Chapter 6-OK Then!
When Sunny and her friends had returned to the Brighthouse, the first thing they noticed was that something outside it had changed. This very thing was very noticable.
"Izzy," Pipp asked, "what is this piece of junk you've dumped outside our house?"
"It's not a piece of junk!" Izzy protested. "It's what we've been looking for. The solution to our travel travails! Our local application of ferroequine locomotion! Our new wagon of whimsy! A potential replacement to the Wild Willflyer of Winderston!"
"Does anypony have any idea what she's on about?" Hitch asked.
"Nope," Pipp replied. "Izzy, in Ponish, please."
"This pond it seems me much multiplied of fishes," Izzy replied. "Relax, I'm just kidding! My Ponish is working just fine, eh Sunny? No Swiss here!"
"Please don't remind me of that again," Sunny said. "We had a hard enough time un-gibberishing my brain. Izzy, what is it you found?"
Izzy pointed to the big metal thing she had plonked on the Brighthouse lawn. "Oh, this? It's a steam train."
"Steam locomotive," Zipp corrected. "Technically there's no such thing as a steam train."
"Then it's a steam train locomotive," Izzy replied. "Everypony happy?"
Irrespective of whether it was a steam train or a steam locomotive, the object that Izzy had found was pretty impressive. It was long and large, painted mainly black except for some metal parts that were a silvery shade. Presumably this was another type of paint to help protect the metalwork from damage. Above the wheels, of which it had twelve (eight of those being linked together by more metal) was a long metal platform which ponies could presumably stand on (but also had a gaping hole in it near the front), and a series of pipes ran underneath that that extended to underneath a large box near the back of the engine. It had a big chimney, several big round things atop the boiler, and a whistle and bell mounted somewhere along it. The box was festooned with windows, and these made seeing out pretty easy for the ponies onboard. The final and other part was a large box behind the engine, mounted on two trucks with four wheels each.
The engine was also covered in quite a lot of rust, which was going to be a problem.
Sunny looked at the object in confusion. "How did we miss that one?" she asked, looking at the engine in surprise. "Where did you find it, Izzy?"
Izzy glanced around. "I technically didn't find it, Misty did! She fell through the ground and into a big cavern, so I followed her down and this was in there. We hired a drilling machine to open up a path out and hauled the machine to the centre of town, where we then dropped it off on the floor here."
Zipp checked some text and looked back at the object. "If my history is reading correctly, then this is TER No. 499, which worked the last train on the Earth Pony section of the line!" she said, her eyes lighting up. "With this it makes our work so much easier!"
"Really?" Pipp said, looking at it. "Looks like a pile of scrap iron to me."
"So did the Marestream before we fixed the old tramcar," Izzy said. "Now look at it!" She pointed to the Marestream to prove her point.
"It's actually not looking too bad," Zipp added, using her goggles to scan it. "A few bits need replacing here and there, but she looks structurally intact. Some rust needs cleaning off here and there but it's looking quite good for being stuck in a cave for years."
"Eh heh, my bad," Misty said, looking sheepishly at the floor, the first thing she had said the entire conversation.
"So," Izzy said, "did anypony find anything else?"
"I found an old bridge," said Sunny, who then showed her friends a photograph. "It connects together bits of the canyon we traversed when on our way to Bridlewood all those moons ago. Not sure how we didn't spot it, but it looks in pretty good shape to me. Having said that, I'm not an engineer so I wouldn't really know."
"Anything else?" Zipp ventured.
"I also found a section of the line still in use by a logging company," Sunny continued. "They use these really strange engines with the cylinders mounted vertically, and they make a bit of a racket. I thought an express was approaching when I heard it but I got out of the way and-"
"Sunny, focus."
"Sorry," Sunny replied. "I checked your map against a logging map and it seems the old Bridlewood station still exists! Pretty great news, am I right?"
"Better than mine," Hitch said, looking dejected.
"I'm certain you found something useful," Izzy said, putting a hoof round his neck in an effort to cheer the sheriff up. "There's no such thing as a useless object. It's just a thing you haven't found a use for yet. Trust me, I know all about that."
