Somehow the switches were all set, and the lines were completely cleared for her. As she left though Sharlot was sitting coming off her line to re-coal water and for her return trip down her line later
"Oh, my Looks like something is wrong with poor Abigail I must remember to ask when I see her next!"
Meanwhile back in the yard Stubbs, Sierra, and Holliday had all been drafted into trying to help pull the 3751 class locomotive back onto the tracks. While the visiting locomotive was complaining quite loudly.
"Curse this island, and these damn Baldi's, if they actually had decent track, and a proper locomotive instead of these worthless teakettles, I would not have come off like this!" he shouted!
"You do realize that you have three 'Baldis' Trying to help you out right now!" Sierra growled a little irritated at the rudeness of the Northern. as the two ten-wheelers, and the Consolidation pulled with all their might to rerail 3754 I had left with the passenger train by that time, and we were running quite smoothly. I had only come down the Mainline when I first arrived here so this was new for me! however, it was a stopping train and we were to stop at all the towns to pick up passengers.
Back with Abi things were tense, they had arrived in Willows Rest to find a line of 5 box cars and one flatcar loaded with Ties, rails, and other scraps, as well as some boxes. All the cars were modern and marked with a strange logo a Gun with a rose in the barrel this was painted on over the Union Pacific road markings! given her advanced age it would be very tough for old Abigail. "oh Golly sir, Please I am not the engine for this, I am so old I am not sure I could move this!" she pleaded.
"You Best do it dollface, otherwise I will be giving you a very explosive last meal See!" he snapped, Abi of course then got coupled upto the train. but of course, she was having trouble right away "oooohhh, Sooo Heavy!" she moaned as the crew began to try to get the train started. her Engineer was careful, applying generous amounts of sand and working her reverser in one hand and her regulator in the other.
"Hurry up, we ain't got all day pal!" the mob boss snapped,
"Hey I am doing my best, but we told you Abigail is 53 years old! she is not that strong! you want to get this train moving, then let me do my job and handle my locomotive!" Bob snapped, which seemed to shut the boss up respecting Bob's sense of Moxie apparently. eventually, with skillful adjustments, They were moving. luckily for both Abigail and Bob, they knew something the mobsters did not. there was a steep grade that had to be climbed before any train could get to the Ferry docks in Pine. Abigail was never going to be able to get the load up that hill! after they had gotten the load moving Bob turned to the mobsters.
"Now look, Abigail does not have the Coal or water capacity to run this nonstop to Pine. I can tell you that right now…If I say we need to stop for Coal or Water then by god you best let us stop! otherwise, you are not getting this load anywhere!"
"Fine but no tricks remember Your locomotive's life is on the line here as well as your own and this guy too!" the boss said pointing his gun at John who was Abigail's Fireman.
The Santa Fe locomotive had been re-railed and taken to the shops for an inspection. Stubbs and Sierra both towing the massive stick in the mud away. Kidd was helping a cargo ship unload, while Holliday was organizing the supply train that he would take to Fitzgerald in a bit. just as he got turned around he spotted Sharlot coming out of the yard from refueling. "Oh Hello Holliday, Lovely day it is, Oh but what is wrong with Poor Abigail, I saw her heading up yawls mainline and looking very upset!" she said Holliday looked at her confused. "Last I saw Abigail the dear was in the sheds, she has been ordered to take it easy by Mr. Bones so why was she light engine up the main?" he asked clearly confused. "Thank you, Sharlot darln I will look into it!" he said smiling at her. With that, he started to set out with his local fright train headed for Fitzgerald.
The section right after the Crossing where I had my incident earlier is actually double-tracked, to help facilitate things with the Union Pacific coming off the Oakheart branch line! He traveled up the branch and was watching out for anything weird when suddenly he was forced onto the second track. "Well If that ain't a peach!" he said, and he began to puff along slower keeping an eye on his surroundings. Just then Abigail came into view, she wanted to warn Holliday however she could not the boss and his thugs lowered their guns and hid. Right when the two passed each other, John took his chance John was not as level-headed about things, he suddenly launched himself at one of the thugs, and before anyone else could do anything both he and the thug fell out of the cab. "What a knucklehead, my boy Mikey will deal with him! for now, keep this train moving, we have been spotted now and so I will need you and this locomotive to pick up the pace!" The boss said, pulling his gun again still trained on Bob. "Well if you want that to happen, your muscle there is going to have to take over as fireman, and keep the fire going!" he snapped, "I'll guide him in what we need, Right now I just want me, and Abigail to come out of this alive!" he said the boss nodded at his remaining thug who putting his gun away grabbed the shovel.
Meanwhile, Holliday stopped watching in shock as John and the thug Mikey fought Holliday's crew jumped out and raced over it quickly became a Three on one and Mikey went down hard they quickly tied him up and threw him into the cab John turned to Abe and Travis "Abigails been hijacked! Three Moonshiners jumped into the cab at the sheds forcing us to bring her to Willows Rest and pick up that train! They wanted us to take it to the Farries I don't doubt it's loaded with Booze they ain't going to get it into Pine though not with the incline! I know it Bob Knows it Abigail knows it but those knuckleheads probably don't! We need to be there when they get to the incline or else they say they are going to put Dynamite into Abigail's Firebox!" he shouted "Wayul then, looks like we don't have a lot of time Jump in, we'll Shove this lot back to Balderston! John if yawl could jump off and perform a flying switch we will dump this lot at the depot yawl back Thayure put chur breaks on when ya get to the platform! We'll then chase them right up the main John you would be a daisy if ya would be my eyes throughout this whole mess!" The consolidation said looking right determined, he might have been a grumpy fusspot and blunt as a baseball bat but nobody ever messed with his friends and fellow non-faceless locomotives/ "Travis would you write a note for Mr. Shepard and wrap it around a piece of coal?" he added.
