John Gilbert > Great Locomotive Caper 8

The Great Locomotive Caper by John Gilbert
CHAPTER 8

Sam laid his backpack on his bed and was checking the batteries in his walkie-talkies when his sister came in and closed the door. Sam ignored her and continued checking his “Pack of many things” as he called it.

“I know a secret,” she said.

“About who, Becky Mulholland?” sneered Sam as he rummaged through his pack.

“No. I know about someone who is going to steal a train and drive it to the rock quarry tonight,” said Sharon.

All color drained from Sam’s face.

“How do you know about that?” he hissed.

“Becky and I followed you to the park from the store this afternoon. We hid behind the caboose and you never saw us. Boy, you’d make a lousy watchdog. We heard everything!”

“All right, what do you want?” he asked.

“I want to go!”

“No way!” Sam shouted.

“You let me go or I’ll tell!” demanded his sister.

“What part of NO did you not understand?” Sam quipped.

“Mom!” Sharon called.

“Shut up!” Sam demanded putting his hand over her mouth. “You listen to me and listen to me good! This is not some kind of prank we’re pulling. This is very important to me. If we don’t hide this train by this time Monday night it’ll look like it fell off the Empire State Building.”

“So I can go? What time do I need to be there?”

“Uh, yeah. Be there at, um, 11:30,” he said not giving her the real time.

“Do I need to bring anything?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah. Bring your sleeping bag,” he said as he shouldered his pack and started for the door.

“Where are you going?” asked his sister.

“There’s still a lot to do. Now don’t forget, 11:30 sharp,” Sam instructed.

“Wait a minute,” said Sharon. “That was too easy. You’re not telling me something.”

“Look, I don’t have time to play twenty questions.”

“Well, if you’re not leaving till 11:30 you’ve got plenty of time.”

“I told you, there’s still a lot to do. If you want to go be there at 11:30.”

Sam left his jeep in the garage and peddled his bike to the park.

“It’s 10:30,” Sam announced as he climbed into the cab. “Are we ready to go?”

“We’re only at 130 pounds of pressure,” said Barney. “This wood is just not burning hot enough. I sure wish we were firing with coal.”

One by one Mike, Milton, and Ralph arrived. As they stowed their bikes into the caboose Barney ordered them to open the fire hydrant and top off the tender tank. Eleven o'clock came and went and still there was not enough steam.

“Why can’t we get enough pressure?” asked Mike.

“The wood’s not hot enough,” Sam answered. “The boiler was designed to burn coal.”

“Well, why didn’t you say so!” exclaimed Ralph. “There’s a huge coal bin across the tracks at the foundry. I’m sure they wouldn’t miss a few lumps of coal.”

The boys were off like a shot through the hole in the fence and across the tracks and to the coal bin. Each picked up the largest lump he could carry and started, like a line of ants, back to the locomotive. After several trips the pressure rose to 140 pounds. As Sam started back for another load he saw two figures running across the park toward him. He looked at his watch.

“Rats! 11:30. I thought we’d be gone by now,” he mumbled.

One of the figures ran toward him. It was Sharon.

“I kind of thought you might have given me the wrong time,” she said. “We’ve been waiting across the street just to see if you were lying but I guess I was wrong.”

“Who is we?” Sam asked.

“I brought Becky with me.”

“Oh no,” said Sam. “Why did you…”

Just then Becky stepped into the glare of a park light.

“Becky Mulholland?” Sam asked.

This couldn’t be the same Becky he had seen several years ago. The last time Sam saw Becky he had thought she was a skinny little weed but now she had blossomed like a rose.

“Hi Sam,” she said shyly.

“Hi,” Sam returned. “I haven’t seen you in a long time.”

“She got her braces off,” Sharon interrupted.

“Yeah, and you look real pretty uh, I mean your teeth look real pretty,” Sam stammered.

“May I go with you?” Becky asked.

“Uh, well, sure, I mean if you really want to,” said Sam.

Sam’s surprise was interrupted by a short toot from the engine’s whistle. He turned to see Barney waiving frantically for him to come there. Sam ran to the footplate of the engine.

“Look there,” said Barney pointing across the park.

