One year has passed since the first test train that Logan pulled, and now the fateful day has come. The turbines have been completed and delivered, but will they pose the threat to dieseldom that they were expected to? Or will they prove to be so successful that Logan and his brothers are retired after only a year of their rebuilding?
-Harizon
Cleveland, OH, c. 1947
Logan and his brothers continued to practice pulling the Chessie from Washington to Cincinnati and back, and they had become quite used to it. They also continued their usual jobs, pulling trains such as the Fast Flying Virginian and the Sportsman. All 4 of them were called to CO Headquarters in Cleveland one day by Mr. Young. He was waiting with a few mechanics and hostlers, including Bob.
"What is all this?" asked Lucas impatiently.
"Shush," said Leon, "Mr. Young is going to tell us."
"Thank you, Leon " began Mr. Young, "I would like to say that I am very pleased with your all's work this past year. Although it is likely that you four could handle the Chessie on your own should the turbines fail, I have purchased some more Greenbriers to relieve you of the pressure. The turbines have been completed and are on their way here now from Baldwin Locomotive Works. Lima has just started construction on the Greenbriers, and they will arrive next year not long before the Chessie goes into service."
"If I may ask, sir," asked Luther, "when precisely do the turbines arrive today?"
Mr. Young checked his watch. "They should be arriving right about-" But before he could finish his sentence, a trio of whistles were heard. In the distance were three Pennsylvania Railroad M-1b's, and they were each pulling a strange-looking locomotive. Each Mountain stopped in the yard, where they were uncoupled from the sleeping engines. While two of them ran back towards Pennsylvania, one of them stopped to talk to Mr. Young.
"Here they are, sir," said the M-1b, "right on time and ready to be fired up. We even took the liberty of giving them coal and water for you."
Mr. Young grinned. "Thank you, Johnny," he said, "and tell your manager that I said hello."
"I shall. Have a wonderful day," said Johnny. Then he raced off to catch up with his brothers.
"You know what to do," said Mr. Young to a few workmen. They quickly set to work building up the fires in the strange locomotives. The first of the three large locomotives to wake up had the number 500 on his number boards. He instantly looked confused.
"What is this?" he asked, "Where am I?"
Bob shook his head and chuckled. "Young engines," he said, "so full of questions."
Mr. Young addressed this engine immediately. "Hello," he said, "you are one of three class M-1 steam turbine locomotives that were built for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. My name is Robert R. Young, the President. Have you thought of a name for yourself?"
The orange turbine pondered for a minute. "How about Grayson?" he said at last.
Mr. Young smiled. "Then Grayson it shall be," he said. Out of excitement, Grayson blew his whistle loudly. Then another one of the turbines woke up, and he looked grumpy.
"What's with all the noise?" he grumbled, "I was dreaming that Marilyn Monroe was riding in my cab."
Logan and his brothers laughed. Even Mr. Young let out a slight chuckle. Grayson, however, looked confused. "Who's Marilyn Monroe?" he asked.
"You'll find out soon enough," said Mr. Young. "But 501, you should pick a name. Your brother has chosen Grayson, so you should choose one that starts with a G."
"Greg sings to me," said the turbine. The engines and Mr. Young then heard a light snicker. They turned to the last of the turbines, numbered 502, who was pretending to be asleep.
"We now you're awake," snapped Lucas, "now pick a name for yourself that starts with a G."
502 opened his eyes and shot a dirty look at Lucas. "How's Gabe?" he asked, "Is that good enough for you, Mr. Loudmouth?" Lucas scowled, but said nothing.
Mr. Young nodded, taking no notice to Gabe's snide remark. "So the three of you are Grayson, Greg, and Gabe," he said, "I shall add your names to the roster immediately. The three of you are to begin testing soon, as the Chessie debuts in one year. These four Hudsons are intended to haul connecting trains with matching consists, but on the occasion that you need maintenance, they will cover for you."
"Yes, sir," said Grayson.
"I can't wait to begin testing," said Greg, "Maybe we'll gain fame and Marilyn Monroe will ride the Chessie."
"Marilyn Monroe weeboo," snorted Gabriel. All 4 of the Hudsons, Mr. Young, and Bob burst out laughing. Grayson continued to look confused. Greg looked as though he wanted to send Gabe crashing into an exploding oil refinery.
