TCB: Rails and Dreams

A Shopping List for a Wintry Day
Berry Pony

The pounding only seemed to make my headache worse. The pain started above my eyes and continued until it reached the tip of my horn. I yanked open the door and screamed, "Will you guys knock it off? That hammering is driving me batty!"

The two carpenter ponies stared at me. "Sorry, ma'm. We're jus' drivin' in nails to get this wall up," one said.

We were in a three story building off of the town hall square. Filthy Rich had bought the building and was now converting the space inside to offices for Equestrian Railway. Carpenters and painters had been running all over the place in the week since Filthy Rich took over control of the railroad.

Windstorm and a picked crew had been out surveying the planned route in the trees and snow. I guess he called in some favors from his weather team because the weather, while cold, had remained clear. Filthy Rich and Colophon had gone to Canterlot to try and raise more money. That left me with the nitty-gritty details of actually building the railroad.

"Ma'm?"

"Oh. Sorry. I'm very sorry for yelling at you. Could you... find something quieter to do while we finish our meeting? I think we'll be done in an hour."

"We'll go get the rest of the lumber, okay?" The two carpenter ponies wandered off.

I closed the door and turned back to the real reasons for my headache. Standing across the improvised meeting table were Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were whispering to each other and giggling. Watching them with amusement was a newcomer, an earth pony recently come from Earth. He was a light gray pony with a dark brown mane. Steel Star had been a model railroader as a human as well as a contractor. Filthy Rich had met him in Canterlot and hired him on the spot. I did not know much about him. Cannonball had joined us soon after the meeting at Colophon's bookstore. I was glad to have him with us - his experience with Equestria railroading would be very helpful. Finally, there was a young unicorn busy taking notes and writing things for later. She was a white mare with a light green and blue mane and a cutie mark of a sun appearing through clouds. Her name was Sunbeam and she was another one of Filthy Rich's recruits. Around the office, she was known as 'Sunny'.

"Are you okay," asked Sunny. "Should I go get you some tea?"

"I'll be... fine," I replied. I looked at Diamond Tiara.

She peered back at me with truculent look on her face.

"Diamond, why are we about to run out of survey stakes? Windstorm picked up the last of them yesterday."

"Gee, its getting on to winter. I'd thought that the ground would be too hard to poke with sticks," she sneered. "So I haven't ordered any more."

Silver Spoon tittered.

I sighed. "Put in another order today. Have them flown out to the survey team when they arrive."

While Diamond Tiara mouthed her pencil and made a note, I turned to Steel Star. "How are we doing on rails?"

Steel Star rose and put his hooves on the table. "I had to travel down to their rolling mills to try and get some answers. With some badgering, I was able to get them to say, yes, they can produce rail that heavy. They'll have to set up a new production line and they can only produce rail in roughly 36 feet lengths (about 10 m) but they can do it." He pulled forth a roll of papers and tossed in front of me. "Here's the quotes. Our heavier rail's a bit more expensive than their standard rails but we've already discussed why their in-stock rails are too flimsy for our use."

"Very good, Steel Star. That's one less thing we'll have to import from Earth. We'll worry about welding the rail into longer lengths once we start receiving it."

"I don't understand?" Cannonball asked. "Why can't we just use plates and bolt the sections of rail together?"

"While the sound of wheels hitting rail joints makes a very nice clicky-clack noise," I replied. "The wheels cause wear on the ends of the rails. Longer welded rails don't have that problem. Sunny?"

"Yes, Cherry?"

"Can you inquire and find out if unicorns can be used to join the ends of railroad rails together? If we can do the welding with magic, we won't need thermitic welding apparatus."

Sunny nodded.

"Turning to ties now," I continued. "We still haven't found somepony that can make stressed concrete ties?"

Diamond Tiara poked Silver Spoon who quickly sat up. "No," Silver Spoon replied. She grabbed a flimsy with her mouth and tossed it onto the table. "This pony promises to deliver those cement ties when - and I quote - he can float them upriver in his cement boat. I do have a lot of offers to supply us with wooden ties."

