Chapter 1610
Really Pushing It
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Temporal Mission:
Past Timeline:
November 26 1963
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Cameron and Young Allison were in Palmdale.
"Do you want to drive by where your house will be constructed?" Cameron asked. "We can pass the airport too."
Young Allison thought maybe it would be something to check out. She didn't believe there would be anything there except empty land. A simple look around them was a pretty good indication of what would be there. It was all empty land. The streets wouldn't go in for years.
"I'd need to turn before we get to the airport. I don't think we will see much." Young Allison said. "I don't think the airport is as big now as it will be later on. I read it was suppose to be expanded greatly in a few years. It never happened."
Cameron knew it wouldn't be. There was a government facility known as Plant 42. It was on the north side of the property. It would serve in various capacities over the years. B-2 bombers would cycle in and out of there for maintenance a few decades from then. There was also a large presence by Lockheed. There were large hangars for the work they performed on various aircraft. Some of the Skunk Works operations were involved there as well. There would be a lot of work done on the L1011 in a few years and into the early Seventies from the location. There was really nothing there for her to worry about.
She didn't believe she would have too much trouble visiting any of the facilities if she needed to. Under the cover of darkness, she could move very quickly and stealthy. She could avoid any sentries or roving patrols. Her previous visit to the Nike Base was a good indication of her abilities.
Cameron never saw the plans for LAX to expand its operations to Palmdale materialize. It was suppose to happen in a few years. The city purchased a lot of land around the current airport for its proposed future expansion. It was to be linked to LAX with a high speed rail line. None of it ever happened. There only ever was a few commuter flights out of Palmdale. The idea itself in the concept wasn't too far fetched. The San Francisco Airport wasn't even in San Francisco. It was miles to the south.
Route 6 was about to cross over the railroad tracks again. Sierra Highway would remain on the west side of the tracks all the way to Mojave. It was pretty much a straight shot to Mojave from there. There were a few small hills where there was some curvature before the tracks reached Mojave. The road curved to a 45 degree angle to cross the tracks. She could see a headlight coming from the direction of the north. She zoomed in on it and was able to get a look at the train for a brief moment.
"I can see the San Joaquin Daylight coming." Cameron said. "It's behind schedule. I expected to see it when we stopped in Lang. I thought maybe we would see it in Soledad Canyon when we traversed it. There must have been a problem further up the track to cause it to be delayed. It should have been past Palmdale station by 4:30 P.M."
Young Allison could see the sun was nearly behind the mountains. It would still be a while before it was actually dark. She watched the headlight along with the oscillating light as the train approached. It neared rapidly.
"It looks like the 'Hogger' is really pushing it." Young Allison said. "I'm pretty sure he's exceeding 'track speed'."
Cameron was able to make the calculation.
"He's twelve miles an hour over the limit." Cameron said. "He's going to need to watch his speed through Soledad Canyon. I don't believe the train is going to arrive at Union Station on the advertised time."
Young Allison wondered what happened.
"There must have been a derailment or an issue with the track somewhere." Young Allison said. "They wouldn't delay the passenger train for any other reason."
Cameron knew it was a few more years until the railroad would no longer be passenger friendly. Right now they were passenger neutral. They were running on their reputation, rather than on the ledger.
"There's still a lot of pride with the operating crews about what they've been doing for years." Cameron said. "The negativity of upper management will drift down through the ranks. Everyone will still go through the motions until the US Mail contracts are lost in 1967. It's all downhill from there."
The creation of Amtrash in May of 1971 was little more than a zombie passenger rail service.
Young Allison was able to get a good look at the rapidly approaching train.
"Wow!" Young Allison said. "There are eight locomotives on the point! They're all F units. I know the cab units should all be FP7 units. The F7B units should all be the ones equipped with a steam generator."
Cameron knew there could be some deviation.
"Some of the locomotives were equipped with steam lines, even if they didn't possess a steam generator. Every FP7 came with a steam generator. Some F7A units were equipped with steam generator controls, even though they didn't possess a steam generator. They would control the steam generators in the cabless units."
Young Allison spotted two baggage cars behind the locomotives. She tried to count the passenger cars as she drove and the train converged on her. She counted eighteen of them. The San Joaquin Daylight was by them in a flash. She saw it had a round end observation car. Five of the cars were still painted in Daylight colors.
She drove for a short while longer and made the turnoff to go by where her house would be in Palmdale. In just a few minutes after leaving Sierra Highway and the railroad tracks behind, the land in front of them was barren. It was what she expected to find, nothing.
"There's not much to see." Young Allison said. "I'm sure the drainage channel near our house is just a dirt ditch. Your private air strip doesn't exist yet. We can cut up on the next street and go by the airport in Lancaster. I'm sure it will look even more bleak than it does in modern times. I'll just go back and follow Sierra Highway north. I don't want one of the back roads to turn to dirt."
Young Allison cut over on the next street. There was more barren land around them until they neared Route 6. They passed by the Palmdale Airport and were soon near Lancaster. Young Allison could see there was a giant separation between Palmdale and Lancaster.
There was nothing there but empty barren land with a few clumps of scrub brush here and there. She needed to remind herself the entire area looked the same way when the rail line was completed in 1876. She imagined some of the things she looked at were the same things the workers did when they built the rail line nearly a hundred years ago.
In more modern times there was very little which separated Palmdale from Lancaster any longer. There were considerably more buildings located around the area. Lancaster was a much more populated area during the time period they were in than Palmdale was.
She spotted a Swedish Smorgasbord sign. It was on the right side of the road. She thought about stopping there. She didn't. She wanted to make it to Mojave before it was dark. She spotted the Lancaster station on the east side of the tracks. It was right after they passed the smorgasbord.
