2/12/08

I woke up like any morning to the sound of my alarms clock’s loud beeping filling the bedroom of my single-wide trailer about two miles from the edge of Blaksville Mississippi, my dogs were barking like usual my German Shepard Fenrir was the loudest of them all he was all black and 9 years old. My other German Shepard was Dogmeat he was a brown dog as you can guess he’s based off of the dog from Fallout but that’s besides the point, I also had a corgi named Woofer (don’t ask) he was a light brown like most and he spent a lot of time inside with my cat Cucumber she was barely a year old and quite overweight, she was grey and mainly climbed around the house or sat in the windowsill she was very nice and sweet one of the reasons I loved her. I got out of bed my feet touching the shag carpet of my
bedroom which was very cluttered I having moved in barely a month ago after having left a halfway house getting over my alcoholism it was hard but I pulled through, I walked over to the dresser grabbing a pair of folded Levi’s and a blue shirt New York Yankees written on the front. I took off my striped sleeping pants and slipped on the jeans and put the shirt on over my white undershirt. I grabbed my black LG flip phone off the nightstand as well as my wallet, my camo flip lighter I grabbed my revolver and holster and walked over to the closet grabbing a belt off the hook of the door. I hooked the belt around my waist and hooked the holster onto my belt the revolver was a Colt .45 Cowboy revolver with a hickory grip and black metal. I walked into the cluttered kitchen and started making coffee it was quite early at only 6:00 AM in about 15 minutes the early morning empty train from Greenville would pass, the train was usually lead by a single D&B SD70ace and made up of 50 empty coal hoppers and a single breakbox but before it would pass the early morning commuter usually a single SD40-P, 5 standard coaches, and a single Titan 6 cab car would pass at around 60 MPH. My backyard had a fairly good view of the tracks barely overgrown and only separated by a chain link fence.

I finished pouring my coffee and i put on my brown Carhartt jacket and brown work boots and walked out into the backyard to watch the passing freight. Today’s freight was fairly different instead of a single D&B SD70ace it was lead by a D&B SD70ace and a AMRX SD60 standard connected back-to-back followed by the 50 empties, I found the reason for the second unit when instead of a single breakbox 15 loaded autoracks rolled by behind the hoppers followed by a single M&D SD40-3. I walked back inside and grabbed my hardhat and reflective vest and walked to the front yard and out to my red 1989 Ford F250. Climbing in I started it heading to Canterlot where Black County Yard was located it was a massive 13 mile by 13 mile rail yard with 2 engine shops and several large sheds with over a hundred trains passing through each day you could hear the yard for miles hell I could just make it out over the sounds of the other nearby yard Wilkinson Yard. It was a twenty minute drive down Highway 23 south passing along the Union Pacific mainline.

I reached Canterlot at 6:35 AM stopping at a traffic light appearing out of place with the new clean cars waiting as well it made my truck look like a pile of crap however I was not embarrassed by this I wasn’t one of the types of people to throw out old things half of the stuff I owned was ten years or older the truck itself was almost twenty I myself Arron Tyler Thattchir was 35 years old tall, fit, bald, and bearded I had seen a lot of shit in my time my dad Allen Thattchir had died back in 05 my mom just had her three kids Me, my younger brother Blake, and my baby sister Lexi, I call her a baby cause she was the youngest at this time she would be 27. The light turned green and my truck rumbled across the intersection nearing the crossing that was next Canterlot High School and the roadway that lead to Black County Yard. As I approached the gates went down blocking my path a freight train lead by 4 GC&N GP20’s pulling a train of grain hoppers past at 30 MPH.

The train cleared after five minutes allowing me to cross, on the west side of the school was an intersection leading down a rough street I never got the name but it was there. I barely got my self across the crossing before a grey 2003 Camry cut in front of me from the intersection.

“What the fuck dude?” I said angrily.

I continued to the turn off on the gravel road leading to BCY that went into the woods and crossed the tracks with a simple cross buck and nothing else leading into the yard. My job was secondary head engineer meaning I was a co-owner of the M&D Railroad I mainly drove freight trains but occasionally i drove passenger trains. I parked my truck in front of the main office and walked in finding my brother primary head engineer Blake Thattchir he was shorter than me by two inches and had black hair with short hair and a long beard fairly thin.

“So what train we takin today?” I said shaking his hand

“Well we’re taking 6903 that old s2” said Blake in the voice of a man in his 20’s

We both walked outside to where it was sitting about three tracks away from the building, it was black and had MD written on the side in white with a line through it, below the name was 6903 also in white the engine sat silent making no noise. We started the engine it growled almost as if it were angry like almost all old Alco’s did this one having been built in 1945. I sat down in the operators seat and my brother just opposite of me in the conductors seat, I put the locomotive in reverse and backed towards a point that had been switched picking up the radio handset and talking to dispatch asking if we were clear to proceed. Once I passed the point Blake climbed off of the locomotive and switched the point towards the southbound main. Blake climbed into the cab and we started off

“So what do we gotta pick up?” I said to Blake still keeping my eyes on the tracks

“We’re going to that siding near Claston to pick up three covered hoppers and take them to Thompson and Sons Feed Mill, after that we’re gonna pick some freight cars from that siding near mile post 459 then we’ll be getting most of the day off cause we’re taking a train to the coast at 7:30 PM tonight.” Said Blake looking at a clipboard.

We reached the siding and coupled the hoppers to front backing out of the siding i had my seat turned around operating the engine in reverse heading towards the branch that lead T&S Feed Mill.

“So what’s life been like since you got outta halfway?” said Blake attempting to make conversation

I hesitated before answering keeping my eyes on the tracks “it’s been......alright i’m still getting used to not having to go to those meetings everyday the house is pretty fucking cluttered and the fridge ain’t hooked properly, so i’m currently living off chips Gatorade and McDonald’s that’s kinda it but my motorcycle’s coming along nicely.”

It was now several hours later and I was sitting in a coffee shop in Canterlot near Commuter Station 6 it had some old style poster of express trains on them while most were new and from recent additions to the express services such as the Red Line steam express train all of them done in an older style as I sipped from my coffee as i had to stay awake for the long run ahead of me having only been up an hour the sun was already down like most winters a young woman walked in I can’t exactly describe her as she would be out of place anywhere else in Mississippi hell in the world she would be out of place, as she sat down she let out a long drawn out sigh not in annoyance but more out of sadness she was leaning her head into her hand and tapping her finger onto the table almost as if she were waiting for something like a man to burst through the door and shoot her. I kept watch over her from the corner of my eye sipping from my black coffee as I did I felt I should do something as if it could make a difference I felt like maybe I should try and make up for all the pain I caused others as an alcoholic so I got up and walked over to her saying “alright you seem troubled what’s wrong?”

Author's Note

the logo of the M&D consists of the following A rectangle with two others connected to it and M&D written inside the paint being green and the writing in the logo black and the logo itself white, a circle with silhouette of a dog with its head held high, the final is white lettering reading MD with a white line across it and the number below it only around 30 diesels have this it’s mostly on steam engines