"Indeed you do, Miss Dumpster Diver," Pipp retorted. "You'll give yourself a serious infection if you're not careful. That garbage hasn't been cleaned and could be a problem!"
"I know what I'm doing!" Izzy replied. "So, anyways, what was it you found, Hitch?"
"After recovering Cloudpuff from the tunnels under the CanterLogic factory- trust me, I have no idea how he made his way down there- I found this cylinder inside one of the storage rooms." Hitch placed a cylindrical object on the floor in front of him. "I have no idea what this thing is or what it does, but it seems to hold some importance or else it wouldn't be put in storage."
Zipp peered at the object in interest. She suddenly produced her goggles from nowhere and slipped them onto her face, then switched modes on the visor to check inside. "Night vision- no, that doesn't work. Heat vision- too blurry! X Ray- Not effective at looking inside metal objects. Detector mode- perfect! There's useful stuff in there!" She indicated to the others. "Quickly! To the Brighthouse!"
"We're already at the Brighthouse," Pipp countered.
"Err, quick! Inside the Brighthouse!"
After making themselves comfortable, Zipp opened the canister, and a series of rolled up papers fell out onto the table.
"Eww! These are seriously mouldy!" Pipp said, plugging her nose with her hoof.
Zipp, however, looked like a kid in a candy shop. "Drawings of locomotives and rolling stock, schematics for buildings, blueprints for bridges, gradient profiles for the line. Perfect!" She looked over to Hitch. "Great work, Sheriff. You may have made the most vital discovery yet of this entire project! With these we'll be able to rebuild all the stuff the line needs!"
"Right," Hitch replied. "I hate to burst bubbles, but we have a serious problem if we want to rebuild this railroad thing of yours. Two serious problems, if you think about it for a moment."
"Those are?" Sunny asked.
"Location and money. This line, based on what you've told me, ran across three entire countries. That's thousands of miles of potential track to rebuild if we're gonna reopen this place. The second is money. There's no way we could do this on our own! This stuff costs money, and we don't have a lot of it."
"Maybe if we could get Pipp to sell her gold plated laptop-"
"NO. WAY! That was a present from my favourite uncle!"
"You have an uncle?" Izzy asked.
"Yes," Pipp replied. "Mom has a lot of brothers and sisters. Great for Wishentine, not so good for glamping when we need to squeeze into one campsite."
"I can attest to this," Zipp added.
"So, how did it go in Zephyr Heights?" Izzy asked, having gone about three seconds since her last question.
"Mom says it might be doable if we can pursuade the other leaders to contribute resources to the project," Zipp replied. "She's trying to organise a meeting of the others, but I haven't heard back yet. Then again, it is the same day, so she's probably got untold numbers of photos to autograph or some laws to sign. Something like that."
Hitch, who had been silent for a bit, had a thought. "Right now, this railroad is a theoretical railroad," he said.
"Barring the bits that are still running," Sunny added.
"Naturally," Hitch noted. "If something is only a matter theoretical, then it can be hard to convince ponies that it can work properly. What we need is something that can demonstrate to the world that this idea can and will work. Something that shows that this idea is not merely some dream dreamed up by a group of ponies with more idealism than money. Something that will show to the world that we can make it happen!"
There was a moment of silence. Then Sunny spoke. "I've got it!"
"Is it contagious?" Hitch asked.
"We've done this joke many times before," Izzy pointed out.
"We have that engine out there. How about we restore it to working order?"
Bit of a recap chapter, this. But some major developments nontheless.
As a nod to follower and friend SciSetShimmerEvan, the steam loco Izzy found is based on a D&RGW K-37. This is a class of narrow gauge mixed traffic steam locomotives built between 1928 and 1930 which predominantly saw use on the D&RGW's narrow gauge lines in Colorado and New Mexico.
I've also fitted some references to my earlier stories in there. Can you spot them?
Next time: Gonna work, work, work!
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We are back underway, guys!
Gold Plated Laptop? Dank Farrik! Is there anything Pipp owns that isn't gold anything?!
