Chapter 37 - Living Legends

'I know all about you...

Proviso Yard, Chicago, Illinois - August 4th, 1975

Even though it had been more than a month since the accident, Erika was still reeling as if it had just happened. She had been sent to GM's LaGrange Electro-Motor plant to have her side-skirting replaced. The place was awful and the diesels were even ruder than the ones she unfortunately had to meet up with in the months prior. To add to it, she'd been getting a dull, achy pain in her drivers, particularly the first set on the left. She'd been feeling it every since her encounter with the dump truck. As it progressively got worse, it left the ex-Daylight crankier than she had been, but she wasn't about to let sore drivers stop her. An angry hiss of steam shot off from her pop off valves in some odd attempt to take her mind off it all, a sight to see for the people who gathered around.

Today would be different however, she was told the engine she was picking the Freedom Train up from was a steamer, a 4-8-4 like her. A T1 from the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and a male no less. Erika wasn't interested in what gender the engine was, she was just happy to see some of her own kind, though it was pretty clear her crew had other ideas.

"He's a good engine," her driver told her. "Use to be a little 2-8-0, but now he's big and strong and just perfect for a fussy thing like you!"

The ex-Daylight rolled her eyes. There was only one engine in Erika's heart, and it was going to stay that way. It wasn't much longer that she saw a lumbering mass of black before her. The side of his running board was painted red with white lining, the word America painted white in cursive. He smiled kindly, his brown eyes warm and welcoming. He looked older, but not in an unattractive way, quite the opposite. The bell situated above his forehead rang gently as the two Northerns came to a stop in front of each other.

"Well hey there!" he said after a few moments of silence between them as an announcer spoke, "It's a pleasure to finally meet my co-worker!"

Erika chuckled, her anger subsiding for now. "Well hello to you too! God you don't know how happy I am to see another steam engine!"

"Heh, well don't you worry. There are plenty of us in the south, you'll probably be the one heading down there. Oh, I'm Robert by the way, Miss."

"I'm Erika! And I haven't been to the south in decades. Am I uh… going there next?"

"Naw," the T1 answered. "At least I don't think so. If I'm not mistaken, you're heading back west and going south from there."

"Oh," was all Erika could say in response. It suddenly occurred to her as to who could possibly still be in the south. Slowly both fear and anger began to emerge, but she chose not to show it. Now wasn't the time. She had things to, important trains to pull. With a sigh, her blue eyes met Robert's as her joyful expression returned. "Well Robert, I hope you took care of the AFT for me, because now it's my turn. The last thing I need is to have an unkept train."

The other Northern laughed quietly to himself, clearly liking her friendly, but arrogant character. "Don't worry Erika, the AFT is fine." He smirked a bit, "I hope you don't have anymore accidents with dump trucks and delay my train. Hate to discover my co-worker is so… accident prone."

Erika's expression fell and she glared at him, "Haha, you're not funny." She hissed, "I've never had an accident while pulling my trains! Besides…" she looked him up and down before turning her nose up at him, "It wasn't my fault I couldn't stop."

"Very true, Erika." Robert chuckled again, "I'm looking forward to a much needed nap. Best of luck to you all the same. I'm sure you'll be fine."

Erika was sure she would be too. Nothing felt more perfect to the former Daylight than the moment the baggage car's coupler met her tender's. Oh it was wonderful to finally be pulling a full blown train again. It wasn't the Coast Daylight, but it didn't matter to her and she couldn't wait to show the country what she could do, and how beautifully she could pull a matching passenger train.

And she did… for a while.

It was a pleasant, autumn day in Omaha, Nebraska and the AFT was due in Colorado. Erika smiled proudly for her admirers as they photographed her from the platform. Her makeup had been freshly applied by Mary-Ann and the GS-4 was in a good mood. She willed herself to sit for a few more photos before blowing her whistle, letting everyone know it was time to go. Steam hissed from her cylinders and her smile grew; she had quickly learned that railfans loved tons of steam. Her smile quickly twisted into a look of anguish as her wheels began to turn. She hissed in pain, catching the attention of some members of her audience, but she tried to blow it off, smiling again. As soon as her drivers touched the rails again on that certain spot she came to an abrupt stop, jolting the coaches and her crew, nearly sending them headfirst into her backhead.

After a few words with his fireman, Doyle stepped out to address his engine. "Erika, what's going on with you this time?" Looking up at her, he got his answer. The GS-4's face was contorted in pain, her jaw clenched as she hissed loudly as the throbbing pain surged through her. Her driver's irritation quickly turned to one of concern and he placed a gentle hand on her skirting.

