Just A Tiny Tumble.......
BY:Matteo Darsono
“Hey! Wait! I’m not finished coupling the freight trains! Mike, stop!!” Frank yelled. Quickly and deliberately, Mike took his hand off of the accelerator and glanced behind at Frank. The coupling of the pin was not locked. Mike saw Frank switch the lock and within seconds the pin fell in the hole and locked the coupling. Mike and Franklin lived in a suburban house together and worked at the train station as train drivers and freight workers. As brothers, they are both muscular, with hands that could effortlessly crush a cabbage, and they are both equally tenacious. One of them unfortunately smells like cauliflower. Hold on, what on earth am I writing? It was 28/11/12 and Frank and Mike were handling the 866 locomotive going to Hamburg from Frankfurt. “Look Frank,” Mike quacked, “I might like to horse off sometimes but, right now, this train won't drive itself!” “Fine!” Frank said, “just get moving!”. Frank hopped off the train and just then he saw Mike hit the accelerator and the 866 locomotive train lurched forward. “Frank,” screeched Mike. “Do we have our 15 freight cars?”
Frank
Mike
“5 luxury furniture, 5 oil tanks and 5 log trains right?” Frank asked. “Yup” Mike replied. As soon as the train stumbled to a halt, Frank ran after the train, pushed the green button on the platform to remove the freight train brakes and Frank headed over to radio control room. **************** “Mike, did you remember to change the tracks?” Frank crackled loudly on the radio. “I thought you did!” Mike replied on radio. “Just slow down the train and hop off to change the tracks and hop back on”. Frank said. Mike hopped off the train and ran over to the lever but he suddenly tumbled over a branch. Mike stood up and sprinted to the train and hit the brakes as hard as he could. At least he thought it was the brakes. The train lurched forward and gradually gained speed. Mike’s feet pounded hard on the gravel to get back to the lever but once he reached it, it was too late. The train had clacked quickly past him. What a disaster.
“Mike, what happened? Talk to me...” Frank called over the radio. “Umm, Frank... do you have access to 866 locomotive radio speed control?” “No, why?” “Get on the Red 492 locomotive Right NOW!!!” Frank ran as fast as he could to the red locomotives sector and saw Mike already pushing the accelerator. He looked behind and said, “Hop on the wood freight!” Frank looked at my left and saw the freight. He dashed over to it, hopped on, ran across the railing and jumped the coupling and got on the train floors. Mike came over, broke the pin and the coupling fell onto the rails. They sped down the track as the 866 train followed. **************** “So the 866 train is on full speed down this line to Berlin... a track that has an unfinished bridge over a waterfall?!?” Frank yelled. “I’m sorry, okay?” Mike said. “How far are we to the 866?” Frank asked. “I dunno.” “How far is the 866 to the bridge?” questioned Frank. “I would say about 144 miles.” “How many miles an hours is the 866 going?” “About 70 mph” replied Mike. “So when we make it to the train we have to stop it within four miles?!?” “No, we will make it to the train by 1 and a half hours.” “So we will have 40 miles to stop it.” Frank replied. “Right!” Mike said.
************** After 1 hour of train chasing with their fast train behind, Frank tried to push the accelerator harder but once he tried to push the lever forward, it did not move. Frank pushed harder but the train just picked up more and more speed without the accelerator being pushed. Suddenly Frank realized, The acceleration bar under the train must have snapped! “Mike, Mike- where are you!?!” Frank Shouted. “Here!” Mike yelled as he was about to go under the train and fix the bar. “Are you sure about this?” Frank asked. “No, but we have no choice” Mike replied. “Be careful” “I will” ************* After Mike fixed the bar they were so lucky to make it to the 866. We got the front coupling out and quickly hooked the train and started to brake. Our train wheels flew up on turns and bends and grinded the rails with a deafening screech and clouds of sparks as we went straight. The rails were hardly dense enough to hold the wheels. Our trains brakes were not strong enough to stop both trains and all 15 carriages. “Mike! We can’t hold the train this long, only 15 miles and we only slowed down to 56 mph!” Frank yelled. “What about the braking on the freight trains?” Mike asked.
************** Frank was super nervous to jump the coupling because it was 1 and a half meters long and his legs were greasy and feet were slippery. But Frank had remembered something. The brakes on the freight trains were twice as strong as the 866’s handbrake! Frank jumped the coupling and put up the brakes. More sparks jumped up like fireflies. Frank climbed the ladder and ran across the roof of the freight to the next carriage and hit the freight brakes. He dashed from freight car to freight car, pulling the brakes on each one as he went. ***************** “Hey Frank, we only have 3 miles left!!!” Mike said over my radio. “I know, only five more cars to go buddy!!” Frank replied. Frank climbed the ladder but once he got up the ladder fell down and hurtled on to the ground next to the rails. Frank jumped to the top of the freight car and ran, but as he moved across the roof, the train collided with a low hanging sign, sending debris and twisted metal showering down all around Frank and nearly destroying the freight car he was standing on. The whole freight train started to disintegrate down to it’s bare train floors and he was nearly crushed by the wooden beams of the train. Frank stood up gingerly and pushed the wood in front of him away as he tried to sprint to the next freight to push the brakes. Suddenly, he felt a HUGE jolt in his body pulling Frank to the ground. Mike came over radio saying: “We are at at 10 mph! We need to be at 7 mph before the brakes overheat!” Frank ran to the last train and hit the brakes and the train slowed to 7 mph. Or so he thought.
“OOOHHH NO!”Mike said over radio “What’s wrong?” Frank asked “We can’t take the train on hard brakes or we will bust the-stsatstatst” Mikes garbled voice yelled over the radio. His message was nearly completely blanked out be some serious static that had now taken over their radio. What a time for static, Frank thought. “Werere bEinsg daggged” “WHaat?/” Frank Asked on radio. “Raadios Sidnals Beingd jamaMed!!!” Mike yelled. “W e Ae r PiCkaing uip speeD AGGain!” “Wh@T?” Frank asked. He could only guess what Mike was trying to tell him. Or warn him of... “PIKCAiang AUp SppedD!” Frank was about to run to the 866 cabin but the coupling was too long to jump so Frank radioed Mike asking: “How many mph Mike? Mike? Are you There?” “HANGONFRANK!!!!!!!” Mike shrieked over radio. This message came through loud and clear! Frank Grabbed the closest ladder in sight but it was too late. He saw the 866 fly over the bridge and Frank flung his arms to the safety bars at the front of the train. He hauled himself up onto the railings and climbed up in to the cabin and shut down the accelerator and started up the reverse bar. Slowly and creakily the 866 locomotives emergency reverse wheels backed up on to the tracks and Mike helped keep the train steady back on the tracks while reversing.
****************** On the way home Frank picked up the ladder, fixed the broken wooden freight parts until they had a basic cabin to ride in and he and Mike took the 866 and 15 Freight trains to Hamburg. Frank was taking the 469 train back to the station and as he was parking it, Mike came over the radio asking: “Do you have the permission now???” “You did have the time to ask for permission.” Mike asked on radio. “No, I thought you were doing it!?!?!............” Frank replied. “Get on the 9778 yellow locomotive right now!” As I ran to the yellow locomotives sector Frank thought to himself: “Here we go again!” Just because of a tiny tumble.....