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Days come and go, and Years pass by like the wind yet in a valley near the Rockies it almost seems like time itself has stopped. Giant beasts of steel snorting fire and smoke pounding down roads of iron going to and from giant mountains to low flat plains this valley is home to the Fallen Flags Railroad home to 32 different steam engines, several thoughts lost to history, 11 diesels and 7 electrics all pristine as the time they rolled off the production line and this one is about Alpha the Union Pacific 9000 and a sort of competition with Burke a German DRG Class 44.
"Alright you lazy sods up and out we have another busy morning, Gray get out to the mill yards I need you to bring back the older log carts to be replaced with the newer ones and make sure you also being back a load of wood this time instead of multiple trips. Burke go with Alpha to the coal mines and grab the string on track 6 tack it to the stonecutters, Alpha take the string on track 2 over to the power plant at Grainsfield its running low as the flour mills are using so much power thanks to this year's harvest. Everyone else do what you did yesterday alright get to it." that there was the newest yard manager Ellis Woods the replacement for Dick Tway, he retired the earlier spring, Ellis was a tad temperamental when things didn't go right but a good man through and through Gray's engine roared as he puttered onto the turntable and he oiled away to fetch the new cars to replace the older ones, Joe wheezed slowly onto the turntable and chuffed his way over to the cranes as the way gang prepared for another day of hunting down track faults, Harley left next with Ashley close on his tender, Ethan mumbled something about a scrap train before weeshing away, Mary grumbled out and away to grab the local passenger followed by Eric, Trinity, and Maryland each going their respective way either heading for the hump, Scout was already working it always the early riser, or going out on the mainline for pickups at the other yards. Gigantor and Maude triple heading with ol Dragga made their way towards the mountains and possibly soon afterwards taking long lines of cars form the mines whilst Dragga would be doing the usual helper work. Alpha soon also rolled out onto the turntable and head out towards the tower Burke quickly making his way to nab a caboose and double head with Alpha "All right now hurry up their German." "Lemme tell ya something Alpha of the Union Pacific 9000 class 4-12-2-wheel arrangement the Burke is finding a caboose as quickly as he can in this very big yard here." Alpha muttered under his breath "Ms. Felicia never has troubles finding her caboose." "MMMMWA Good night, everybody." Jake quickly put in the eager engineer always loved it when he was able to join in on a jab or two Alpha couldn't help but laugh. Burke swiftly attached himself to Alpha and given the clear both made their way towards the coal mines it was a long run but with a full tender, head of steam still climbing and of course a high road speed limit it made the trip fast still not fast enough for the grouchiest shunter Alpha met in his long life of living, Daniel had to be the orneriest and crankiest steam loco Alpha had ever met or set headlight on you could be 20 minutes early and Daniel would still grumble about running late Daniel was one you could never truly please, in comparison Tillie rivaled Melon in the cheerfulness department the crews couldn't help but love her as if she where their own child if a child had enough strength to lift up a house it was a weird combo at the coal mines but it worked somehow.
"You big engines are so slow we could have had half the yard cleared out if you all got up earlier in the morning work hard like us smaller engines for change." Daniel went off on his ever present rambling of how smaller engines worked harder than the bigger freight and passenger locomotives "You keep running that mouth of yours Danny boy and I'll have done more work than anyone here on you" Alpha shot back, Daniel grumbled and went back to arranging the coal hoppers for loading or unloading Tillie grabbed the loaded cars and shoved them onto the outbound tracks, Burke topped off on water and coal whilst Alpha was degreased for the trip "Bet I can haul more than you." Alpha opened his eyes "Issat so? Like to see you try German boy."
"I think I can we may have the same number of pistons, but I have better engineering you were built before me therefore compared to the Burke you are of course inferior." Alpha hissed at the comment glaring at Burke "Oh yeah well how about tomorrow we have a competition to see who can pull the heaviest and the longest you pompous puffed-up airbag." the foremen broke the argument between them "Burke get your tender over to track 6 your train is ready; Alpha Tillie is finishing up yours." Burke went around the miniature loop turning around and backed down onto his coal train Daniel shoved the caboose he brought onto the back, with two shorts and a long Burke whistled his forward movement and sped out of the yards "Giant German windbag that's what that Burke is." Alpha grumbled to himself and made his way around the loop before Daniel decided he had to pester the 9000 into moving.