Sam turned to see Charlie’s patrol car turn into the north entrance of the park. Sam climbed to the top of the woodpile and called to the boys who were returning with another load of coal.

“Come on guys. The gig’s up!” he shouted.

The three dropped their loads and ran for the engine while Sharon and Becky climbed into the caboose.

“We haven’t cut the fence pipe yet,” called Milton.

Sam saw Charlie’s spotlight flash on and begin to scan across the park.

“It’s too late now,” Sam called.

As the three boys climbed into the cab Barney opened the valve to the steam generator. “Foop!” came a sound as a dozen old wasp nests blew out of the dynamo’s exhaust stack. There was a low-pitched whine and the cab lights began to glow a deep orange. As the oil circulated in the generators bearings the pitch grew higher and the lights grew brighter.

“She still works!” Barney exclaimed.

The headlight could be seen piercing the darkness as its lamp came to full intensity. From their vantage point the group could see Charlie’s searchlight scanning the north end of the park and moving closer to them by the moment.

“It’s now or never!” cried Sam.

There was a loud hiss as Barney opened the cylinder cocks, released the airbrake, and eased the throttle open. The engine groaned like an old man getting up after a long sleep. Jets of steam and water blew from the cylinder cocks. The rusty wheels began to grind against corroded rails as the engine began to inch backward. The rear coupler pushed into a shrub that had been planted between the rails and flattened it as the caboose backed over it. Sam had been able to cut the chain link fence and roll it aside but the top fence rail was still in place. Sharon and Becky were watching the shrub disappear under the car when Sharon noticed that they were heading straight for the fence rail. She screamed, grabbed Becky’s arm, and dove through the door into a pile of bicycles. The cabooses rear platform safety railing passed under the fence rail the moment before the cars rear wall crashed into the fence rail. The pipe broke loose with a snap and caused a hundred yards of fence to sway like sheets in the wind.

“I think Sam is trying to kill us,” said Sharon as she picked herself off a bicycle.
When the engine cleared the shed, Barney opened the throttle another notch. The caboose wheels popped and squealed as they slowly turned into the curve that led into the foundry switch.

“Sam,” called Barney. “Take the switch key and throw the switch and let me back onto the foundry siding.”

In an instant Sam was down the side of the locomotive and running past the caboose. He reached the switch and found that it was not locked. The siding was rarely used and Sam guessed that there was no need to keep a lock on a track that didn’t go anywhere. He grabbed the lever but it didn’t move. Sam gave it a mighty tug and the points began to move. He had to stand on the lever to force the points closed and then pulled a flashlight from his pocket and waved Barney back. Sam stepped back as the caboose entered the switch followed by the tender. Goose bumps rose on his arms as the engine rolled by. He could hear the rumble of water boiling water and he caught the scent of steam and hot oil. Suddenly his senses were alive to the fact that #468 was awake after 40 years. She was alive, moving, and breathing and eating wood as fast as they could throw it into her fiery belly.

Milton was standing on the tender passing wood to Mike when he saw Charlie’s patrol car pull up to the empty train shed. Though they were now almost a quarter mile down the siding, he could see Charlie getting out of his car with his spotlight in one hand and a radio in the other.

“Come in headquarters,” Charlie called into the microphone. “This is unit 9.”

“Go ahead unit 9,” crackled his radio.

“Leon, I’m at Northside Park and the train is missing. Weren’t they suppose to get that Monday morning?”

“A drain is missing?” asked the dispatcher.

“Not a drain, the train. You know, the big engine.”

“What engine?” asked headquarters.

“The big train that sits under the shed in the picnic area. It’s gone,” answered Charlie.

“Wouldn’t know about that,” returned Leon. “Never been to Northside Park.”

“Let’s start over again. There is a locomotive that has been on display in the park for years. It is now gone. I want to know why it’s missing. Did the city get it or did someone take it?”

“Now how can a big locomotive be missing, Charlie?”

“I don’t know. It was here when I made my rounds at 7:30 and now it’s gone,” said Charlie.

“Charlie, you didn’t stop by Ed’s package store again did you?” asked the dispatcher.

“No! I don’t drink on the job!” shouted Charlie as his spotlight hit the gaping hole in the fence. “Someone’s torn the fence down. They must have towed it out of the park.”

