Grantville Gazette 38 gg-38

by Коллектив Авторов

  As Vince entered the private room, Hugh Lowe rose and shook his hand. A quick glance at the table showed it was set for three. "Somebody else coming, Hugh?" He motioned toward the settings.

  "A little later. I wanted to have a chance to eat with you in peace before getting down to business. This is my first chance to relax since that business last week." Outside, a rumble of thunder and patter on the roof announced that the rain had arrived.

  ****

  A discreet knock on the door announced the arrival of the third member of the meeting. Colonel Elizabeth Pitre opened the door. "Am I on time?"

  Hugh waved her over to the extra place setting. "Beth, we're just starting dessert. Tell the waiter to send in an extra serving if you're hungry."

  "If that's today's special, you don't have to twist my arm. I'll definitely join you." Beth took her seat facing Hugh. "Good to see you again, Vince. Any new toys for us to play with at TacRail?"

  "Maybe. If you're really interested, I'll send someone over to your office later this week to brief you. We've finally solved the bottleneck on the boiler tubes shortage. Would you believe, we're recruiting gun makers? The steel barrels they use for muskets only need some minor changes to be used as boiler tube stock. We should start seeing a steady supply of boilers for larger industrial uses."

  Hugh visibly perked up at the news. "Does that mean I'll see my new locomotives sooner?"

  Vince winced. This was what he had expected! "I'm sorry, Hugh, but the casting delays on the drivers and cylinders are what are delaying the construction. We already had the locomotive tubes built. It's still going to be July before the next order of engines could even remotely be ready." And more likely October, was the unspoken thought.

  "Well, that's why I invited the two of you here." Beth and Vince looked at each other, hoping the other would explain. "Colonel Pitre, has your investigation come up with any answers?"

  "I do have answers to both of your questions. First, we have discovered the reason for the accident."

  "Excellent." Hugh clapped in appreciation. "I knew bringing TacRail in was the right approach. I told Brendan he wasn't equipped to handle this type of investigation. So who sabotaged us?"

  "I'm sorry if you think I was implying sabotage," Beth said. "It was nothing as dramatic as that. It seems one of the local landowners was building a dam to power a new mill and needed something to hold the structure together. Somehow, the spikes were 'liberated' and used to beef up the cross braces on the dam. We're holding the landowner and his foreman in custody until we can sort out who was responsible for giving the orders and removing the spikes. I suspect both were equally involved and I suspect the railroad may be the proud owner of a new mill when this is all settled."

  Hugh was stunned. He shook his head, "What were they thinking? Just pull up the spikes and no one would notice?"

  Beth nodded. "They didn't think the outside spikes were that important and figured the track crews wouldn't notice them missing since they were on the outside of a curve. We found a trail leading straight from the accident site to the dam. When my sergeant questioned them, they each implicated the other."

  "That was fast work. I'll have my lawyer get with you to start the court proceedings. Now, you said you had an answer to both questions. What were you able to do about getting us back in operation?"

  "There's good news and bad news. The good news is that between your track crew and my unit, the track is repaired and back in operation as of late yesterday morning. The two cars were hauled back to Grantville and are already over at Vulcan Werks for repairs. Martin said they should be finished in a week. The tender, as we suspected, is a write off. I was able to retrieve the wheels and they went back with the coaches to Vulcan."

  Vince nodded agreement.

  Beth continued, "The bad news is the locomotive. The ground there is now part of the pond that the dam was built to deepen. The surrounding ground is either too steep or too soft to try and set up any equipment to lift the engine out. Even if the pond is drained, the ground would still be too soft. The loco has sunk so far in that it's impossible to drag it out either. Believe me, we tried! We could squeeze six oxen, yoked to a cable, into the ravine. All we managed to do was drive the engine in deeper. As far as I can see, the only hope is that it doesn't sink too far by the time it starts to freeze. We might be able to dig it out next winter."

