Dark and Cold.
That's all I can see and feel.
Where am I? What, am I? And what the HELL is going on here?!
"Aufwachen"
Huh? Who is this?
"Wach auf"
Who is calling me?"Wirst du jetzt aufwachen!"
My eyes opened in a flash. Suddenly, the coldness was gone, and so was the darkness. I was inside a big workshop. I could feel the heat from the furnaces, I could see people, running about, working on big machines, that stood beside me. My eyes dotted about, and landed on a window. I couldn't see that well what was behind the window, all I knew was that it was daytime, and the sun was shining.
"Ah, gut, you are awake." Came a friendly voice from in front of me. I looked down, and saw a man in dark brown working clothes standing in front of me.
"Welcome to Berlin number 4796!" Smiled the man.
"Berlin?" I asked.
"Ja, better said, the iron foundry and machine factory of Louis Schwartzkopff."
"machine factory?"
"Iron foundry and machine factory. You were build here." Explained the man.
"Built?"
"Yes. Your the newest member of the Prussian P8 passenger locomotive class!" He proudly stated.
"Locomotive? What is a locomotive?"
"You really are a clueless engine, you know. A locomotive is a machine, that was built to pull passenger coaches and goods trucks on the rails you see in front of you. Your class is around for about 14 years now, but it's the first time I needed to explain that. The others somehow always knew what a loco is..." He said, muttering the final part to himself.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Well, now that you're finished, we'll bring you out to the fueling point, fill your tender and boiler with coal and water, and steam you up." He smiled, and walked off without letting me ask any further questions.
I just stood there, confused, but a little curious. I wondered what would await me once I was outside this building. Just then, a small locomotive came up to me. He had a low boiler, and a large funnel. He had no tender, but a large wooden box in front of his cab, where I could spot a large amount of black rocks. He was coupled up to me, and started to pull me out of the workshops.
"Hello. My name is Andreas. What's yours?" He said gruffly.
"I don't have a name. The workman called me 4796." I said.
"Niklas always refers to new engines by their number, instead of their name. You P8s usually have a nameplate on the side of your smokebox. Once we're at the fueling point, I'll take a look at it." He said, as we stopped underneath a large metal structure, which had a black box on top of it. I looked carefully as a workman walked to the tower, and pulled a long chain. A chute came out of the box, and the same black rocks as in Andreas' wooden box fell into my tender. Next, he pulled me to a blue pipe that stood next to the track, with a rubber hose at one end. The other end disappeared into the ground. The same workman from the tower, that Andreas called the 'coal tower' put the hose into a lid in my tender, and then went down from it, walking up to a wheel that was beside the pipe. He turned it several times, and I suddenly could feel a cold sensation as water gushed into my tender tank.
"uhhh" I said, but blushed lightly red as I noticed what I just did. The tank engine laughed lightly.
"Hehe, your a girl alright. The boys grumble when they get filled the first time. The girls moan a different way." He smirked.
"Say, how long do you work here?" I asked, trying to change the topic.
"I? Hm, I think about... 35 years now. We have it 1920, the old works shunter was retired in 1885, yeah, 35 could come to it." He said.
"Wow! You're already that old?!" I gasped.
"hehe, that's nothing! The oldest working one here is old Olaf over at the sheds! He's already over 48 years of service!" He chortled.
"Who is Olaf?"
"He's a G3 tender engine. He got sold to the local goods railway a few months ago, since the work has been too hard for the old engine. But who can blame him for getting too weak? The war took it's tole on all of us." He sighted.
"What war?"
"The great war! It started back in 1914, and ended 2 years ago with us loosing. Hard times since then. We lost a good piece of our country, many people are jobless, our main coal producing region is now a new country, and our main industry region is more or less a part of France till the war costs are payed. On top of that we needed to give them many locomotives and trucks in reparation of the ones we destroyed in the war." Sighted the tank engine, as he pushed me onto a siding, where I would wait till my driver and fireman would arrive. He went onto another siding, and steamed past me slightly, looking at the side of my smokebox.
"Aha, Apolda it is. Nice name Apolda." He smiled, as he reversed to look me into the face. I didn't thought so. Apolda. What a name is that?!
