Chapter 169

Cab Forward

A young woman was on a passenger train. She was beautiful. She looked out the window. There was snow outside.

She looked out the window on the other side of the passenger car. The sound around her changed. Everything went dark outside. She caught a reflection in the far window. It didn't register on her the reflection was her own reflection. It was an image in her mind, much like looking at a photo.

'I know that girl.' She thought.

She was sure she knew the girl from somewhere. It looked like someone she knew. She couldn't quite remember where. Maybe it was in the past. She briefly seemed to think the past was yet to happen, as if somehow it was in the future. It seemed like nonsense.

The darkness ended. The reflection vanished. It was gone as quickly as it came. They evidently passed through a short tunnel.

Someone in a black uniform approached her seat. It was the conductor. He came by to check the tickets. She found it somewhat irritating.

"May I see your ticket please?" The conductor asked.

The girl looked around her seat. She didn't like being questioned. She wasn't sure where the ticket was at. She didn't even remember what it looked like.

She didn't have one.

"I'm not sure where it went." The girl said.

The conductor went through the same procedure a dozen times in every car. It was just the way it worked with some passengers. He looked above her seat. There was a colored piece of paper stuck in the frame of the luggage rack. It was bent over so it couldn't be seen easily. Someone may have lifted their hand up to support themselves when they went down the aisle. It wasn't a problem. He fixed it so it was clearly visible.

"I'm sorry." The conductor said. "It was already checked."

He moved on.

She must have given it to him earlier. She didn't remember. She didn't even know where she was going. In fact she didn't remember a thing. This was her first awareness right now. She wondered where she was at. Not only was her location a mystery to her, there seemed to be an even more pressing issue. She didn't know who she was.

There was some movement up in front of her. Someone stood and reached into the luggage rack above the seat to take something down. She took a moment to look down the length of the passenger car. There were a multitude of people doing different things. There were a dozen different conversations going on. Somehow she could hear all of them if she concentrated. Most of the people seemed pleased with where they were at. A few of them were indifferent. It seemed there were only a couple of people who were displeased.

The pressure in the car began to change. She caught the reflection of the girl in the far window when they passed through another tunnel.

'I know that girl.' She thought again.

There was something so familiar about the girl. It looked like someone she cared about. She couldn't remember who. She thought she was a long way from there, wherever it was.

The train twisted and curved a lot. The steel wheels often squealed against the steel rails on the curves. The train passed through a few more tunnels as it snaked along the mountainside. They'd been going uphill earlier. They were headed downhill now.

There were times when the view was quite spectacular. There were other times when there wasn't much to see. There was a lot of snow, especially in some areas. She reached up and touched the glass of the window near her. She could tell it was cold to the touch. It didn't bother her.

They passed another train. It was on a siding. It didn't appear to be moving. It must be waiting for them to pass by before it could continue on in the opposite direction they were going. There were a lot of containers on it. They were double stacked.

It would make more sense to allow the uphill train to continue its journey rather than to have it stop and let them pass. She could understand why a passenger train was given priority. It still seemed somewhat illogical to her from an operational point of view. She believed the freight train would have trouble getting started on the uphill grade to continue. They were quickly past it.

Once the passenger train went by, the freight train was cleared to go. The container train did have trouble getting started. It couldn't. The engineer left the train break on and shoved backwards with the locomotives. The procedure created slack in the couplers. Once the engineer felt he had enough slack, he would accelerate one car at a time. As the slack was pulled out, the drawbars, or couplers, stretched out. They then started to pull the car behind it. It moved one car at a time to start, as the weight of each additional car was added. There was always the danger when using this method to start a train, a knuckle on a coupler could break and separate the train into two.

It was a practice which was generally frowned upon by upper management. It wasn't how the equipment was designed to operate. Other than forcing the uphill freight train to stop to allow the passenger train to pass, there should have been a rear end helper on the freight train. Extra locomotives meant additional money. It also required the use of another crew. Another crew cost additional money as well. Management created the very problem it didn't like. The crew needed to solve it to move the train.

The pretty girl heard people talking about some movie being filmed where they were. It was about the, 'Last run of a 'Cab Forward' over Donner Pass'. They recently passed a very large black locomotive which was parked on a siding. It was a giant steam locomotive. It was huge. Smoke drifted slowly out of the twin stacks. The air pumps made a wheezing sound. Her first impression was the tender was on the wrong end of the locomotive. It seemed to her the tender was usually directly behind the cab of the locomotive, not at the front of the boiler. The tender carried the fuel and water necessary to make the steam engine operate.