I sighed again. "Thank you, Silver Spoon. We'll take wooden ties if there's nothing else - they'll only last 20-25 years under best conditions and then we'll have to replace them. We'll table the concrete ties for now."

Silver Spoon picked up a pencil and made some notes while Diamond Tiara began to whisper to her.

"Now, ballast. In my explorations around Ponyville," I said, "I saw a lot of smooth river stone piled along the banks of the rivers and creeks. They aren't what we want - and there's not enough of it to be used. We need a supply of hard, broken rock, like those from a mine."

"A mine?" Sunny wondered. "They used to mine crystals underneath Canterlot. I think the miners dumped their broken rock in the valley. There must be huge piles of tailings left."

"Really? If you could tell Windstorm the next time he comes flying in, he could fly over and have a look. If the tailings are where you remember them, then all we need to do is run a track out that way and shovel the rocks into dump cars. Our only costs would be laying a track to the old mine and labor."

"There's one thing you haven't touched on yet," Steel Star began, "Is what we're going to use for rolling stock. And what form of locomotive power?"

"Coal Fire's traveling up from Fillydelphia early next week to meet with us," I replied. "He's planning to buy out the railroad repair and construction parts of Baldy-Win Machine Works and set up his own shop. I'm hoping that we can -"

The pounding started again, a hard thump-thump-thump that rattled my teeth. "Pardon me," I said before turning to step through the meeting room door.

The carpenter ponies had returned and had started to remove the framing of an interior wall before moving it.

"Could you," I shouted, "give us another five minutes or so? We're almost done in there."

As the two carpenter ponies put down their hammers and reached for their lunches, I turned back to the meeting room.

"-this lameo blank-flanked mare is going to spend all of daddy's money. She doesn't-" Diamond Tiara was saying as I returned. Catching sight of me, she quickly switched to whispering to Silver Spoon instead.

I smiled but didn't react. "I hope to have more news after talking to Coal Fire. We'd better wrap this up so that the carpenters can finish their work. Cannonball, I need final estimates for the cost of our stations in Canterlot and Ponyville."

He nodded.

"Silver Spoon, when will you get the figures for our construction labor?"

"When do you want to start construction?" Diamond Tiara interrupted. "Silver Spoon needs that information to make her calculations."

"I was planning to break ground when spring begins. I think that's right after Winter Wrapup, right?"

Diamond Tiara smiled maliciously. "You do realize that all the ponies will be busy with spring planting. You won't be able to hire anypony until late spring at the earliest."

"Err... ah... I wasn't aware of that."

"And after that, most ponies will be busy with farm work until middle of summer at least," Diamond Tiara added.

"I was thinking of bringing in construction ponies from Los Pegasus and Baltimare," Silver Spoon said, looking at Diamond Tiara, "but it will be much more expensive."

"Which my daddy will have to pay for," Diamond Tiara muttered. "I don't he will be very happy about that."

"Silver Spoon, work out the figures and give us the higher costs. At this point, we need a final estimate to take to Switzerland. We can always reduce the construction costs and make our financial backers happy later."

Silver Spoon nodded. Diamond Tiara glared at me.

"I think that's it for this meeting," I said. "In a week, I expect your final costs for our project. Talk to me if you have any problems or concerns."

Ponies began collecting papers and stuffing saddlebags. Diamond Tiara left followed by Silver Spoon.

As they left, the carpenter ponies returned to work. They began hammering again as I fled the building.

Just outside, Steel Star caught up with me. His eyes watched Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking across the snowy town square. "Why do you put up with her," he finally asked. "She's been nothing but trouble. If I had someone like that back on Earth, I'd send that person packing."

"Who? Oh, Diamond Tiara? First, her daddy's putting up a lot of money and his limited time into our railroad. Second, she's good at her job. She knows how to get supplies and materials at a reduced cost. Thirdly, while she's sniping away at me, she brings up good points. I hadn't realized that most of the earth ponies would be busy with their spring farming until she mentioned it."