“All right Charlie, let’s check it out. Unit 7, unit 14, meet with unit 9 at Northside Park and check out a missing train.”

“10-4,” returned the other two cars.

Charlie walked to the empty train shed and stopped at one of the no trespassing signs he had left that afternoon. He drew his flashlight from his belt and walked to the fence. The train was nearing the mainline switch when Charlie spotted them with his light.

“Uh, oh, he’s seen us,” shouted Ralph as Sam dashed back into the cab.

Charlie ran down the tracks shouting for them to stop.

Sam jumped onto the footplate as Barney opened the throttle. Shoo-shoo-shoo, blasted steam and smoke from the stack.

“Sam, get ready to open the mainline switch. When we clear the switch, close and lock it,” Barney instructed.

Sam nodded his okay and jumped to the ground.
Charlie realized it was useless to pursue the engine on foot. He stopped and huffed and puffed for a moment before turning back toward his car.

“Too many doughnuts!” Milton shouted.

After clearing the mainline switch, Barney closed the throttle and threw the Johnson Bar into the forward position. Sam climbed back into the cab as Barney opened the throttle. Whoosh! Blasted a column of smoke from the stack. The drivers slipped uselessly on the rails. The sudden draft sucked hot embers from the firebox and blew a shower of sparks into the night sky. Before Barney could close the throttle the wheels caught so suddenly that everyone was thrown to the floor.

“Sorry ‘bout that fellows,” Barney apologized. “I guess I’m a bit rusty.”

Shoo, shoo, shoo, chugged the locomotive as it gathered speed. As the park disappeared in the distance, Sam saw Charlie’s blue lights flash on.

As Barney approached the first grade crossing he sounded the whistle. Long, long, short, long, blew the warning.

“Haven’t done that in years,” he said.

A hundred yards up the track the porch light of a house came on and several people stepped onto the porch. As they passed by, the people waved and someone dashed out the door and snapped a picture.

“Everybody smile,” shouted Mike.

“We’re not going to be smiling if Charlie catches up with us,” said Sam.

“There’s only one problem,” said Barney. “We can only go where the rails take us and it won’t take a rocket scientist to figure where these rails end up.”

He opened the throttle to pick up a bit more speed.

“Look! 160 pounds of pressure,” Barney shouted over the roar of the engine. “We’ve got a good draft now that we’re moving.”

“Yeah, but we’re sure going through this wood fast,” observed Mike. “I wonder if we have enough to make it to the quarry.”

“We may run short,” Barney returned. “A steam engine always reminds me of a fat man that can’t get enough to eat. It’s always hungry. Keep your eye out for old crossties. They burn real good.”

“Sam, was that your sister in the caboose?” Mike asked.

“Yeah. I’d better go check on her,” Sam answered

He made his way across the tender and reached for the caboose roof to swing down onto the front platform. Sam had done this a thousand times in the park but now the train was moving. The full moon illuminated the ties and tracks, which seemed to be racing beneath the cars. Sam knew that one false move could put him beneath the caboose’s steel wheels. He swallowed hard and made the jump onto the swaying car. He stood for a moment with shaking knees clutching the handrail.

“This is fun,” squealed Sharon as Sam walked through the front door. “Is this our train now?”

“I wish. We’re going to hide it from the mayor so he can’t scrap the engine. You see, he said he was going to give us time to raise the money to buy the train but he lied. We found out he was going to start scrapping it Monday morning and he was going to use the money to open a Swiss bank account. So you see, that’s why we had to steal it,” Sam explained.

“That’s the bravest thing I’ve ever heard,” Becky sighed.

“Oh well, it’s nothing,” Sam stammered. “Somebody had to do something. Oh well, I just wanted to see if you were okay. I’ve got to get back up to the engine.”

“Can we go too?” asked Sharon.

“You’d better not,” Sam cautioned. “It would be too dangerous for you to climb between the caboose and the tender with the train moving. We may have to stop for wood and if we do then you can come up to the engine.”

“Please be careful,” pleaded Becky.

Once again Sam felt a little squeamish as he climbed from the caboose back onto the tender. As he topped the woodpile Barney was motioning for him to come forward. As Sam made his way toward the cab he could see three police cars following them as the tracks paralleled the street.