There were several small groups of people moving around. It appeared as if they were part of the film crew. The film crew was in the process of putting their gear away. The filming for the day was completed.

It was all very new to her. She wasn't sure where she was at, where she came from, or where she was going. She still didn't have any idea who she was. She noticed other passengers would pass down the narrow aisle. They always seemed to look at the other passengers as they did. She felt very uncomfortable when they looked at her. It seemed they looked once, and then they all looked a second time almost immediately.

As they entered another tunnel a few minutes later. The locomotives begin to bounce and sway violently from side to side. The locomotives derailed on ice built up between the rails. The flanged steel wheels rode up on the ice, and off the rails. There was a screeching and crashing sound. The girl was thrown forward. Everything came to a sudden halt. There was some screaming and a lot of confusion. There were broken and cracked windows. Fumes from the two diesel locomotives soon began to fill the passenger cars which were now trapped inside the tunnel. It wasn't long before smoke began to pour it. One locomotive ruptured its fuel tank and started to burn.

People crowded back through the cars to try to get away. It was near panic. The longer the doors between the passenger cars were open, the more the dense smoke began to fill the car behind it. The last two passenger cars were still outside of the tunnel entrance. Everyone frantically piled out into the snow. They wanted to get away from the fire and smoke. It was mayhem for most of the people.

It didn't appear anyone was severely injured as they passed by her. She saw a few small cuts on people's hands or faces as they passed by. It made her wonder if anyone else was more severely injured. It was impossible to move forward to look as people continued to come down the aisle. Many of them brought their luggage with them. It only further congested the narrow aisle.

It wasn't long before there was a clearing in the aisle. There were still people coming, but they weren't packed. She made her way forward into the dense smoke. It didn't seem to bother her as it did the other people. Most of them were coughing and gasping for air. She soon reached the front passenger car. She could see what appeared to be the 'head end' crew moving through the cars to get to the rear. She crouched down and let them pass. She didn't want to be spotted.

She could see the tunnel walls were brightly lit from the burning locomotive at the front of the train. She moved back through the passenger cars to see if anyone needed assistance. Every seat was vacant and she moved towards the rear. She could see the crew up ahead as she caught up to them. All of them helped some elderly passengers as they continued along.

There was light coming in the windows of the next passenger car she entered. It was out of the tunnel. She watched the crew help the elderly passengers out. She continued on into the next car. It was the rear car. It was already empty. She exited to the outside.

The girl drifted among the confusion of frantic people. Everyone seemed to be cold, but not her. She didn't know why. She was concerned, but she wasn't afraid. Most of the people stuck there were scared. There was nowhere for them to go.

The tracks were located along a very narrow ledge. There was a steep drop off on one side, and a steep mountain on the other side. A few things popped into her mind. The tracks were cut into the cliff side by Chinese workers more than a century ago.

She listened to the conductor's radio. She heard the container train they passed earlier snapped a coupler and broke into two. There was now a 'runaway' situation. There were about twelve double stack container cars rolling towards them. The air lines were frozen. It prevented the air from moving in the brake line. It in turn prevented the automatic air brakes from functioning properly and stopping the runaway double stack container cars.

There was nowhere for the people to go. They were trapped on the frozen, snowy, and icy cliff side. There were a dozen container cars headed towards the stranded group. They were out of control. They were runaways with no way to stop them. Dozens would be killed and injured. Smoke poured out of the tunnel as the fire spread to the passenger cars wedged inside.

The girl took it all in. She made an assessment of the situation. The passengers and crew were trapped in the narrow confined space. There was nowhere to go. There was no way out. Even if they tried to go back the way the train came from, it was even narrower along the cliff side there. The fact everything was frozen and the way back was uphill made everything even slipperier. She needed to think. Facts begin to appear in her mind.

In the 1860s, the Central Pacific Railroad needed laborers. They were hard to come by. Many people still chased the dream of the Gold Rush which started a decade prior. The men who sought gold didn't want to do hard physical labor for fourteen hours a day for low wages. They were all still sure they would find the 'mother load'. The various forms of prospecting were a lot of work. They didn't want to work as hard as would be required to be a laborer on the railroad, especially in the terrain they would need to work in.