"Do you really think that name is good?" I asked.
"No. I was just trying to be nice. A girl as cute as you deserves a better name than that." He said.
"I don't like it myself." I admitted.
"Maybe we'll come up with a better fitting one? Hmmm, your name starts with A, how about Alina?" He suggested.
Now THAT'S a more fitting name to me!
"I like it!" I said, beaming happily.
"So Alina it shall be. Well, it was nice talking to you, but they need me back inside. See you around." Chuffed the tank engine, as he moved away.
I waited for a few minutes, till two men in gray working clothes and black leather hats walked up to me.
"Hello Apolda. It looks like you are ready for firing up. Allow me to introduce ourselves. I'm Peter Krom, your driver. And this is Klaus Manheimer. He's your fireman." Said Peter, as the two of them walked to the cab of the tender engine.
Peter was a man in his early 30s, with light brown, short cut hair, and clean shaved face. Klaus on the other hand was a man in his late 40s or early 50s, with already gray hair, and grim looking face, that was covered by a large beard. The two of them started to work inside my cab, and soon, a large fire was burning inside my firebox. I felt a little weird, but also calm, as the warmth of the fire spread through my tubes. Slowly, the water inside my boiler started to boil, and I was making lots of steam. A few minutes later, my safety valve blew off.
"Alright, she's ready." Grunted Klaus.
"Are you ready Apolda?" Asked Peter kindly.
"Yes, and please, could you call me Alina?" I asked.
"Of course Alina." Smiled the young man kindly, and grabbed my regulator. He slowly pulled it, and I could feel the steam surge into my pistons. Slowly, I started to move through the works complex.
"How are you feeling Alina?!" Asked my driver.
"I feel great!" I replied happily.
We slowly made our way to the other end of the complex, where a long line of locomotives waited. Most of them were mid sized engines, 4-6-0s, my driver called them, with what he called 2-10-0s and 0-8-0s in between them. We stopped at the front of the line, where one of the 4-6-0s was sizzling quietly to himself. He had his eyes closed, till I stopped next to him. He looked at me with an surprised look, that quickly turned into a smile.
"Hello. I didn't know that they finished another one of my sisters today." He said with a smile.
"Sisters?" I asked.
"Yes. I'm a P8, like you! Since we're from the same class, we are brother and sister, as are the other P8s." He explained. So that's what I looked like. I never had the chance to see myself since the workshops had no mirror.
"My name is Christian by the way. Your Apolda, right?"
"Yes. But I don't really like that name, could you call me Alina instead?"
"Sure. I never got a name, which is strange, 'cause most of us got names of the Prussian cities. Like those posh brats, the S10s." He chuckled.
"Who are the S10s?" I asked.
"They are 4-6-0s like we are, we look almost like them to be honest. But they are used on fast express trains, instead of normal ones. That's what the S in their name stands for: Schnellzug. We however are P: Personenzug. When I was finished and towed out here by Andreas, he said that, if we don't get a name from the bosses, we should choose a name on our own! That's why I choose Christian." He explained.
"That's a nice name, Christian." I smiled.
"Likewise, Alina." He grinned, as we both burst out laughing.
Just then, a man in gray work clothing's came up to us.
"Potsdam, special order from the management! You're to pull the others with you till Bremen! You'll get further orders there!" he barked.
"B-But I can't pull all of them on my own!" He stuttered.
"Then take Apolda with you! We need the track clear for the next shipment!" He barked, and moved off.
"Could you help me Alina? I won't be able to pull all of them on my own." Said Christian sadly.
"I don't know." I sighted.
"Let me ask the works foreman if we can help them." Said Peter suddenly, and jumped off the footplate. He quickly walked to an large building that was a few meters away from our tracks. He came back a few minutes later.
"The foreman said that we can help him till Bremen, and stay there till the next train back up here is ready. We're to take that one and then move to the sheds of the Anhalter Station." Explained Peter, as he got back into the cab.
"Well, looks like I'm going with you then." I smiled.
"Thank you Alina." My brother smiled in return.
I was coupled in front of Christian, and we both stood waiting for the signal to go.