“Stop the engine!” squawked Charlie’s voice from his loudspeaker.

Everyone waved from his position on the engine with Sharon and Becky waving wildly from the caboose.

“Do you think they’ll try to put up a roadblock at a grade crossing?” Sam asked.

“Charlie may be dumb but he’s not stupid,” Barney answered. “I think he knows that it would take at least a quarter of a mile to stop this train. This track curves so much through town that I don’t think there’s a grade crossing with a quarter mile stretch.”

“If we can make it past Johnson Road there’s a twenty mile stretch of woods were we can lose them. Then we’ll go past Eagle

Rock Mountain and I don’t know of any roads up there,” Sam observed.

Just then the rails turned from the road and into an industrial complex. Barney slowed to keep an eye on the maze of tracks that branched from the main line.

“We’ve lost them!” shouted Ralph.

“Not for long,” returned Sam. “This track comes out at Hawkins Street and you can bet they’ll be there.”
As the train rolled through the complex the sound of the engine echoed from the surrounding buildings. Huff-huff-huff, blasted the deafening exhaust as they passed between two warehouses. The rumbling wheels could be heard clacking over the rail joints accompanied by the groaning of the wooden caboose and the clacking of the couplers. The single headlight cast its ghostly pale light along the buildings and down the tracks and projected long dark moving shadows from objects along the way. As the engine came closer to Hawkins street, the crew saw a patrol car with its blue light flashing sitting across the tracks.

"I guess I gave Charlie credit for more brains than that," said Barney as he pulled the whistle handle to warn the vehicle. Within seconds it became apparent that the engine would not or could not stop. Realizing impending disaster, the officer threw his car into reverse and squealed his tires to get off the track. The officer was within half a second of clearing the track when the cowcatcher caught the edge of his front bumper. The force of the impact spun the patrol car halfway around in the street and sent the bumper crashing through the window of Pugmyer Feed and Seed Company.

"Say, isn't that the mayor's store?" asked Ralph.

"Yeah," answered Barney. "Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy."

Within a few minutes the engine was steaming past the city limits and into the county with a full escort of police. Once again tracks left the road and the flashing lights faded into the distance. Milton continued to pass wood to Mike who in turn passed it to Ralph. Each time Ralph opened the firebox door the bright yellow flame illuminated the cab and tender and bathed the caboose with its flickering light. When the light flashed on the caboose, Sam would look back to check on Sharon and Becky. Each time he would look back, he would be embarrassed as they waved and tried to shout to him over the roar of the engine.

"A little more feed water," shouted Barney.

Sam opened the injector valve to raise the boiler's water level. "How fast do you think we're going?" he asked.

"I'd say about 45 miles per hour," answered Barney.

"We ought to make Johnson Road in less than five minutes," observed Sam, "Then we'll be home free."

Just then the tracks came along side Rock Mountain Road and there were the three police cars only this time a fourth car had joined the chase.

"This is Mayor Pugmyre,” came the mayor’s voice from a bull horn. “I order you to stop the engine at once! You have stolen city property. If you stop the engine now I'll see that charges are not brought against you."

"Sam, take the throttle," shouted Barney as he jumped from his seat.

He pulled one of the no trespassing signs out from a stack of logs in the tender and rolled it into the shape of a megaphone.

"Harvey Pugmyre, you lying old windbag, you! I'll have your job!" shouted Barney through his impromptu megaphone.

"Barney Albright, is that you?" called the mayor over his bull horn. "What the devil are you doing with my train? Have you lost your mind? Stop the engine and let's talk."

Just then a van pulled behind the mayor's car and flashed a bright light at the engine.

"Look! It's Channel 8 news," called Milton.

"If you can catch me then we'll talk," Barney called.

"Wow! We're going to be on the news!" shouted Mike.

"This is going from bad to worse," grumbled Sam as he let Barney back into the engineers seat. "This whole thing was supposed to be a secret. First Sharon knows, then she tells Becky. Then it takes forever to raise steam and Charlie sees us leaving so he knows. Then he tells the police department and they tell the mayor. Now channel 8 knows and they'll tell the world. If I'd known this many people would show up I'd

have sold tickets. I wish we'd of had more time to plan."

Just then Barney sounded the whistle.