"Already ahead of you on that one Holliday!" his fireman laughed, and with loud Barking puffs from Holliday, the train began to move backward. Abigail had managed to get the train moving at her top speed and by the time Holliday had gotten moving again, she managed to get to Balderston and hit the mainline. Though this also did not go unnoticed as Mr. Balderston and were standing on the platform, and watching her roll along. "I thought I told her to take it easy!" Mr. Shepard growled moving to wave her down, only to become even more annoyed when he was ignored. "What is going on!?"
"Ahh Dinnae Fuss yourself a'm sure we wull get an Answer shortly!" Colin Balderston said and it was not a few moments later that Suddenly a Fright train came Coasting into the Depot onto track four. and Holliday moved fast up the line towards the Mainline. instead of a Piece of Coal, they dumped the bound and gagged Thung out at Mr. Shepard's feet with the note pinned to his shirt. Holliday blasted his whistle as he hit the main and kept laying on it as he started racing as fast as he could.
"They're after us Boss!" the thug who had taken over as fireman shouted.
"Then go back to the flat car, and set some traps you mook!" the boss jeered clearly the hired muscle that was left was not the brightest bulb the boss had in his organization. As the big guy did as he was told the Boss, holstered his gun and took the shovel, and took over firing duties.
the thug named Tony got to the flat car, and looking back he could see the plume of steam coming from Holliday. he first manhandled a tie to the back of the car and threw it over! it landed across the rails then another and another each time Holliday came upto one in their chase with John sitting on the Tender watching ahead he was able to warn Abe and they were able to stop and throw the tie aside. then begin again But Holliday would not be daunted, Tony tried some of the other junk as well however each time after he started again Holliday would blast his Whistle, a 6-chime ATSF design he would let them know he was getting closer and he was not giving up. Eventually, Tony broke into the boxes and pulled out a Tommy Gun, and began loading a Drum Magazine
In the Cab Bob turned to the mob boss who was panting from the hard dirty work. The tender was about half empty at that point. "We are going to have to stop for coal and water!" he said
"Are you kidding me, you keep this train going with what we have! If we stop your friends are going to eat some bullets you don't want that do ya?" he asked.
"Look we have enough water but if we don't get more coal it's not going to matter because we will not have any way to heat the water!"
"I thought these Freakish NonFaceless things were able to move by themselves!"
"Only when I have a fire in my Firebox buddy boy!" Abigail growled "I can not move unless I have a fire in my firebox! And that requires Fuel!"
That was when they first heard the sounds of a Chicago Typewriter going off. "NOOOO HOLLIDAY!" Abigail screamed worried for her friend, Bob then spoke up as he looked ahead "Hey man I think you got bigger worries don't matter now whether we stop for coal or not!" he nodded. looking ahead there sat the police, along with their faceless locomotive Matador! our former number 2 it had been retired when the Railway picked up Kidd and Stubbs! It was then that Tony crawled back into the locomotive. "Hey boss, I drove off that one chasing…" however he did not get to finish what he was saying, with a loud BANG the mob boss smashed the shovel into his hired muscle face then ran to the fireman's ladder and hopped out of Abigail! and began running up into the mountains! Bob began to check on the thug, while Abigail started breaking hard, and the police swarmed towards her.
Coming up from behind was Holliday! "Abigail darlin are you alright?" he asked.
"HOLLIDAY!? I THOUGHT THEY SHOT YOU!?" Abigail squealed happily
"Oh that they did, though My Tender caught the bullets! Oh, and I am sorry about what I said earlier, just because you are advanced in age, does not mean you are not still useful!" he said clearly regretting what he had said after this life-and-death chase.
"Of course, I forgive you, Holliday! I never took any offense!" Abi replied as her crew dropped her fire, and got ready to have Holliday tow the lot back to Balderston. the Police would follow and conduct their investigation there out of the way of traffic.
I am sorry to say that the mob boss got away, However, murder charges were now leveled at him. The thug Tony in the locomotive was killed when he had his face smashed in with the shovel. And as it turned out later Mikey the one that had been left with President Balderston and Mr. Shepard died a couple of days later, in a US Federal Prison during a riot. the load that the boss was desperately trying to get to the mainland was you guessed it Alcohol! moonshine, as well as products from the three Alcohol production facilities on our little island funny thing, was that two weeks after this whole ordeal The United States held a convention of states and proposed the 21st amendment. which would repeal Prohibition and make alcohol legal again! and that would be passed towards the end of that same year. Abi Bob and John all were cleared of any wrongdoing, though the Wild West days train was canceled that month, so as to give Abigail some time to get over the fright! the whole island understood and was happy to give Abigail the rest while Holliday had his tender repaired and was repainted as a reward for his bravery.
For the rest of us though as the saying goes There is no rest for the wicked, and we were busy because this was also the time of the Great Depression. in an effort to generate jobs, and the economy a bit the Island of Empresa started two new huge construction projects! but that is a story for another day!