"Say, do you know the line towards Bremen?" I asked.
"No, I never went out of the works before. I just did my test runs, and those were done on a stretch of line behind the shops. This'll be my first run." Smiled Christian sheepishly.
"Likewise. I just hope we don't get lost on the way." I said nervously.
"Don't you worry! As long as the signalmen are there, we can't get lost!" Laughed my older brother. Just then, a loud whistle rang out from behind us.
"That's our signal! Let's go sis!" Grinned Christian, as he started to move. I was a bit startled, and so, he pushed me, AND pulled the train for a few seconds, before Peter got me moving on my own.
We moved out of the works complex, and onto a double tracked line. Left and right of the tracks, there were large buildings, with big funnels, sticking out from the top. After a couple of minutes, we the buildings moved away from the tracks, and more rails began to appear left and right of our line. My eyes went everywhere, amazed by the sight of so many tracks, but suddenly, a loud whistle from in front of me grabbed my attention, but before I could even see who it was, a strong gush of wind hit my face, and the sound of something long and large racing past me rang in my ears. Next to me, I could see long wooden things, all looking the same, clacking along the tracks at high speeds.
"What was that?!" I gasped in shock, as the train passed us.
"That was a passenger train. The things that were behind the locomotive were passenger coaches. Those are the old stock coaches, compartment coaches, I think they were called. They are usually used on local trains, or on the S-Bahn. You'll probably will pull these coaches the most." Explained Peter.
"What's the S-Bahn?"
"Stadtbahn, or S-Bahn, is a local railway, that serves Berlin and the outer suburbs. Usually, the T11 and T12 tanks work on that line, with some of the smaller, six-wheeled compartment coaches, but since they're rebuilding the line for those new electrical trains, their days on that line are numbered." Continued the driver, as they passed some workmen, that worked on a stretch of line, putting a third rail on the left side of the tracks.
We continued along the line, as suddenly, all around us, vehicles of all sizes and shapes appeared. Some of them looked like the ones I saw in the workshops when I first woke up, and some looked like the ones on the train that passed us on the way, but most of them just looked strange to me.
"We're coming up to the yards. Better slow down." Muttered Peter, as we slowed down.
"What are those things on the other tracks?" I asked.
"Those are trucks. They are used to transport goods of all types around. Look, the big ones with the roof over there are the standard covered ones. In there, you transport crates with all kinds of stuff in it, or fragile goods that would be damaged or spoiled if transported without cover. The wagons without anything on them, which look like a bare frame on wheels, are flatbeds. On those you transport long goods that wouldn't fit inside a covered truck. We usually transport vehicles on those. The flatbeds with the arms on their sides are to transport long goods that would fall off of normal flatbeds in curves and such. They are for carrying logs, pipes and such. The trucks who look like covered ones without the roof are the mineral trucks. Like their names said, they are used to transport minerals like coal, iron, or normal stone around for the factories. The flatbeds with the cylinder on it is a tanker. In those, we transport fluids like water, oil or gasoline around. There are more types of trucks, but I think that covers the ones you'll see the most." Explained my driver as they slowly made their way through the yards.
"What's with the wagon over there? It doesn't look like any of the trucks we passed." I asked.
"That's a crew wagon. In there, the crew of the train that isn't in the locomotives cab, like the guard or the shunter, rides along, keeps track of what's happening along the run, and keeps a look out over the train. That's why that wagon also has that small dome on top of it. The guard has a small seat up there, so that he can look above the whole train." Said Peter, as they passed a small brown wagon with two doors at the front, and a small dome at the same position.
"Will I pull those as well?" I asked.
"Hmm, not quite. You're a passenger locomotive. You were built for fast local passenger trains, and semi-fast express trains. I don't think they'll give you any goods trains. That's more of a job for the G-Type locomotive, like the one over there." My driver said, and pointed towards an large locomotive with 10 small driving wheels, and two front wheels that were around the size of mine.
"That's a big engine." I said.
"He's a G12. They are the biggest tender engines north of the white sausage border!" He laughed.
"The what?"