Thanks very much for getting the next chapter up. I really appreciate you going to the trouble, especially considering the exchanges, characterizations and future chapter set-up. DEFINITELY loved the reactions to Izzy and Misty finding that steam locomotive as well as Sunny mentioning the Bridlewood railway station that still exists. And, yes, getting that train back up and running WILL take time and teamwork, but it CAN be done.
Of course, for the one bit having the use of the Z-Goggles, I think you mean "Infra-red" vision rather than "heat" vision. Heat vision is an optic heat beam used for either offensively, forge work or for quicker food cooking. Of course, admittedly, I've probably been reading too many older Superman comics, so I apologize for that.
But anyway, really looking forward to more of this.
great chapter mate keep it up cant wait for the next chapter
11692113
We all use devices that have gold in them. Most circuit boards have gold in them; it's part of the reason electronics cost what they do. Of course, slapping gold plate onto a device will ramp up the cost (and is probably also an alloy of some description as pure gold is incredibly soft).
11692117
Anything can be achieved provided that you have the right resources.
Thanks for pointing this out to me. I'll go and change it.
11692128
Glad to see you spotted the reference.
11692141
That is true. As gold is a good conductor of electricity. Plus, Iron Man's armor uses Gold plating to avoid icing up.
And honestly, while gold plating is pretty, I'd much rather stick to nickle plating. Also other than looks, I hardly think having a laptop covered with gold serves any ethical purposes.
Calling it a 'steam locomotive or engine' is better imo.
That's the whole point Pipp, garbage is supposed to be like that.
First, thanks for mentioning me, and second I'd also like to note that just about all of the k37s are still around. About 8 if my memory is correct. And as of 2023, 2 of them are operating. There's 491 at the Colorado Railroad Museum and 493 at Durango & Silverton. And soon in the future there will be a third one running at Cumbres & Toltec, being 492, which has just started its rebuild not too long again. While many people were hoping it be 497 being the last k37 to run on C&T trackage in 2002, it's not in good shape and why 492 was chosen over it. Still, it's great to know that another one of its siblings has a role in this story!
11692149
Nope. If anything, it can look quite tacky if done poorly.
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1 and 2. That's a reference to the FiM episode MMMystery on the Friendship Express. At one point, Pinkie states they need to find 'who done it'. Whilst 'whodunnit' is an established genre name, it's only used as an adjective, so Pinkie's use of the phrase is grammatically incorrect. Twilight tries to correct her ('who did it'), but this only makes Pinkie's grammar worse.
3. TRASH! DOESN'T MEAN IT'S WASTE!
4. That's some interesting trivia.
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Thanks for the reminder from that one FIM Episode, haven't seen it in years so it was nice getting a memory refresh. And your welcome on the K37 mention. I've even gotten to see 493 myself during my visit in 2021, although she was having a boiler wash the day I saw her.
11692164
Aye.
And to quickly say about Izzy's comment on trash. Everything is not necessarily garbage. Everything can be reused and recycled. I mean, I used cardboard to make a replica of Optimus Prime in truck form. Won me a blue ribbon at the state fair.
When i read in chapter 5 of the slow moving vertical cylinder steam engine.
This thing is what came to mind for me.
glostransporthistory.visit-gloucestershire.co.uk/images/SDL_Locomotion.jpg
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I'm not sure which engine was running during my last visit. It was probably 488 or another of the K-36s.
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Locomotion No. 1 would probably fit early Equestria better, as it's roughly the same era as the B&O Grasshoppers.
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That is true, though I believe that it is normal to reuse things such as cardboard before you put it in the bin.
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Well atm/as of late 2023 for engines at C&T that are running are 168, 315, 463, 484 & 488. 487 is undergoing an oil conversion, 489 is undergoing running gear work and like I said earlier 492 has entered a rebuild.
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My visit was in 2012, so I'm not sure.
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got it.
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Yup.
My fav 2-8-2 is the LNER'S P2 Class heavy express locomotives
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True that. But, in my opinion, I think Izzy is wise enough to keep track of which places she can find materials for her purposes. Including avoiding dumpsters that are full of hazardous materials.
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Interesting choice, although the P2 Project appears to have made some impressive headway recently.
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There was a pice of (now deleted) fanart which showed the consequences of Izzy going searching for unicycling supplies in a toxic waste dump.