Fuse Injector snarled, watching their idiot trainees cause hell.

She watched them take an ex-Union Pacific 0-6-0 Saddle tank and roughly fly some ex WD warwells into a siding.

“We'll have to wait and see,” Brick Arch said.

Days went by and the rowdy newcomers were making things worse and even dangerous. Such moves as fly shunting wagons across the path of inbound and outbound trains, many of them being passenger trains. Drivers hated that and often yelled at them, to no avail.

Some days later, Celestia's cousin, Leon, now 17, was hired on at Maretropolis Kingsworth Sheds.

“Okay, now, I need to find either Fuse Injector or Brick Arch,” he muttered.

Looking around, he eventually bumped into Brick Arch. The large earth pony was looking over a recent arrival, an Ex-GWR Large Prairie. He turned to face Leon and smiled.

“Hello,” he said. “Are you Leon?”

“Yes, sir,” Leon replied. “I'm here to start work as a cleaner.”

Brick Arch smiled and took the young Alicorn under his wing and taught him the ins and outs of shed 90C. Leon, with note book, was writing down every little oddity that the shed staff had and even their rituals. Some made him chuckle with bemusement. Once done with the shed teaching, the two cleaned and polished the 61xx in the shed before it's next train.

As they finished work, a line of coal wagons came flying towards them from out of the yard. Leon set the table and the trucks rolled over the table and hit the buffers, the rear six coming off the rails. Coal flew everywhere and many of the lumps of coal hit the recently cleaned loco, denting it and covering it in coal dust.

“I'll send for help,” Brick Arch said.

“I'll examine the loco,” Leon replied.

The two went to do what they said. Leon gave the loco a thorough examination before sighing. The boiler was dented and in several places, the outer casing was cracked; the tanks were bent and in places cracked, the peephole windows were shattered, the lamp crushed, the lamp irons bent and the smokebox door knocked in.

“It's not safe to work,” he said. “I'll have to report this.”

He did and two inspectors came to examine the engine. They found more damage caused by the flying coal and quickly arranged for another engine to cover the crippled engine's train. As they finished, An Ex-GWR 14xx, #1458, brought up the cranes from the sidings at the bottom of the yard.

Another engine came to clear away the undamaged wagons and workcolts, workmares and workmen swarmed the turntable. Even with Leon's help, the table wouldn't turn. Closer inspection revealed the gears had been jammed hard into the teeth on the bottom of the turntable pit, which helps the table turn around to properly orient a loco for whatever job it had.

“This is just lovely!” Leon snarled as Brick Arch came up. “First the tank and now this!”

Brick Arch was filled in. He sighed and walked over to the young prince.

“It'll be sorted. For right now, you'll have to learn how to shunt trucks and pilot the station,” Brick Arch said. “With the sheds out of action, you'll be lucky to clean an engine at all for the rest of the day.”

Leon agreed and followed his mentor to the yards, where they found the pilot, an Ex-LMS Fowler 3F tank, more commonly referred to as a Jinty. Leon was taught to raise steam in a “warm” loco.

A “warm” loco is a loco where the fire had died down, but isn't out completely. Raising steam from that state was a walk in the park if the crew knows what to do. Churning the clinkers and firebed over, glowing coals will rise to the top and throwing a half shovel on the glowing coals will start a combustion process which will set the coals on fire. If a little prodding is needed, the driver moves the coals around and the rushes of oxygen fly into the gaps and start to raise the fire. Some crews have a habit of grabbing a piece of wood and soaking half of it in kerosene, then lighting the soaked end and tossing it in to make sure the “warm” state of the loco has changed to a “hot” state.

The raising process went without a hitch and they were soon moving coaches and wagons into their inbound and outbound platforms and sidings. The troublesome colts were still causing trouble. It was due to their carelessness that caused what happened next.

One colt decided to stand on the railway line and play “chicken” with a line of wagons. His mate gave the wagons an extra hard shove, so they were barreling down the line at a greater rate. Leon screamed out for everyone to clear the line, but the young idiot didn't move.

Leon tried to use his magic to hold the heavy wagons, but due to the weight, speed and momentum shifts, it was no good and the “chicken” was knocked down. By the time medics got to him, he was gone. Leon was close to tears.

“Don't worry,” Brick Arch said, walking up and laying a hoof on the trainee. “Stupid gets what stupid deserves.”

Leon nodded and they went back to working in the yard. There were no investigations as the events were transparent and the recent hires were thrown out. Leon was kept on and he proved to be a smarter investment to the railway. His trains were in and out on time and no one had a bad word to say about him. However, Leon had yet to face the main line with a train he had made up.