First thing the engineer did was grab my arm with his gloved hand, give it a good squeeze. “You sure you up for this, son? That stretch into Shakopee Lakes has a 13% grade, and likely to be drifted up.”
“Don’t you worry.”
“Just remember, I see that gauge drop I won’t be so nice.”
“Don’t worry,” I said again.
That night I worked my shovel fast as I could, jabbed the fire with the clinker rod to break up the dead spots. That guage stayed steady all the way.
“Not bad,” he said, and bought me a cup of coffee.
When I was eight years old, a man named George Williams came to our school with a book he’d written about his father Buddy, Life on a Locomotive. Buddy worked on trains his whole life, first as a fireman shoveling coal into the insatiable mouth of the boiler, then as an engineer on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. This visit from the author sparked in me a desire to write, as well as a deep and abiding love for steam trains. I still have his book on my shelf.
Dear Josh,
I could feel the energy of this story and hear the clack on the track. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Took me back to when I was young and often shovelled coal on the footplate of a steam engine! I’ve just made myself sound very old! Nice one
Click to read my FriFic tale!
I sense the narrator was worried and blustering. And relieved at the end. The coffee’s a nice touch
The engineer didn’t need to worry after-all. Nice story!
Wonderful, fills me with that boy-ish sentimentality for steam trains.
And a kind word, with a cup of coffee, was all the praise he needed. Things sure are different these days. Great story.
A story grown around a nice cup of coffee and the scent of oil, a wondrous treat…
That backstory at the end made the story so much more real and alive.
This is a story after my husband’s heart. He actually paid good money recently to do precisely this… You captured that beautifully.
This interchange makes me think of the last conversation you have with a teen, before sending them out to drive on their own. You give them a dozen warnings, but when they come back in one piece, it’s cause for celebration!
Ended grand for the engineer in the end. Nicely told.
So nicely rendered–I could see the whole thing!
I L O V E the backstory on this.. Thank you for this..
Interesting story. reminded me of a couple of engineers I met once.Thnaks for the memories.
Those were the days – when my parents took me to say thank you to the engine driver :)
There’s a soft spot in my heart for trains: the whistle, the clickity-clack on the rails.
I like that he got a coffee. He deserved it because he worked hard.