Burke sped down the line flying past signals and sidings gaily singing to himself "Burke is the strongest and swiftest, making others jealous because he's the quickest." the hoppers of coal rattled behind him unhappily then came the tricky part climbing the grade up to the stone cutters Burke's fireman threw more coal on his fire and prepared for the tricky climb up to electrical territory, Burke thundered up the gradient startling the napping Dragga from his sleep as the hoppers rattled past, snorting Dragga drifted back into his nap. Burke grunted as the slack tightened with each car pulling back more and more the engineer swiftly let sand out onto the tracks hoping to reduce slipping risks Burke huffed and growled tugging at the bit slowly climbing up the gradient Burke slipped twice and his engineer swiftly righted the problem before the heavy train could bring them back to the start "Now listen here 2.3% gradient Burke is going to own you and not need the help of Dragga the first heavy freight locomotive on the FFR so your just gonna sit there and be sad that you couldn't make Bruke slide back down like the eel you are."
Alpha however was having an easier time with his load his pistons thrumming he sped down the flat plain towards Grainsville the hoppers rocking and rolling behind, the signal men waved as he dashed past slowing for the yard limits "Good afternoon lazy wheels." he blasted waking up the snoring Harvey his diesel engine spluttering as he reversed quickly into pair of buffers groaning at the sudden impact "Blasted Alpha can't let anyone get a decent nap these days." still grumbling revved his engine and made to the yard as Alpha slowed to a halt on the oncoming track waiting for the transfer of empties and return of grain hoppers filled to the brim, Harvey grabbed the calf unit and made his way towards the grain silos coupling his knuckle to the cars one heave and tug he got the cars off the loading side adding to Alpha's coal train "So glad Wilkins managed to get those covered grain hoppers it was a pain with coal duty." Harvey agreed "Really troublesome for me I always had to either put these in front of the coal or waaaaay behind whatever else ya was pulling boy was that a hassle." the rest of trip for Alpha went smooth after a quick detour towards the mills he dropped of coal and took the rest of the grain along with some box cars full of bread to his first real stop with this ever-lengthening freight.
Alpha had about 60 cars from his start and stop, tankers, flats, high and low hoppers, boxcars, refrigerators each both empty and full and headed for the valleys entrance to be redistributed among the other cars going over the hump Alpha made a good pace of 70 Tim was the best fireman, the steam crew always fought over who would get him to fire them for the day, Alpha was living the dream of any steam locomotive and nothing could ruin it until a sideline single swept past him "Darn and such nice speed too." notching back Jake brought the freight engine to a slower 47 making sure to not send them careening off the rails "Front to caboose what do you see back there?" "Nothing so far no hotboxes either." "Roger keep us posted. Now who in the heck managed to get us sidelined no fast freights today the daily paper only runs at night." Tim shrugged as he adjusted the water level before heading back to his shovel. Meanwhile over a hundred miles away at the headquarters of the FFR one of the board men watched as the little red dot marking Alpha's position slowly crawled into the sideline, he checked back on the other dot that caused him to send it into the sideline, Belle and her Comet special, someone had messed up and sent her the long way around the valley and Alpha was unfortunately paying the price unbeknownst to him. "Caboose to front I see smoke might want to crank it we haven't passed the points yet." "Roger." the Caboose crew held on tight as the jolt ran down the train Alpha ahead picking speed back up to try and outpace the incoming locomotive 49 50 51 52 53 the needle creeping up "Pull harder front it's getting closer" "Come one Alpha, you can do it." Jim mumbled softly 56 57 58 "It getting closer, hold on I can see the engine its, Belle?! What the hell is the Comet Special doing way out here?" 62 63 64 Jim could hear Belle's whistle 67 68 69 "Front on the switch now" the conductors' words were drowned out by the whipping of wind as Belle rushed past Jim switched channels and radioed Bell's driver Frank "Why in the 9 layers of Hell are you out here?" "Couldn't tell ya Jim must have been a green signal man we got lucky, someone noticed on the board sorry for over taking you, but you know how our little Comet is with time."
Jim hung the receiver back on its hook Alpha however stared a hole in Belle's boiler as she flew past with her Pullman's "HOT RODDER!" he shouted after her Belle just whistling goodbye disappearing as quickly as she came, Alpha sulking the rest of the way. The entrance yards bustled with activity as the summer travelers we going home and freight traffic increased as the valley's own smaller businesses were trying to get as much profit in before closing up for the winter seasons, Scout was working the hump as several younger Union Pacific diesels rested in the sheds down by the station Alpha still grumbling pulled into the freight yard snorting like a wild bull Joe was sitting nearby as Freddie and Kennedy reloaded the flats cars with the newer cement ties the old wooden ones practically begging to be replaced "What's got you all wound up youngen?" wheezed Smokey Joe still snarling Alpha replied "Signal men and Comets that's what always causing trouble." Joe narrowed his eye "You best be careful now Alpha that kind of attitude leads to carelessness you know better than to hold a grudge especially against other engines trouble always follows with grudges." Alpha didn't listen and was still grumbling as he went off towards the sheds. Burke wasn't having it any easier mountain goats decided to play keep away and darted across the line startling the big engine forcing him to put on his breaks the amount of force it took to start the train again will be put into a simple phrase "It was a bitch" Bennie and Bonnie teased him relentlessly about it "Big Burke small quirk." they teased Burke blew steam at them and to make matters worse Finn was late Gerald having delayed him at the interchange and to add more salt to the fresh wound Burke had to back down the mountain thanks to several stray rocks falling onto the generator used to power the turntable both of the big engines still fumed into the night and the early morning as they readied for their race the yard managers beforehand agreeing to the challenge.