"Its a joke from us drivers. The white sausage border is a fictional border, to mark where Thuringia ends and Bavaria begins. We usually take the 'whistle' signs along the line as the marks of the border. Like the one up there!" He said, as we got closer to a white sign, on which a black 'W' was painted on. He made me whistle loudly, and we soon went underneath a large stone structure, that was build above us.
"What is that?" I asked.
"That's a signal tower. It is build above the tracks so that the signalmen can better see where the engine they're setting the line for is." Peter said, as we continued through the yards.
After a few more minutes, we passed over some points, and were send onto a different line.
"Alright! We've passed the yards! Now you two can show the others why you are build for passenger duties!" Smirked Peter, as he started to get me up to speed.
"Are you ready for a little high speed run Christian?" I grinned.
"Always!" He shouted back to me, as we both sped up.
We raced through the flat countryside of northern Germany, rushing passed stations and over bridges, through tunnels and passed long coastlines. I was amazed by the sights along the line. The small villages and quiet stations along the main line in contrast with the large and bustling stations of the cities that would be dotted along the line was a sight to behold. Once or twice, a train would pass us, and the engine pulling it would smile and whistle at us, while we would whistle in return. After around 4 hours of traveling, we slowed down as we reached another big yard. This one, while not as big as the yards of Berlin, were still quite large, with several small tank engines, bustling about, pushing and pulling trucks and coaches to and from the sidings and station. We slowly came to an stop on a track in the yards. On the track next to us, a unfamiliar engine stood. He had a khaki color scheme, and two fitted lamps on his bufferbeam. He had a strange looking tender, cab, to cut it short, he looked completely out of place. I had the feeling he wasn't build here, or build for the German railways at all. What was surprising was the fact that his face had a few scars, with one running from his left eyebrow, all the way down to his chin. He looked at us, and sneered.
"What is this?! We expected 15 locomotives, not 16! Who is this, and what is she doing here?!" He barked at me.
"I-I'm Alina. I helped him bring the others up here." I said meekly.
"The orders were that works number 3384 would bring up the convoy on his own, and that he would continue to do with me to Brest! The orders never said anything with bringing in another engine!" He barked.
"And what about it? What is so bad about me helping him?" I asked.
"Don't you get cheeky with me, or I'll make sure that your next assignment is at the scrapyards." The engine growled.
"I wasn't cheeky! Your just a mean old bully!" I shouted.
"I could get you court materialized for that! I think you don't know who your dealing with here, young lady! I'm rail of defense officer Harold Banks, and I'm in charge of the reparation movements around here! And if you are ordered to bring the train up by yourself, you move it by yourself, and nothing else! IS THAT CLEAR?!" He bellowed at us. I was shocked by his raised voice and didn't though he was authority. I suddenly felt very small, compared to the 2-8-0 next to us.
"Y-yes." I said silently.
"That's yes SIR! You better learn some respect for when we see each other next time!" He growled.
"Y-yes sir..." I said sadly, as I moved off.
When I backed down on the other siding, I was surprised to see that Christian was still on the train, and that the officer was backing down towards him.
"Wait! Christian is still on the train!" I said.
"I know! He's one of the 15 engines coming with me to Brest! Now move along and behave little girl, and don't get your tender into military business." Sneered the officer.
"B-but I though you would come back to Berlin with me?" I asked.
"I though so too. I had hoped I would work together with you. It's too bad really. But, maybe we see each other again?" Christian said, trying to bring my mood up.
"You think so?" I asked.
"Of course! Tell you what: Once Germany and France have cleared their stuff up with each other, I bring a train up here and visit you! How does that sound?" He said, as the officer was coupled up.
"That sounds good." I smiled.
"Alright! Enough chit-chat! Let's move!" Barked the officer, and with a strong jolt, and a large amount of swears from the other 14 engines of the convoy, the train started out of the yards again.
I watched as the train moved out, till the tender of the last engine passed me, and disappeared out of sight beyond the yards. I kept looking at the place where I saw the train disappear, till a shrill whistle next to me brought me out of my trance. I looked back at the track where the convoy stood, just to see a very small, 0-4-0 tank engine standing on tracks. He looked pretty old, but his face still looked like he still was a young engine.