Cameron looked over at the depot. She was aware of its fate.
"Years from now, hobos will break into the abandoned station building and attempt to warm themselves with a fire one night." Cameron said. "The entire station will burn to the ground."
Cameron didn't think there was too much difference between a hobo and a homeless person. Maybe a hobo was on the move a little bit more. There were laws which were still on the books against vagrancy. The strange thing was, they just weren't enforced. She believed incarceration would provide the homeless with a roof over their head, three square meals a day and medical attention. It would certainly cause a drop in the crime rate around the homeless encampments.
It wasn't too long until they were past Lancaster. The landscape returned back to the bleakness of the High Desert.
Young Allison could see a long straight stretch of the road. There wasn't much traffic around them at all. She decided she was going to open it up a little bit.
"Does everything look clear around us?" Young Allison asked.
Cameron monitored the traffic situation.
"As soon as we pass the truck up ahead, you're good to go." Cameron said. "You can push it for a couple of miles before we'll start to catch up to traffic again. The stock top end is one hundred and thirty eight miles an hour. With the modifications to the car, it should be able to reach about one hundred and fifty miles an hour. You don't need to go any faster than you want to."
Young Allison didn't plan to get carried away.
"I just want to try some acceleration." Young Allison said. "I don't plan to reach the top end speed. I know you wouldn't have any trouble calculating the speed once the speedometer is pegged."
Young Allison went around the truck in front of them. The road was wide open. With the truck in her rear view mirror, she slowed down to approximately forty miles an hour. She felt the need for speed. She took one quick look around and dropped it back into second gear as she got on the gas. The rear tires immediately broke loose and the car took off. She pushed it up to 6500 RPM in second. She shifted into third and got rubber. She pushed it to 6500 RPM. She shifted into fourth and got rubber again. She eased up on the accelerator when she reached 6,000 RPM. She let off the gas. She could feel the deceleration, even in fourth gear.
She'd kept her eyes on the road and on the tachometer. There was no need to watch the speedometer. She knew it would be past the century mark. She could feel her heart pounding with the adrenaline rush.
"This car really moves." Young Allison said. "I can't wait to try a 427 SOHC. I know it's still a few years away. This is really an area where the speed can be tested out."
She really wondered what the performance would be of the Falcon with a 427 in it. Even with the modifications to strengthen the frame, and reconfigure the shock towers, the Falcon would still be over a thousand pounds lighter. Cameron told her it would weigh about the same as a Cobra with the same power plant. It was still a few years in the future too. She really thought it would fly. She remembered reading about the next larger size vehicle, the Fairlane. There would be a limited run light weight version of those vehicles with a 427 from the factory next year. The car would be known as a Thunderbolt. She believed it was an apt name. It would weigh less than the vehicle she currently drove. It was always about horsepower to weight.
Cameron glanced over to the east. It was on her right side. They were near the southern edge of Edwards Air Force Base.
"This certainly is the area where speed records are set." Cameron said. "Most of them will be in the sky right above us and in the surrounding area. Some of them cover a lot of the sky."
Young Allison knew exactly what Cameron referred to. There were many aviation speed records, as well as altitude records, which were established very near to where they currently were at.
"Maybe if we're still around the area tomorrow, we might see something up in the sky." Young Allison said. "Well, maybe I won't see it, but maybe I'll hear it. I know you'll be able to do both."
Young Allison pushed it a few more times. She tried to keep it below 6,000 RPM. She remembered what Savannah told her about not pushing things to the red line, unless it was necessary. It wasn't necessary for the driving she was doing right now.
"We'll be near Rosamond soon." Cameron said. "It's the main gateway into Edwards Air Force Base from the west. The speed limit through town is about thirty miles an hour. We're in Kern County now. It's possible there could be a Sheriff's unit, or even a Highway Patrol cruiser, in the area. Edwards is a very sensitive area during this time period for multiple reasons. We'll be through the community in just a couple of minutes. The road will be wide open again all the way until the outskirts of Mojave. You'll have approximately fifteen more miles to do what you want. Remember to keep an eye out for opposing traffic."
Cameron's biggest concern was someone passing someone else in the opposing traffic. It would put the oncoming vehicle on their side of the road.
Young Allison glanced over as the sun was about to go behind the hills.
"Are we going to pass through Mojave?" Young Allison asked. "In more modern times, it becomes a junction for the 14 and the 58. I know the 58 used to pass through Mojave, but now bypasses it to the east of the airport."
Cameron knew the highway numbering was a little different in 1963.
"Most of what you know as Highway 58 is Route 466 in 1963." Cameron said. "Route 466 will come from the west and pass through the town of Mojave and then turn off to the east and go across the northern boundary of Edwards Air Force Base. The Santa Fe railroad tracks will be between Route 466 and the base. Route 466 will eventually connect with Route 66. US Route 6 will angle off to the northeast and continue across the country. It will later be truncated at the California border when Highway 14 comes into existence. It's all a very complicated system of numbers and routes currently. The goal is to simplify it all in 1964 throughout the country."
Young Allison did a few more speed runs. She tried a couple from a dead stop. She was more certain than ever, if it had a set of wings, she knew it could fly.
Mojave was soon in sight, as the sky turned to twilight.
Really Pushing It
There's no way to know
What's real or counterfeit
When two first meet each other
There's always more to admit
It takes hard work and perseverance
To see who has true grit
A foundation built on lies
Will end in a bottomless pit
When the darkness begins to arrive
The path is often dimly lit
When the way starts to divide
To one side one must commit
Even if everything is tightly woven together
It's not too difficult to split
Some will always be content
With even a scrap or a tiny tidbit
Everyone needs to think twice
Before they end up with a writ
There many be no one to acquit
When they're really pushing it
Nobody