Smokey Joe puffed onto the middle track and explained the rules "Both of you will take the heaviest load possible and deliver it to its main destination the logging camp the second part of the race will be to see who can reach Ironsight first before nightfall engines ready." Burke and Alpha glowered springs tensing in anticipation "Go." wheels screeched as both tried to regain traction from the heavy freight behind them snorting and wheezing both mad off and out of the yard the others wishing them luck "I will do it I will do it." Alpha chanted "Burke is best, Burke is best." Burke cantered. The mainline ran all the way to Grainsville then split off onto two different sections so throughout the whole morning both were neck and neck, wheel to wheel, rail tie to rail tie Alpha groaned and shudder Burke snorting and spitting "Best back off now Burke I tell you right now I ain't giving up." "Burke finds that funny because Burke won't give up either because he is going to prove that he is better than you." "Pah good luck with that." Alpha wheezed his coupling striating against the heavy machinery behind him. Grainsville appeared before them and with one finale effort the two locomotives rushed into the yards where Harvey was rolling out the cars filled with the golden bounty of the valley's farmers, Burke came screeching into the yard brakes locked tight along his whole consist Alpha forced onto the outer line and swearing up a storm about it too, Burke pulled out with his grain hoppers trialing behind Alpha had to wait longer with several cars having machinery and parts for the farmers Harvey worked quickly switching out boxcars, flatbeds, and empty hoppers to be filled putting in place the full ones to be taken away with two hoots of his whistle Alpha headed off Harvey trundled into an empty siding for a nap. Burke wasn't having an easy time his next delivery was to the electrics up Whitecliff and it was a hard climb "The Burke will not allow this climb up the cliffs to stop him from making it on time." He charged past a snoring Dragga rousing him the old freight engine huffed indignantly and went back to sleep as car after car rocked and rolled past him "More coal Greg we've almost hit the climb" "Keep Burke under wraps and maybe we wouldn't have to use so much Doug." Doug grimaced he knew this was a friendly race, but he wondered if the two engines also knew that or were trying to prove once and for all who was the better.
Alpha was faring much better than Burke all he was worried about was Daniel he never met a grumpier engine, when Daniel got wound up, he made Mary look sane when being told about a freight she would have to pull. He bustled into the yard "Quickly quickly I wanna get out of here before Burke gets the chance to come back down Whitecliff." Daniel shot a venomous look at the 9000 but he paid no mind "Ready to go Alpha, I hope you win." peeped Tillie, with a wheesh Alpha pulled out of the yard his freight even heavier and the climb to whitecliff harder. Burke came down the mountain fussing he had almost forgotten about the coal load to take with the stone "Burke never forgets anything this was a set up a giant setup to take away the Burks lead." he rambled all the way Alpha wizzed by and that shut him up as he realized he might lose he pulled harder he wanted to go faster but the heavy cars wouldn't make it easy but Burke wouldn't lose the fight his pistons pumped harder the carload behind him rattling faster swinging around the curves and thundering past signal box after signal box.
Now from the mines to the logging camp is two sets of lines one set going through the forest into the loading area the other line went around the forest to one of the yards, now the line going through the forest was for logging engines and logging engines only the line itself was rough for any direct drive locomotive. As the two freighters thundered back towards the joint track Burke was unlucky and had to stop allowing Alpha to gain the lead the 9000 cackling as he swung past Burke. "Switch Burke off at the logs Burke knows a short cut." His Driver and Fireman shrugged both being veterans when dealing with hardheaded engines and Burke was one of the hardest around, after the Caboose passed the points and the signal turned green his wheels slipping for a moment Burke determined headed after Alpha. Alpha however had managed to get quite the lead and was having a great laugh about it "He'll never catch up now oh Burke should have never tried to challenge me poor poor engine."