  Vince sat there, taking in the report and wondering why Hugh had asked him here. When Beth emphasized digging, a light began to flicker. Hugh interrupted his thoughts with a question for Beth.

  "So what you're saying is that I'm short an additional locomotive until the winter freeze?"

  "Basically, yes. Unless Vince can come up with some way to lift the engine out without losing his equipment to the bog, you'll have to wait."

  "I suspected as much from the description Karl, the conductor, gave me of the accident site. But as short as we are for engines, I had to hope. Vince, if there ever was a time you could pull a rabbit out of a hat, this is it." Hugh looked like a drowning man searching for a rope.

  "I don't know about rabbits, and without seeing the site, I can't say for certain, but we do have some new toys that may be of use." The prototype boiler he'd had Arlen working on was ready and had the power needed. Adapting it would be the problem. "Colonel, could you stop by the Werks with me when we finish and describe to my chief engineer what you're facing. I think with a little brainstorming we might come up with some possibilities."

  Vince's optimism brought a smile to Hugh's face. "I'd like to send Karl with you, Colonel, as my liaison. He's laid up right now with a broken arm, but has had some exposure to railroad engineering. He knows everyone on the line and should be of some help."

  Beth just nodded, her attention fastened on the kitchen doorway. The waiter had just arrived with the additional strudel. It was smothered in fresh whipped cream and perched on a huge scoop of ice cream. Beth checked her belt, to make sure proper attention could be given to the dessert.

  ****

  Two sets of legs stuck out from under a damaged passenger car. Recognizing both, Mimi Goss walked over and gave the longer pair of them a kick. "Arlen Goss, are you going to let Martin have a lunch break, or are you both planning on starving me to death? The aroma of cheese and oregano brought both men out from under the car. Mimi stood there with a fresh pizza and two bottles of beer. "Junior is kicking, telling me it's way past time to eat! Now go clean up and get back here before I finish this whole pizza. The doctor says I need to watch my weight and you're definitely not helping."

  After a quick, apologetic kiss to his wife, Arlen grabbed Martin and headed to the nearby wash sink. As they cleaned up, Arlen surveyed the crowded shop. A crew was unloading car part castings from some flat cars. "You know, Martin, we may need to expand again. Those ore cars are taking up a lot of space, especially broken down like they are for shipping. The work keeps coming in faster than we can finish it."

  Martin gave Arlen a poke in the ribs and pointed to Mimi with a bar of soap. "Work here's not the only thing expanding. When is she due?"

  Arlen smiled at the jest. "Not for a couple of months yet. The doctor isn't sure, but it may be twins. She goes back to see him next week. We should know then." The object of the discussion picked up her second piece of pizza and scooped the cheese string into her mouth. "We better hurry or there won't be anything left!" Arlen tossed a hand rag back on the sink and headed toward his wife. When he got to the table he was rewarded with a cheese-flavored kiss.

  Just about the time the last of the pizza disappeared, Vince Masaniello came through the open shop doors with Colonel Pitre and two others. Mimi turned to Arlen, "Looks like my cue to leave. Your boss is here with visitors."

  Arlen motioned for her to remain seated. "Stick around. He mentioned he might be stopping by with visitors and needed to discuss a large project . I'll want your thoughts if it involves travel. With a baby coming, I don't want to get stuck too far from home. Your being here may
remind him of that fact. Vince can be a little too focused at times."

  Vince pointed out the cars that were in for repairs to the visitors and then brought them over to the table. "Arlen, these are the visitors I mentioned. I believe you know Colonel Pitre."

  Arlen nodded a greeting. He had worked with the TacRail commander on a number of projects. Her presence at least reduced the likelihood of a long trip. "Good to see you again, Colonel. Were those parts I sent last week what you needed?"

  "Yes. We didn't even need to do any extra machining."