Charles Crocker, the head of construction for the Central Pacific, suggested they could use imported labor to do the job. He'd witnessed men from China work the tailings from mines to get all the gold out of them. It was what the other miners left behind after they went for the 'easy money'. The Chinese were very persistent and hard working.

There were more than a few disbelieving looks from the others in the room. Everyone was aware of the small stature of the Chinese men. When asked if Chinese could do the tough physical jobs, the room broke out in laughter. The thought of small slight built men doing the job was preposterous to them.

Charles Crocker, the chief of construction, faced the rest of the men down. He was a very large man and the laughter enraged him.

"They built the Great Wall of China, didn't they?" Charles Crocker asked angrily.

The laughter in the room died off quickly. The Great Wall of China was built by hand, without the use of machinery about two thousand years ago. It was all done on the backs of men, and a lot of hard manual labor.

The ledge the tracks were on was blasted and chipped from solid granite by Chinese workers hung in baskets from the top of the mountain in the 1860s. Black powder simply blew out of the holes drilled by hand with little effect. Nitroglycerine was mixed and used. It was highly volatile and explosive. Many workers were killed. A saying soon developed for a dangerous situation. When something was very risky it was said, someone didn't have 'A Chinaman's Chance'. It meant there was little or no chance at all.

The Chinese workers built the railroad. They even laid ten miles of track in one day. It was a feat modern machinery would have trouble to beat.

The thought made the girl think about the story of another man who competed against a machine. There was a name associated with it. She tried to remember what it was. The name escaped her. It was something or someone important. There was something about the man which beat the steam drill, and his name.

The crying people brought the girl back to 'now'. She needed to act. She knew she could help.

The girl didn't know why, but she ran in the direction the train came from. She ran uphill toward the oncoming runaway container cars. She reached the location of the Cab Forward locomotive.

They also received word there was a runaway headed in their direction. The girl was able to calculate the size and mass of the locomotive. She identified it as an AC-12, the tender was lettered 'Southern Pacific'. It was a newly constructed replica. The siding it was parked on faced the direction she was going. It was opposite for the direction of the runaway. Opening the switch would have no effect on the runaway train. It couldn't be opened so the train would enter it and derail. Once it derailed, its forward momentum would come to an end. Something else needed to be done.

The girl tore the lock off the switch and opened it. She headed toward the giant steam locomotive. There was a section of chain in back of one of the drivers, she reached down and yanked it out. There was an old man watching her from one of the trailers. His mouth opened slightly when she yanked the chain out. It should have been securely held in place by the weight of the locomotive.

She looked at him.

"I have to get this locomotive on the mainline. I can stop the runaway train and save dozens of lives." The girl said. "Can you help me?"

The old man went down the stairs of the trailer into the snow.

"I can operate the locomotive." The old man said. "I'm the technical advisor."

She helped the old man into the cab as she lifted him.

"Wow!" The old man said. "You're strong."

The girl briefly smiled. She thought of an appropriate response.

"I work out." The girl said. "We need to hurry."

The old man understood the seriousness of the situation.

"I just heard about the runaway and the derailed passenger train." The old man said. "It doesn't look good."

The girl looked at all of the controls.

"I need to get this locomotive moving - NOW." The girl said.

The old man knew what all the controls were. He touched all of them as a child. His father explained what all of them did and how they worked. He even sat on his father's lap and moved the controls himself on several occasions.

"I know how to make the locomotive work. My father used to let me ride in the cab sometimes of a locomotive just like this." The old man said. "We can wait for the regular crew if you want."

The girl looked over the controls. There were dozens of valves, levers, and gauges. She needed to determine each one's function. It was going to take some time. She would be able to figure it out, but it would cost precious seconds. She was aware certain things needed to be done in a specific order.

"We don't have any time to spare. Every second matters. Quickly, tell me what needs to be done. Show me." The girl said as she scanned the equipment.

She could figure it out, but it would go quicker if he told her.

The man went over everything once. He increased the fuel flow into the firebox to build up more steam pressure. There was enough pressure already to move. The water in the boiler hadn't cooled much since it was parked a short time ago.

