POV David
June 28th 913 (2016)
A wide grin split my face as I pulled the cord dangling from the ceiling above me. A piercing shriek broke the air, the whistle spewing noise for all to hear. I glanced over at the engineer, fireman, and conductor with a mad grin.
"Let's get this thing on the way shall we?" I asked. The three chuckled, the fireman grabbing her shovel and hurling coal into the boiler. The conductor leaned out of the side of the cramped cab, making a hand signal. He turned back to me and nodded.
I set the reverser and opened the throttle. A large chuff of smoke poured from the stack ahead of me and I felt the entire train stretch as the knuckles pulled against one another.
The engineer, leaning out of the far side of the cab, looked back at me. "Clear ahead sir."
I nodded and leaned out of my side of the cab, a slight breeze ruffling my hair as I glanced behind the train. Half a dozen cars loaded with iron ore, shoveled over the past few hours with mad abandon. A large crowd had gathered, laborers that had laid the track, dockhands, soldiers on weekend leave, merchants, and farmers watched as the train slowly eased forward.
I slowly continued to open the throttle and the locomotive pulled against the loaded cars. I looked ahead past the side of the boiler at the track slowly disappearing out of sight to the left, from there it was a slow trek through the downtown of Aucterfilth before arriving at the Ironworks.
I eyed the speedometer, the thing was sort of guesstimate, the whole track was a mile long end to end, so until we had a stretch where we could properly test the fact it was hovering at seven miles an hour it would merely be an educated guess. I closed the throttle, hooking up the bar as the locomotive rounded the curve and the widened street of Aucterfilth came into view.
Soldiers stood a few feet from the tracks keeping spectators at bay as the engine rumbled past, the occasional blast of its whistle echoing in the streets as the engine worked up the slight grade. I waved to some enterprising bakers that had set up awnings outside their shops, offering shade and food for the little spectacle.
Some kids ran alongside the engine, trying to keep up as the engine continued to speed up to a spritely fifteen miles an hour where I attempted to hold it. The rumble of the cars, the clack of the tracks, the hiss of steam and the shriek of the whistle. This was a whole new spectacle to the people, it showed them what the people had been working so hard for. The train crew, between taking turns shoveling waved to the crowd, wide smiles on their faces as we rumbled through the street.
The ironworks came into sight quickly, its tall smoke stacks spewing dark smoke into the sky. Hundreds of workers were lined up near the ore drop, a slightly raised trestle that allowed the ore to be dumped into a pile below the train so it could be loaded onto conveyors and wheelbarrows. The workers were ready to leap into action as soon as the unloading began. I slowly eased the locomotive to a stop, taking care to stop next to the markers. I quickly gave the whistle a few blasts and stood from the seat, shaking the hands of the crew before I climbed down from the engine.
I climbed down from the small embankment the engine was sitting on as workers moved along the train, unlocking latches and dumping the cars. Ore thundered down, creating a dusty pile below the engine. The workers sprung forward, beginning to load the ore in wheelbarrows to take inside for smelting.
Much of the crowd had followed the engine, and were being guided into the ironworks towards the small stage erected near the locomotive's tender. I climbed up onto the stage, muttering the incantation to thaumaturgy to project my voice.
"Thank you, everyone for turning up. Know that everyone here has worked hard to achieve this feat of technological engineering. We did something casually in a few hours that before would have taken us days! Look at how much time and effort was saved."
I gestured at all the activity ongoing behind me. "We are creating a new dawn for Monrovia here, with our own hands. Our blood and sweat has made this possible and no one will take this from us. We will show everyone what the future is! Together we will show them what we were always capable of."
The Locomotive's whistle blew and it slowly started moving backwards, off the trestle and back onto flat ground again. Once there it came to a stop and the crew began climbing down, talking with the nearby crowd, showing them the locomotive and ore cars, showing the small kids the cab of the engine with the engineer.
"Here at Lobau Ironworks we are making the future of Monrovia and Monrovian Railroad is making sure that happens. We're expanding, I see rails connecting every town and village to the cities, a new age of prosperity for the people of Monrovia. Join us and be part of something greater, become something great!"
I smiled and lowered my arms. "But let work be tomorrow's concern, eat, drink, celebrate. Let today honor the hard work we've done so far to get us to where we are now."