"Johnson Road ahead," he shouted.

Everyone looked to see another bright photo light shining down the tracks.

"Do you think they'll try to block the tracks again?" asked Ralph.

"I wouldn't think so," answered Sam. "The score stands at cowcatchers-1, bumpers-O. Anyway, I don't see any blue lights."

"You're not looking hard," said Ralph.

As the train raced toward Johnson Road the crew could see police cars racing toward the crossing from both directions. The mayor's convoy was also making for the intersection at top speed. Barney let out a long blast of the whistle but still the cars raced toward the junction from three directions.

"Looks like they're going to make one last try at stopping us," said Barney as he opened the throttle two more notches.

The engine chugged harder and blasted a shower of sparks from the stack as it picked up more speed. On came the police cars as Barney blasted long, long, short, long. Engine and cars were rapidly closing the gap that lay between them and the grade crossing.

"They'd better stop!" shouted Mike as they came to within a hundred yards of the grade crossing.

At fifty yards and closing fast the lead patrol car hit his breaks. Tires squealed as police cars slid sideways down both sides of the highway. Barney blasted the whistle as the engine roared through the intersection.

"Hooray!" came shouts from all over the train.

"We've made it!" shouted Mike.

"Don't get too excited," said Sam. "There's only two places this line will lead; the rock quarry and Hillsboro."The rock quarry hasn't been used in years. Maybe they will have forgotten about it and be waiting on us in Hillsboro," suggested Ralph.

"Let's hope so," said Sam.

"Hey guys, we're low on wood," called Milton.

"Keep your eyes open for old crossties," Shouted Sam.

"You're in the best position to spot them."

"Sam," called Barney. "Take your flashlight and check the water level in the tender tank."

Sam quickly scurried to the back of the tender, opened the hatch, and peered into the tank with his light.

"Half full," he called.

"What?" questioned Barney.

"I said it's half full," Sam shouted.

"Sam, what are you doing?" called Sharon from the caboose platform.

"I'm checking the water level," he answered.

"Why do you need water?" asked his sister.

"It's a long story," Sam answered.

"When can we come up to the engine?" asked Sharon.

"We've got to find some wood," answered Sam. "The best thing you can do is to keep a lookout from the top windows. When we stop to gather wood then you can come to the engine."

Sam replaced the tank cover and climbed back into the cab.

"I think we've got enough water but I'm gettin' real worried about the wood," said Barney. "We've got to find some more wood and be at the quarry switch within the next 45 minutes or we'll have a cornfield meet with that freight from Hillsboro. "

"What's a cornfield meet?" asked Ralph.

“That's what they used to call a head on collision between two trains in the old days," said Sam.

"We're already 30 minutes behind schedule," observed Barney. "We really can't afford to stop for wood. We'll just have to grab a few sticks and run."

"Well, at least we don't have the police trying to stop us," said Mike.
Just then the cab lit up as bright as noonday.

"This is the state patrol," blasted a voice from a helicopter. "Stop the train now! This is an order!"

"Mike, you and your big mouth!" snapped Ralph. "What do we do now?"

"We stop," said Sam after a moment of thought. "We can't out run a helicopter."

"You mean it's over?" asked Milton.

"Not by a long shot," answered Sam. "They can't land a helicopter in the middle of the woods. This could be the break we need. They'll have to fly back to Johnson Road before they can land and by the time they send the police down the tracks this far, we'll be at the quarry. Stop the train, Barney."
Barney eased the throttle closed and applied the air brakes. With rusty brake shoes squealing against the wheels, the train slowly came to a stop.

"Remain where you are. Do not attempt to escape," called the copter's loudspeaker before it flew off into the distance.

"Now we can go," said Sam as the helicopter disappeared from sight.

"Look down there!" shouted Sharon as she and Becky climbed onto the tender. "There's a whole bunch of wood."

A few yards up the tracks a siding branched off the mainline and the headlight illuminated a string of flatcars loaded with old crossties. Barney eased the throttle open and moved the engine forward until the tender came along side one of the cars.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ralph as he jumped onto the flatcar.

"What are the chances of finding a carload of ties and all for us?"

"Boy, if that helicopter hadn't stopped us we'd have ran right on past this," said Mike.