At last, Mr. Young gained control of himself. "That is enough, Gabe," he said calmly but firmly, "If you are to pull the Chessie, then you are to be polite and well-mannered around passengers at all times. That applies to ALL of you."
"Yes, sir," said all 7 engines in unison.
"Good. Budd has sent the cars to Huntington. I need you four to head there now," said Mr. Young.
"Yes, sir," said the 4 brothers. When they arrived in Huntington, they saw the new Chessie coaches. Their paintwork matched the Hudsons perfectly, being made of stainless steel with an orange stripe above the windows. Logan could see his reflection on the sides of the cars.
"Brothers," said Luther, "we are blessed to pull cars this magnificent. Let's not take them for granted."
"For once, you and I actually agree on something," said Lucas, "But when does our next test run begin?"
"Tomorrow," replied Leon, "but we will only pull the connecting sections. Grayson, Greg, or Gabe will pull the main trains running from D.C. to Cincy."
"We need to know who is going where," said Luther.
"How about I wait at Charlottesville," suggested Logan, "Luther at Norfolk, Lucas at Ashland and Leon at Louisville?"
"Sounds good to me," said Lucas, "maybe I can see Marley when I pass through Kenova."
"Lucas," said Leon firmly, "you need to be more concerned with the task at hand. There will almost certainly be times that you get to see her, but today you need to focus. In fact, it would probably be better if you waited at Norfolk just to make sure you aren't tempted."
"Let him wait at Ashland," said Luther, "with this new schedule, he may rarely get to see Marley. If it will help, I will wait at Louisville and you can go with Logan to Virginia."
"Okay," said Leon, "but I expect you to focus." Lucas rolled his eyes, but promised that he would.
About an hour later, Grayson raced by, blowing his whistle loudly. "We can totally do this, guys!" he hollered to the foursome. The Hudsons then headed to the roundhouse, where they spent the night. The next morning, the brothers collected their trains and headed to their respective stations. While Lucas and Luther went to Kentucky, Logan and Leon raced towards Virginia with their coaches clattering behind them.
It was boring all the way to Charleston, but Logan had an idea. "Last one to Hinton is a rusty piece of scrap metal!" he shouted and raced ahead of Leon.
Leon caught on and then sped after his brother. "And it will be you!" he said, laughing. Eventually, Logan won the race as he barrelled through Hinton just as the signal turned red, forcing Leon to stop just outside of the yard while Logan raced ahead. Leon caught up with Logan at Smiths Creek Yard in Clifton Forge, where he stopped to take on water. "I'm a bit concerned that Luther may not be keeping Lucas in check," said Leon, "Maybe I should head back to make sure that he and Marley don't glue themselves together at Kenova."
"Cut him a break," replied Logan, "he's an engine in love. You never stand between an engine and his sweetheart. Charlie made that mistake with Lord Baltimore back when he was still dating Marley, and now Balty hates her."
"That's true," said Leon, "I hope Balty learns to move on because he is so cold and bitter."
Logan's engineer stepped out of his cab to check the time at the station, then raced back. "We need to go to Charlottesville as soon as your tender is full. Can't waste any more time."
Logan's tender was filled completely about a minute later. The two brothers continued east afterwards. They discussed many topics as they headed towards their stops. Their favorite subjects included: their new assignments, Lucas' relationship with Marley, Bob Nichols the mechanic, the new turbine engines, how Greg had learned who Marilyn Monroe was, why diesels were taking over, and the "Train X" project that Luther once mentioned after he'd overheard Mr. Young discuss it with his staff in Cleveland.
"So, after he realized that she stops at the same station as him but on the upper level of track," said Leon, "he burst his safety valve! Lenny was so mad when he had to take him for repairs!"
Logan laughed. Not long after Lucas and Marley started dating, Lucas had indeed burst his safety valve at Kenova when he discovered that Marley stopped on the upper level while he had to stop at the lower level. This resulted in his train being delayed and Lenny complaining about pulling him seven miles to Huntington for repairs. "Yeah, and Lenny cracked a cylinder in the shops as a temper tantrum for doing work he didn't want to do. Then Luther was called to handle Lucas' train while I was sent to pick up the Lenny's. They may be our brothers, Leon, but they never fail to make me laugh."