"Pardon me ma'am, but could you please move aside? I need to get to that train you see." Even his voice sounded young.
"Oh, yes, of course. Sorry to be in your way."
"No problem ma'am." He smiled.
I moved from the track, and moved into a siding. The little tank engine quickly moved the trucks that stood on the track, an made space for the next train.
"We should better go to the sheds. You had a long run, and we need to make sure you're alright." Peter suddenly said.
"Sounds good enough to me." Klaus said gruffly. It was the first time I heard his voice.
"Oh, okay." I said, and with that, Peter started me again, slowly reversing me through the yards towards the sheds.
The sheds were a large building, with 17 tracks running into them. It was build as a semi-circle, with an large turntable in front of it. A few meters away from it was another shed, build just like the first with a turntable in front, but this only had 11 stands. Peter slowly reversed me onto the turntable in front of the 17 stand shed. I was turned around, and brought inside. Once I stopped, I noticed that I wasn't the only engine in the shed. Along with me were 5 other engines. Two were further 4-6-0s, one was a 4-6-4 tank engine, one was a 2-8-0 and the last was a 0-10-0 tank. The first 4-6-0, with the name 'Stuttgart' looked at me and grinned.
"Ah, I see we finally got another proper engine at this shed." He smirked. The other engines groaned.
"Oh shut up Stuttgart!" Groaned the other 4-6-0.
"You should finally see some common sense Halle. You, as well as I know, that we 4-6-0s are the future, and that the 2-4-0s and 4-4-0s are on their way to the scrapyards." Said Stuttgart, still smirking.
"That still doesn't gives you the allowance to badmouth them! And you know my name is Hanna!" She snapped at the engine, before sighting, and turning to me.
"You must excuse him. Because he is such a 'modern' express locomotive, he looks down on the older designs, and doesn't treats them with much respect. My name is Halle, but I usually go by the name Hanna. What's yours?" She asked kindly.
"I'm Apolda, but I go by the name of Alina." I said.
"That's a nice name you chose. Let me guess: Andreas helped you choosing, right?" She asked.
"Yes! How did you know?"
"He helped me choose my name. It's the same with the others." She smiled, as the others started introducing themselves.
"My name is Nik, short for Nikolaus. I'm working on the heavy local trains with my brothers around here." Smiled the 4-6-4 tank engine.
"I'm Tristan. I'm working on most of the goods trains with my cousin and his brothers." Said the 2-8-0 with a broad grin.
"Minna's the name, I'm working on the branch lines around here. I sometimes have some of my sisters to help me, but most of the time it's plain old me." Smiled the 0-10-0T.
"So, what will you do around here?" Grinned Hanna.
"I don't know really. I don't even know if I'll be stationed permanently here. I took a train of locomotives up here with my brother, but he and the other engines were coupled up to a mean military engine who said he would bring them to a place called 'Brest'." I explained.
"You mean old bastard sandbank, don't you? Yeah, just ignore him and don't go near him. Ever since the Dean got send back to Britain and he took over reparation transports, things got sour. He's a military nitwit who thinks the whole world is a battlefield." Chuckled Hanna.
"At least we don't have that twit Bluto here, I'm sure if it was HIM who would take those trains, we would never get a shut eye around here." Sniffed Stuttgart.
"Who is Bluto?"
"He's another military engine who works down in Dortmund. He is, what they call, a 'Super D' class tender engine, who pulls ore trains down there. He has a foul mouth and his attitude is even worse. Be lucky he doesn't venture so far out of the Ruhrgebiet." Winked Minna.
Just then, the shed master walked up to us.
"Alright you lot, we've got new orders. Minna, they need you at the steelworks to pick up some girders down there. Stuttgart, get your tender shifted and move to the station! Your express is waiting for you! And Tristan, your pickup goods is ready in the yards. Tim already shunted it together. The rest of you is on standby for any emergency." Said the shed master and went off again.
"Well, seams like I need to give the crowd what the crowd craves for. See you later, new one." Smirked Stuttgart, and chuffed out of his stall.
"Just ignore him Alina. Alina?" Asked Hanna.
But I was already asleep.