"My drivers…" It was all she could say before crying out, her breathing heavy as she tried to speak through her discomfort. "Move me, please!"

Doyle patted her gently before doing as requested and brought her slightly forward, much to Erika's relief. Once moved the problem revealed herself: flat spots, and they were on more than just the first set of her drivers. And they were a decent size too.

"Well shit," her fireman said as he balled up his hat. "Looks like they've been here a while if they're that damn big."

"Must have happened when she ran into the dump truck." Doyle replied with a heavy sigh. "We checked her over and she was fine, I don't see how we missed them until now." After running a hand through his hair, he made his way round his engine once more to face her. If Erika had had flats before, why didn't she say anything? Surely she felt it even if they were small.

"What's wrong with my drivers?" Erika asked as soon as she spotted him.

"Flat spots, and there are a lot of them."

"Oh…" it was her turn to sigh, her eyes falling to the floor. "Well shit."

"We're taking you to the UP shops," her driver answered quickly. "They still run steam so they should be able to fix this."

Erika looked back at him, "What? Since when? And who is going to take the train in the meantime?"

"I'll let the organizers figure that one out, my job is to take care of you." With that said Doyle and the rest of her crew returned to her cab.

Erika listened as his footsteps faded away and a few minutes later, she felt her coupler become free of her train. She sighed again in defeat. For the second time she going down for repairs. She couldn't believe this was happening to her. Still, the thought of a major railroad such as the Union Pacific still operating steam. They had fully dieselized by 1957, who would have thought they'd still be at it let alone still have a shop up?

"Union Pacific… We can handle it." Erika read the sign above the Omaha Shops to herself as she was shoved towards it with a look of unamusement. At least now she knew where Aaron got his ego from. She failed to stop herself from rolling her eyes as she surveyed the massive ocean of Armor Yellow, it was enough to make anyone sick. Her eyes then zeroed in on a mass of black off to the far left on a track of its own. She squinted… was that a Big Boy? She didn't have time to find out as a diesel switcher obstructed her view. She realized the work in the yards had stopped and everyone was staring at her. It was the trip to Burlington Northern's roundhouse all over again and it was just as unsettling. She was never going to get use to these freaky diesel switchers and it always seemed they were together in groups… like groups of those kids you'd see in horror movies. Repulsed and disturbed, the GS-4 took no further notice of her surroundings as she was brought into the shop, grateful that she was facing a wall rather out into the yards where she could see them. They were probably staring at her right now! She was accustomed to seeing so much yellow from her service days on the SP but this? This? Nope. How did Alice and the others put up with this? And she was on their turf too, how many more of the little weirdo-diesels was she going to run into?

Unbeknownst to her, the diesels weren't the only ones watching her and she wasn't the only steam engine inside. Her new shedmate observed quietly as as Erika was pulled in. "Well now, I wasn't expecting any company today!"

Erika jumped, snapping to attention while blue eyes darted every which way in search for the source of the voice. It was too loud to come from even the loudest of humans. Soon enough she found the other steam engine beside her, their face hidden behind smoke deflectors. "Who are you?" she asked in a worried tone.

The other steam engine laughed, "Haven't been asked that in a long while! Do you not recognize me?"

"Um… No?" Erika arched a brow. Was she supposed to know who this was? However the more she studied the other engine, the more her memory was jogged. A UP steamer with deflectors, "Smoke deflectors… you're an FEF?"

"An FEF-3 to be exact. I'm the last steam engine that was ordered by the UP. My name is Christine."

"I'm Erika, a GS-4 from the SP." The ex-Daylight chuckled a little, "I didn't think UP would keep any of the steamers around, let alone in service…"

"Ah so you're one of those semi-streamliners. I remember seeing your sisters at LA Union Station, quite a haughty bunch." Christine laughed a little herself, "UP kept quite a few of us! Did you see that steamer outside on display?"

"Yeah, was that a Big Boy?"

"Big Girl rather," Christine corrected. "Story goes that Alco messed up during production and built 4023 and 4024 as girls… or built guys that acts like girls, we were never sure. UP only kept her though for preservation."

"Oh," was all Erika said in response. Though interesting, the talk of Big Boys reminded her of Aaron and a twinge of pain began to form deep within her boiler. What she had done to him was awful, she knew it then just as much as she knew it now. She wanted to apologize but she never got the chance, he was probably long gone now… After a bit of prolonged silence she spoke up again, "Is she the only one left?"