  Arlen turned to the other two visitors. The female was familiar, but he couldn't place her name. The man with the arm in a sling was a total stranger. Vince continued, "This is Karl Alpendorf, a conductor on the railroad and his companion is Lynn Pierce, a mechanical engineering student. They'll be involved on this project."

  Arlen snapped his fingers and pointed at Lynn. "Now I remember! You work at your father's steel works. I thought I remembered seeing you somewhere. You were there when I was meeting with him on that large parts order for the ore cars." He pointed to the arriving castings. "You made the design suggestion that reduced the weight on the wheels."

  Lynn smiled. "I'm flattered you remembered."

  A swift kick under the table reminded Arlen of his manners. He turned to his table companions, "Let me introduce the head of our car construction, Martin Erlanger, and my wife, Mimi." Both nodded acknowledgement.

  Vince pulled up some nearby chairs. When Martin and Mimi started to rise, he told them to stay. "This is just a preliminary brainstorming session. Outside ideas would be welcomed."

  Arlen asked, just a little puzzled, "And just what, exactly, are we brainstorming? If it's about the wreck, the cars are here and should be relatively simple to repair."

  Vince shook his head. "The problem is the locomotive. The railroad needs engines, badly, and the wreck has left one mired in a bog. The colonel has spent the past few days trying to lift, pull, or push it out. All that's happened is that it's stuck even deeper now in the muck. You know as well as I do that USE Steel is making parts as fast as they can, but we can only build locomotives if the parts are here. If we can get this engine raised, it should be a simple repair job. You were at the site to get the cars here for repair and know what the situation looks like. Is there any way we could use the new prototype steam engine to get that locomotive out?"

  Arlen said, "That site is was heavily wooded along the ravine and around the pond the loco is submerged in. There's no way to pull the engine out until the ground freezes. I assume we can't wait for winter?"

  Vince sighed. "Nope. Hugh needs it now!"

  "Just asking." Arlen looked over at the prototype. It was supposed to generate over two hundred horsepower. It could be mounted vertically on a sledge for transport to the site and outriggers added for stability. The problem was finding a way to lift the weight of the loco without toppling the equipment. Somehow, the lift point had to be right over the loco. He started to get an idea. He doodled on a napkin, laying out the site as he remembered it. When he finished he pushed it across the table to Beth. "Is this about how you remember the site's layout?"

  Beth studied the drawing for a minute. "That's very close. You've got extremely good powers of observation. Now, what's your idea?"

  "I remember a story about a railroad that faced a similar problem. They solved it by rigging cable between a number of large trees and running some type of pulley mechanism out for the lift. I was stuck for a minute on what the mechanism looked like, but remembered an old model train crane I had on my layout. There would be a set of pulleys connected to the steam donkey for lifting and lowering and other sets on the end of mechanism and trees that went back to the donkey engine to run it out and back." He paused, gathering his thoughts. Abruptly he asked, "Colonel, how much pull do you have with the navy?"

  "I know Admiral Simpson from meetings we've both attended, but all we've ever discussed professionally was how much more rail he needed for his ironclads. What do you need?" Beth asked.

  Arlen started to sketch in lines on the site map, connecting back to a point on solid ground. "We'll need some anchor cable to handle the main lines. Two-inch might work, but three-inch would be better. Probably around ten sections of hundred-foot lengths. We'll return it when we're done, but it will be stretched." He turned to Lynn. "I'll also need some custom casting work to make the pulleys and blocks to handle cable that size. Can USE Steel handle something like that with their current workload?"

  Lynn studied the rough sketch and then got a faraway look. After a minute she replied, "I'll have to check with Dad, but I think they could do it if Mr. Lowe asked and explained why." She looked over at Karl. "No offense, but your boss has been pushing real hard for loco parts and rail. He'll have to decide how important this work is."

  ****

  Arlen walked around the flatcar, double checking the rigging holding down the donkey engine for shipping to the accident site. Six weeks of very intensive labor was sitting on the car and he didn't want anything to happen to it. The engine's "accessories" had taken up all of his time. The gearing system for the two cable drums was simple in theory, but Vince's extra requirements had complicated the final design. The trade off had been that the company could use the design on a wide range of other steam powered equipment. Vince was already in contact with the navy on one of his pet projects concerning the new boilers.