"Agreed," said Leon. Both brothers stopped at Charlottesville at this point because Leon needed water. "Goodbye and good luck," Leon said to Logan with a wink, then raced towards Norfolk. Logan smiled and waited at Charlottesville Union Station for Grayson to arrive with the Chessie, but he never did. A few hours later, Leon returned with passengers from Norfolk, and Grayson still wasn't there.
Eventually, the stationmaster appeared. "Logan," he began, "Grayson is having trouble pulling the train. Apparently he's broken down. I need you to pull him back to here from Washington."
Logan nodded and raced to Sixth Street Station where a sad-looking Grayson sat, unable to move. "Sorry I got your hopes up," said the turbine, "I just want to be successful in life, like you and your brothers." Logan felt sorry for Grayson.
"It's alright, man," said Logan, "Your positive attitude more than makes up for this, but you will need to go to Huntington for repairs." He went to the turntable in the roundhouse to be turned around where he met Lawrence.
"Hi, Logan," said Lawrence, "what are you doing here?"
"Turning around so that I can pull the westbound Chessie. One of the new turbines was supposed to pull it, but he's broken down, so I was sent to help him."
"Good luck, man," said Lawrence, "By the way, do you think me and my brothers have a chance at pulling this? We've worked hard on our assignments and want to give this a shot."
Logan laughed. "You'll have to talk to Mr. Young about that. But I need to get going this train going before the passengers complain. Come to think of it, I think I can hear them complaining now. Goodbye, Lawrence."
Logan headed back towards the station. He backed onto the train, gave two blasts of his whistle, then started to highball it towards Charlottesville in a cloud of steam. He made it in record time, having made up for what was lost by Grayson's breakdown. The passengers heading for Norfolk disembarked at Charlottesville Union Station, where Leon took them east. After that, Logan started again, with Grayson and the silver coaches behind him. As they passed through White Sulphur Springs, Logan saw Lucas pulling an embarrassed-looking Gabe with an almost identical train to Grayson's. Lucas' face was covered in something purple and he laughed uncontrollably as he steamed by. Logan rolled his eyes and continued through West Virginia as fast as he could. "What was that all about?" asked Grayson.
"It seems your brother has developed a rivalry with my brother," said Logan, "Gabe must have broken down and Lucas was called to take the eastbound to Washington, just like I was called to take the westbound to Cincinnati." Grayson said nothing. Logan assumed that he was embarrassed by Gabe's actions. He kept quiet as Logan headed west. When they arrived in Ashland a few hours later, Luther seemed to know what had happened. After the passengers heading for Louisville boarded Luther's train, Logan and Grayson then quickly began their journey to Cincinnati. They arrived about 15 minutes early, so this gave Logan time to have a rest before taking Grayson to Huntington for repairs.
As Logan took on water, he saw Kaleb and another Kanawha named Kyle pulling in with a freight train. Kaleb gave a sharp hoot of his whistle as they stopped next to Logan.
"Hey Logan," said Kaleb, with a touch of worry in his voice, "how did the test train with the turbines go? Will my new brothers get sent to the scrapper after only being in service for a few months?"
Logan smiled. "No worries. Both of the turbines that were sent to pull the mainline Chessies broke down. I pulled the westbound and Lucas pulled the eastbound. Leon and Luther dealt with the connections to Norfolk and Louisville."
Kyle spoke next. "Well that's a relief. Today was my first manifest freight train. I've spent my entire career between Handley and Russell, and I'm glad that I have a future elsewhere on the system."
Finally, after remaining silent for almost the entire time, Grayson spoke.
"Look, me and my brothers are not trying to replace anyone. We didn't ask to be built or have mechanical problems. We're here to prove that coal is the ideal source of fuel for railroads instead of diesel. If you think we're trying to replace you, then I can speak to Mr. Young so that he can scrap me and leave it up to you to prove the diesels wrong."
Everyone was silent. No one spoke until the stationmaster told Logan that he and Grayson needed to go to Huntington. He coupled back up to the turbine and raced towards the railroad's former western terminus. Kaleb and Kyle remained quiet out of guilt for their actions.
A/N: Due to my desire to include a cultural reference in the title of a future chapter, one of the characters becomes suicidal. Sorry about that.
Grayson: CO M-1 #500
Greg: CO M-1 #501
Gabe: CO M-1 #502
Kyle: CO K-4 #2755