Shannon was moving carts over to the crane to be loaded for the freight's engines return trips as Alpha pulled in triumphant and literally blowing his own horn "I told him I was the fastest and yet he didn't believe me. Foolish engine." Shannon said nothing as she took away car after car for the lumber crew, grain to be milled at the local bakeries, new parts, newer machinery to replace the old, stone to replace old foundations, coal for electricity the like. Even after he left for the return trip the small load of logs trailing behind him, he was still chortling. The rest of the crew that could were waiting at Ironsight for the returning train. "I hope Alpha come in first i got fifty coal loads weighing in on him" muttered Daniel "Since when do you bet?" asked Mary "Three seconds ago shut up I hear someone coming" Daniel snapped back as a pillar of smoke soared upwards in the horizon the signal boxman held to phone to his ear "Uh-huh. You sure? All right now thank you very much." the phone hung he cupped his hand to his mouth and shouted, "Alpha wins he just passed the entrance to the yard." "HA, YOU OWE ME!" "SHADDUP DANIEL!"
Wheezing and slowly rolling in with the logs behind him as a chorus of whistles and horns greeted him Alpha could not be prouder as the log cars were taken away and he made his way over to the water tower Sandy and Scout rolling up next to him "You saw Burke at least some point during the last leg of the race, right?" Sandy inquired "Sure I did last I checked I have 20/20 vision."
"She means when coming back from the logging camp knucklehead."
"Now you hold on to a minute Scout just cuz I have more power does not necessarily mean I am stupid and for the record I did not see Burke arrive or leave the camp but that does not mean he didn't get they're at some point." Scout rolled his eye "On this assumption your just going to wait and see what happens instead of admitting that it is worrisome Burke did not arrive or leave the camp which could imply that he derailed, was swapped to the wrong track, fell off a bridge into a ravine and is never going to be found again but we shouldn't worry the all mighty Alpha predicted that he did arrive at the camp and is instead taking his sweet time." Alpha didn't answer he knew Scout was right "Kennedy and Freddie are over by the freezer cars I'll get the rest of the repair cars and Sandy will ask for us to get clearance see you in five." without another word Sandy and Scout left the tower and Alpha rolled off to get the cranes. "Don't you think that was a bit cruel Scout?"
"Somebody had to say it and Daniel would just be an ash about it." "True"
Meanwhile
"You're a damn fool."
"As you said before and I admit it yes I am a fool for allowing this back water plan our locomotive cooked up to get out of hand just how was I supposed to know the dam tracks would be that freezing bad?!" Grundy kicked the mud the situation could have been worse both could be knocked out in the muddy banks while Burke cooked through his water and caused a boiler explosion, their speed could have been higher and launched them and the cars into the swamps that surrounded the tracks which was a major reason as to way only the logger used this bit. Yes the logging camp full of the rowdiest people and engines known to man not only had a forest line but their own exclusive swamp backdoor to the mainline Burke burbled angrily as he sunk a bit further into the murky waters a trio of frogs staring down his headlamp and what was worse about the whole situation his Driver(Grundy) and Fireman (Jabari) would get into the same argument every so often and it didn't help the loggers would roll up chortle at him and then scurry away, "Could a went on the regular line but the Burke couldn't let Alpha bet him" Burke thought to himself
Whistling came from the rear as Grundy scrambled on top of a boxcar that laid on its side "An engine its and engine!" he said just then the radio in the cab crackled with static "Engine No.3376 aka Burke come in please. Swear to God Grundy if your dead I'm ransacking your coat for that IOU in poker." swiftly Jabari unhooked the microphone "Don't be so hasty now we live but Burke is sinking into the swamp." "Give us time to move these cars of yours outta the way then we can talk salvaging that idiot out of there."
It took some time to run the cars to the camp most had to be ran through a quick check over for any signs of damage the derailed cars were also an effort both cranes had their work cut out for them as the Swamps seemed determined to keep its new landmarks in its cesspool of muck and scum. Now came the hard part getting Burke, it was easy with his tender it had been set on a flatbed which Sandy took away but the engine himself was way more complicated see he didn't sink straight down his front had hit a log or root and he was now at an angle which made getting chains around him a hard and risky job the workmen were skilled and managed to get him in chains, though many would need showers.
Freddie and Kennedy strained against Burkes weight and the swamps mud, with a schlop and water running down him Burke was set gently down onto the track between them. Alpha was coupled too the cranes "Just so you know Burke I'm taking a miiighty risk coming here in person to get your sorry back plate back to solid tracks." He was silent as Alpha started to slowly pull him and the cranes away Alpha continued "I'll be honest with chu Burke nothing means more to me than this gang. The bond we share it's the most real thing to me. I would scrap for it; I would happily be scrapped for it but in spite of it all I would have left you to rot if Scout didn't stop me from being stupid." As they rumbled down the line Alpha spoke again "I thank you for this challenge, Burke and I'm sorry this happened to ya seems we both still have things to learn." "The Burke understands you and thinks the same burke hopes we won't do this again."
"Why no you yella?"
"No, the Burke just, doesn't want swamp sludge in his firebox again." The two engines laughed at that Alpha was the winner yes, but both can agree no one can truly compete against them.