Barney looked at his watch as the boys began to pass the ties over to the tender.

"You boys better hurry. We gotta make every minute count from this minute on," he said.

Sam and Ralph passed the ties to Mike and Milton who stacked them on the tender. Sharon picked up an axe and began to chop one of the ties.

"Stop that Sharon," Sam called. "You'll chop your foot off."

Becky took the axe from Sharon and began to swing at the tie. As she chopped chips flew in all directions.

"Wow, you really know what you're doing," said Milton.

"Yeah. My dad broke his arm last fall and I had to chop firewood all winter," said Becky.

"Well, it's good exercise," said Ralph.

"Yeah, it put you in great shape," said Sam. "I mean it puts people in great shape."

Sam hoped the darkness would hide his face which he could feel turning beet red.

"Come on!" shouted Barney after about a dozen ties had been loaded. "We've gotta go, NOW!"

Sam and Ralph jumped back on board as Barney opened the throttle. The engine hissed and chugged and in a moment was back up to speed.

"Come on everybody, let's get a wood line going," shouted Sam. “We've got to get up every ounce of steam we can."
Sam, Ralph, Mike, and Sharon formed the line while Milton and Becky chopped wood.

On raced the engine through the night. The full moon bathed the woods with its silvery light giving the trees a ghostly appearance. Soon the train left the woods and Rock Mountain appeared to the left of the tracks. Barney blew the whistle, and listened to it echo from the mountain. To the right of the tracks ran Eagle Creek. Barney pointed to the ruins of a bridge that had once crossed the stream.

"Used to be a branch line that ran off in that direction. It used to service a pulpwood operation over at Tar Creek. One night an engine went off the bridge and crashed into the creek. The boiler exploded and several men were killed. It seems that after the wreck folks began to tell about some strange goings on in this area. Some said that they could hear a train coming down the track at times when there was no trains runnin'. A lot of folks said that on rainy nights you could see someone standin' on the bridge with a lantern. Those who were brave enough to approach the person said that he just disappeared into the night. One old fellow swore that one night he saw a hand come right up out of the water and grab hold of a truss rod on the bridge. Anyhow, nobody wanted to work at the pulp mill anymore so the workers found other jobs. The mill tried to hire other workers but nobody would come to work for them so they finally had to close the plant. Yes sir, folks sure used to be afraid of this neck of the woods." By this time everyone had stopped passing wood and all eyes were on Barney.

"Did that really happen," asked Sharon whose eyes were as big as saucers.

"Sure did," answered Barney. "But you've got to remember, folks were a lot more superstitious in those days. They finally tore up the tracks after a fellow named Arless Dhylremple disappeared They say he went huntin' one day and he never came back. They sent out a search party to find him but all they ever found was his cap sittin' in the middle of that bridge."

"BOO!" shouted Mike as he jumped from the tender into the cab.

Sharon screened and Sam and Ralph almost fell to their knees.

"Are you trying to give us a heart attack?" demanded Sam.

Mike was holding his sides laughing.

"You should have seen the looks on your faces," he howled.

Sharon hit him several times and Sam kicked him in the rear.

"Do that again and I'll throw you overboard," Ralph promised.

Mike climbed back onto the tender still laughing from his cruel joke.

"All right Milton," Sam called, "Digby road is just ahead. It's your time to shine. Make us proud."

Without a word Milton left his axe and jumped onto the caboose. Barney eased the throttle closed slowing the engine until they reached the crossing. Milton climbed down from the caboose with his bike and rolled it to the engine.

"Here's the switch key," said Sam handing him the key along with a walkie talkie. "Unlock the switch and when you see us coming, throw the lever and let us into the quarry then close and lock it back. After we've cleared the switch, we'll stop and pick you up, ok?"

Milton nodded his ok and was off in a flash. Barney opened the throttle and once again the engine came alive, hissing and puffing like a fire breathing dragon clawing at the rails.

"We've got to take it easy on this down hill grade,"

Barney cautioned. "The brakes have been workin' good up to this point but I wouldn't want to chance them on a five mile down hill grade."