Christine snorted, laughing once more. "Oh Lord no! There are like 8 of them left and they're all over the country! There's uh… Big Bob in Wisconsin, Leviathan, we always called him Levi, he's in Cheyenne. Gidel in Denver, Tytus in Missouri, Vulcan in Texas, of course there's Big Girl out front… Glen is waaay out in Pennsylvania and Aaron is in southern California. So yeah, they're pretty much all over."

Erika was shocked, the brothers had made it into preservation? She then recalled her last conversation with Glen,

"I also believe that you'll be one of the lucky ones."

"Me? Why me?"

"There's something special about you, girl. Elena had said the same thing once. And, whatever that special thing is, it's going to be the thing that keeps you alive. I get the feeling that you're going to be around long after a lot of these diesels have been scrapped."

His words made her smile a little. "Maybe we both will?"

Glen smiled back, "Most likely. UP wouldn't dare scrap its an entire fleet of the largest steam engine class in the world."

So he had be right all along, Glen must had been psychic or something. The thought made Erika smile a little, "So they made it out, huh?"

"Yup! I think Aaron was one of the last ones still in service by the time UP completely dieselized." The FEF-3 frowned a little, "He would never set foot back in California one day. He never said why either. And poor Glen… was never the same after Elena."

Erika cleared her throat awkwardly. She knew why Aaron stayed out of California and she wasn't about to make it public. "Yeah… What about Alice? What happened to her?"

Christine's tone brightened, "Oh Mama Alice? She was so good to us. Though she wasn't nearly as old as she acted or older than so many others, she was very much the mother figure of the UP… we were all kinda like a big family, diesel included." She sighed, "I miss her."

"What happened to her?" Erika was afraid to ask but it was something that had been bothering her for decades, like an itch she couldn't reach.

"Union Pacific sold her and her sisters off, some went to Clinchfield. She was one them. I never saw her again after that day. There are a few Challengers left, but none are from the first generation I don't think."

The pair of steam engines were quiet after that, listening to the workmen doing their jobs as they mulled over their shared lost. Suddenly, the soft sniffling could be heard. It didn't take Christine long to realize where it was coming from. "Oh Erika…" she said softly, "I didn't mean to make you sad, please don't cry."

"She… she was like a mother to me," Erika sniffed, trying to blink her tears away. "No, she was a mother to me, and to many of my sisters. She brought me home, took care of me in a sense. She was one of the first engines I met… and I wasn't there before she left, to see her off and tell her how much she meant to me. She probably thought I didn't care!"

"Erika, you're a locomotive and as such you can't always do what you want to. She knew that and so do you," the FEF spoke in a calmer tone. "I'm sure whatever kept you from bidding her farewell was beyond your control. To be fair, there weren't many to see her and her sisters go, I barely made it."

"How was she?"

"Mama Alice? Oh she was sad to leave her home, but optimistic about what life on the Clinchfield would have in store for her. Poor old Jessie was balling like a baby, I don't blame him though."

Erika arched a brow in curiosity, "Jessie?"

"Yup! He's an old 2-10-2 and jumped Mama as soon as she rolled into Cheyenne, I was told. The two of them were like a lit match in a firebox: hot. She kept her love life private, but we knew what went on when they thought no one was looking." Christine rolled her eyes as she suddenly realized something. "Oh jeez, how informal this conversation is. We've been talking all this time and we can't even see each other!" She turned her attention to one of the workmen as they walked into her line of sight. "Hey Steve, mind taking off these damn deflectors so I can have a normal conversation for once? You guys are gonna take them off anyway…"

The man in question gave a nod of his head, tipping her hat to her. "Right away, Miss 844."

With raised brows, Erika watched as Steve and some other men set to work with removing the deflectors, starting with the one that was keeping them from seeing one another. 'Miss 844?,' she thought, 'What service! I wish my crew did what I told them.'

"It's been so long since I've had these damn things off me, sometimes I think my vision is failing!" Christine huffed, "I wasn't built with these things you know."

"It's fine, Christine. You really don't have to - -" The Daylight cut herself off as the deflector came off and the other steam engine's face was revealed. Like Erika her features were soft and feminine though her cheekbones were a little high and her nose straight, her brow had a natural arch to them. She lacked the heavy makeup the GS4 wore and instead had a light gloss painted on her supple lips and a more natural smokey gray on her eyes. But eyes are what stood out the most, they were olive with a bit more green to them. Erika couldn't help but stare, she was awed, entranced! It was the first time, and quite possibly the only time that she would admit that there was an engine more beautiful and elegant as her.