The man released the brakes. The locomotive rolled backwards from the siding and onto the mainline. The girl dropped down and threw the switch as the locomotive started forward. She climbed back up the ladder into the cab when it reached her. The massive drivers slipped under the surge of power. They then bit the rails as the sanders were engaged to give them additional traction. The other workers came out to see what was happening. The locomotive thundered past them. It literally shook the ground with each crashing stroke of the massive drivers as the Cab Forward accelerated uphill.

'What the Hell?' Was the collective thought among the workers.

The old man told the girl what needed to be done. They needed to build more steam pressure. They were low, but not by much since they just finished filming before the passenger train went by. The girl opened the valves for the fuel oil all the way and adjusted the water flow. The fire in the fire box raged.

"I'm Bill." The old man said.

The girl looked at the old man but said nothing.

"Who are you?" The old man asked.

She was still very confused. She wanted to say - Nobody. Somehow it seemed like it would be rude. She knew she wasn't supposed to be rude unless the situation dictated it.

"I don't know." The girl said. "I think my name is - Allison. Show me how your controls function."

The girl asked questions from the old man as he accelerated the locomotive.

He was impressed how the girl could fire the locomotive expertly in just a short time.

The girl knew what to do in under thirty seconds. She checked the firing process. It was still at maximum. She took the controls and slowed the locomotive.

"You know how this is going to end." The girl said. "We both don't need to be here."

The old man tensed up a little bit. He looked at the beautiful young girl. He swallowed hard.

"I'll stay." The old man said.

The girl didn't think so. She knew her existence didn't matter.

There was a wide spot in the narrow ledge up ahead. She cut back on the throttle and the locomotive slowed dramatically on the uphill grade. It was a steady 2.2 percent.

"Hardly…." The girl said. "I've got this."

She grabbed the old man and gently dropped him in the snow as the locomotive nearly stopped. He protested but couldn't resist.

"Thank you, Ole' Timer." The girl said. "Get to safety."

The girl was alone now, she opened the throttle all the way. The locomotive surged forward. The drivers slipped, she hit the sanders. The slipping ended. The massive drivers slightly dented the rails with every powerful stroke. She checked the firing of the locomotive, everything was at maximum. The boiler pressure was near maximum.

The old man watched in awe as the locomotive accelerated away. He did know how it was going to end. It wasn't going to end well. He scrambled up the side of the snowy rock ledge to get out of the way for what was sure to follow. He still couldn't get over the fact of how the girl showed no fear, nor appeared to be scared in any way. The locomotive disappeared around a curve. He could still hear it working hard. He knew it wouldn't be for much longer….

The girl continued to increase the speed of the locomotive. She looked forward into the gloom. Three curves ahead, she saw the container cars round a corner less than half a mile away. She checked everything again. The locomotive could continue on its own. It didn't have far to go. She stepped out into the snow. The locomotive traveled at fifty miles per hour as it climbed uphill on the steep grade. It was still accelerating. She knew she needed to be away from what was about to happen.

She landed in the snow and rolled. The massive Cab Forward disappeared around the bend. A thick cloud of smoke and steam billowed into the cold mountain air. She felt a sense of loss at sending a machine off to its destruction. Somehow it didn't seem fair. The machine didn't have a choice. It seemed to remind her of events in her past. She couldn't recollect what they were.

In fifteen seconds there was a huge 'crash' sound and the tearing of metal. It was at that point the boiler exploded. It felt like an earthquake. She struggled to get away from the tracks. She really expected to see the flaming wreck being shoved around the corner. It would be sure to sweep her over the side.

Much to her surprise nothing came. The only sounds were the cars crashing down the canyon side. There was silence, and then a slight 'singing' of the rails. Around the corner rolled a single axle with two wheels. The girl moved over to the tracks and knocked it off the track. It disappeared over the side of the ledge into the canyon as well. She was unsure how she did everything. For some crazy reason she thought she was a 'robot from the future' and someone was after her. She didn't even know where such an insane idea came from.

None of it made any sense.

Closing monologue by Cameron:

An Effective Strategy

There are many things we may seek
Very few of them we achieve
It seems that we give much more
Than we will ever receive

The game is rigged
We are predestined to lose
What we think is real
Is most often only a ruse

We can take the blows
Roll and sting from the hits
Why is trying to reach someone
Worse than surviving a blitz

When we think we have won
Maybe even gotten ahead
Suddenly it all falls apart
Making us wish we were dead

Life becomes a tragedy
Wrapped in a travesty
Knowing you are going to fail is not
An effective strategy

Nobody