Milton picked up good speed peddling down Digby Road. He was glad the moon was full and the road was fairly well lit. His little headlight generator whined as he peddled effortlessly down the gently winding road and in less than ten minutes he was at the intersection of Digby and Quarry roads. At the intersection he turned right and peddled about a hundred yards to the track. The quarry switch was to the left and about two hundred yards down the track. Milton dismounted his bike and hurriedly pushed it toward the switch. He tried to roll it along the top of the rail but it kept falling off so he rolled it along the ties and gravel. In a moment he reached the switch. Milton laid his bike in the grass just beyond the gravel then walked back to the switch and unlocked it. He then grabbed the switch lever and heaved with all his might. It had been a long time since the points had been moved and the mechanism groaned and popped as the points came into place opening the track into the quarry. Milton then sat down on the switch stand and took out his walkie talkie.

"Come in Sam," he called into the radio.

He listened for a reply but all was quiet.

"Come in Sam. Can you hear me?" he called again.

Still there was no reply.

"Come in Milton," called Sam over his walkie talkie then pressing the radio to his ear so that he could hear over the roar of the engine.

"We're still out of range," he called to Barney after there was no reply.

"It's 2:10," returned Barney. "We've got seven minutes to make that switch. I sure hope that freight's runnin' late."

In a moment Milton looked at his watch: 2:12.

"They've got five minutes," he thought.

Milton put his ear to the rail but heard nothing. He felt kind of silly but he had seen it done in a cowboy movie and thought it was worth a try. After two more minutes he tried his radio again.

"Come in Sam."

"I can hear you Milt," the speaker crackled suddenly. "Go ahead. "

"Where are you guys? You've got three minutes."

"We're almost out of the curve," returned Sam. "Are you ready for us?"

Just then Milton almost jumped out of his skin as he heard the blast of a diesel horn in the distance.

"That freight's coming!" he screamed into his radio.

"Can you see it?" asked Sam.

"No, but I can hear it!" Milton shouted.

Just then he saw a watery light shimmering down the tracks from the direction of the freight, it was still a good distance away but it's headlight reflected off the tops of the rails for a half mile ahead of it.

"Sam, I can see its headlight!" Milton shouted into his radio.

"We're about a half mile from the quarry road. How far is the freight?"

"I'd say about three quarters of a mile," returned Milton.

"You guys had better hurry. You'd better throw everything that'll burn into the firebox. Throw in Mike if you have to."

Just then Milton heard the steam whistle.

"Hey, I can hear you guys!" He shouted.

Instantly, 468's headlight appeared in the opposite direction. The diesel engineer began to frantically blast a series of short blast with his horn as both engines drew closer.

"Oh, this is great!" radioed Milton. "Two trains racing toward each other and I'm in the middle!"

Barny returned with several short blast of his steam whistle. The diesel in turn laid on its horn with a long continuous blast. Milton watched as 468 crossed over Quarry Road and was now within two hundred yards of the switch. The diesel continued to blast its horn while Barney held onto the whistle lever.

"Everybody get ready to jump!" he called.

"What about you?" asked Sam.

"I'm gonna go out like Casey Jones," Said Barney. "I'll either make that switch or go on to Glory."

By now the sound of the two engines was deafening to Milton as he knelt at the switch lever, his knuckles white as he grasped the handle. 468 was now so close that Milton could see the light from the fire box reflecting between the rails. He turned as he heard the diesel cut his engine and there came a loud hiss as the engineer applied his brakes at full emergency. In an instant 468 raced past Milton at top speed. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Milton watched the drivers roll past with driving rods pounding up and down. As the tender wheels rolled by Milton was splashed with water from the feed hose that had sprung a leak. The blast of the diesel horn was deafening as the caboose wheels rolled by. The ground shook as the diesel's wheels screamed against the rails. Just as the last caboose wheel cleared the points, Milton swung the switch lever with all his might and threw himself to the ground. The instant his face hit the gravel, the diesel engine roared past him. Fearing that the caboose was not far enough from the switch as the diesel squealed past, Milton braced himself for the collision he knew was inevitable. He listened for the sounds of the crash. Only seconds had passed but to Milton it seemed like an eternity. The diesel ground to a halt and only then did Milton realize there had been no collision. He looked up in time to see 468 disappear around the curve.

Now Read Chapter 9 of "The Great Locomotive Caper"

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