  The aerial lifting dolly sat next to the engine, strapped to the deck. At just over six feet long and eight hundred pounds, it would need special handling to simply get it into the proper position once they arrived at the site. It had been ready a week ahead of schedule, thanks to Lynn's efforts at USE Steel in overseeing the finishing machining. Word had arrived two weeks ago that the cable had been delivered by train, along with four navy riggers to help the TacRail detachment install it. It would be ready when he arrived. Hopefully, it should only take a day or two to finish the project once he got the engine set up. The prospect of camping in the woods, even with an army tent and cot, wasn't too inviting. Besides, the doctor said Mimi was inside a month for her delivery. He planned on being there for the birth of their twins.

  Arlen finished his inspection. Only one strap had needed some tightening. The shop crew had done a good job loading the equipment. He signaled for the waiting Goose to back up and couple on. Since there was only one car and they couldn't leave the car blocking the main line once they unloaded, the railroad was sending a Goose to pull the car out and return with the empty. As the Goose bumped into the flatcar, Arlen connected the air lines and signaled it was coupled. He grabbed his duffel bag and swung up on the Goose's rear steps as it pulled out. He looked around for Mimi, but she was nowhere to be seen. Arlen shrugged. She probably went inside for one of those increasingly frequent pit stops the pregnancy is causing. He settled down on the bench seat for the short trip to the accident site.

  An hour later, when the freight special arrived at the accident site, Arlen was amazed at the work that had already been accomplished. The forest canopy had been limbed out and cables ran like a spider's web between the trees. A dirt ramp with a wooden deck was waiting to assist in unloading the engine. The pond where the engine had landed had been drained and a caisson of timbers erected to help in removing enough mud so that cables could be slung underneath the engine's frame.

  Beth Pitre met him as he climbed down from the Goose. "We're ready as soon as you can get your engine set up." Beth guided him around the site and kept up a running commentary. "I've had my detachment build rollers to ease the hauling. The site is leveled and the lifting cables are already rigged around the bottom of the locomotive."

  They were interrupted as a crew of local workers swarmed over the donkey engine, loosening the tie downs and attaching ropes to manhandle the load off the flatcar. Beth continued, "They should have it off and in position before dinner. They're being paid a bonus if we have the work done in the next three days. The army needs all the logistics tran
sport it can round up to support the forces in the east." With a wave of her arm she added, "Can you see where we might have missed something?"

  Arlen was amazed by the coordinated mayhem around him. TacRail was taking this assignment seriously. He looked around and then asked, "Did you get the softeners made? I don't think Admiral Simpson would appreciate us cutting his cables, much less Mr. Lowe having his locomotive dropped back in this mud hole."

  Beth smiled. "Two old truck tires cut up and positioned as recommended! I have to confess. One of my squad worked for a crane company right after high school." Pointing to the tent area, Beth went on, "Why don't I get you settled in your tent? You can unpack and then have lunch while we get the donkey engine in position and rig up the aerial gear. We might even have time to finish the rigging before dark."

  "Sounds fine," Arlen said. "The sooner we get done, the sooner I can get back to town. The doctor says Mimi could give birth any time now."

  ****

  After lunch, Arlen watched as the ship riggers moved the aerial lift dolly into position. The riggers took their time. While the process looked easy to the uninitiated, one wrong move could sever a hand or finger in the blink of an eye. When the dolly reached its destination, four cables were waiting and were strung through the pulleys on each end. The entire dolly was slowly hauled by teams with ropes, into position over the locomotive. Arlen was surprised to see Karl in a group gathered around the engine, helping to transfer water to the boiler and overseeing the laying of the coal in the firebox. "Aren't you a conductor?" he asked.