"I still think she'll cause trouble in the future," Steel Star warned.

The carpenter ponies must have hammered at their interior wall long enough. It gave way with a crash. The building shuddered. That caused the snow on the roof to slide down the steep slope and fall to the street below.

I shrieked as the wet, cold snow hit my back and soaked into my coat, tail and mane.

Steel Star was on the ground, rolling and laughing.

"Very funny, very funny," I said as I shook off what snow I could. "Laugh it up, Steel."

"The look on your face, Cherry," Steel Star gasped, "was priceless." He stood up and came over to help brush off the snow. "You should've seen it."

Cold and soaking wet, I glared at him.

"If it will help, I'll buy us some coffee at the cafe. It'll warm you up."

"Can I have tea instead?"

"Sure."

It was warm, dry and toasty inside the Shamrock Cafe. Steel Star and I sat at a table overlooking the street outside. A teapot steamed gently as we watched ponies come and go. The tea was wonderful, a hint of bergamont and lemon to the taste.

I raised my muzzle from my tea cup - I had not yet learned the trick of levitating the cup and drinking from it - and asked, "It's not much like building a model railroad, is it?"

Steel Star turned from looking through the windows. "Huh? Oh. No, it isn't. If it were, I'd be ordering lumber and gluing and screwing it together to make L-girders. My layout plans would be pinned up to my walls and I'd be thinking about how the scenery would be constructed. I'd probably have bought the locomotives and cars already and know how long my trains are going to be..." His voice trailed off and he returned to watching the street outside.

"Cherry, Cherry Shine? Where have you been keeping yourself?"

I looked up and around to see a brown unicorn with a tan mane come up to our table. "Hi, Quick Fix," I said.

"I've been wondering when we can practice some more for Team Unicorn - I've discovered a new place to try out our shots! But you've been hard to find." She looked at Steel Star. "Is he keeping you busy lately?"

I put a hoof to my forehead. "Quick Fix, this is Steel Star. He's the head of construction for our railroad. Steel Star, this is Quick Fix, member of Team Unicorn and a runner in the Running of the Leaves."

Steel Star nodded and went back to looking outside but I noticed his ears turn to listen to us.

"Quick Fix, I've been busy, real busy with our railroad. I've almost got the business and financial plans together - and then, next week, I've got to travel back to Earth, to Switzerland, to present our plans to a financial backer. I haven't been trying to avoid you - honestly. But with the trip next week and everything, I wonder how I even have time to sleep."

Quick Fix looked crestfallen. "I see..."

"Once this trip is done and things start to look a bit less... hectic, I promise I'll come practice. There's still time before Winter Wrapup, isn't there?"

Yeah...," Quick Fix finally said. "But you should be - need to be - practicing every week. We haven't even started to work on your defending skills."

"I promise, I'll come practice. Just let me get this Switzerland trip done first."

"Okay," she said before turning and slowly walking away.

Steel Star turned back to me. "Hoofball season starts shortly after Winter Wrapup? Aren't we starting construction then? Where will you find the time to do that as well?"

"I don't know," I replied. "I really don't know."

Properly warmed up and dry, we parted, Steel Star to his duties and I to start looking into alternatives to the question of finding ponies to build all things that needed to be built. First of all, I needed to do some research. That meant another trip to the library.

Approaching the familiar library tree after a brisk cross town walk, I thought I heard a sudden rush of tiny footsteps followed by the snick of a door being locked. Pushing on the front door of the library showed that I heard correctly - the door was locked.

I pinned my ears - yes, I could hear Spike's breathing behind the locked library door. "Spike, Spike, open up! It's me, Cherry Shine. It's cold out here and I need to use the library," I called out.

"Oh no, you're not getting in," Spike replied through the door. "You still haven't returned the books that I lent you from last time. You haven't even returned the maps that I lent you after you promised to return the other books. Now, when Twilight Sparkle gets back, I'm gonna turn the whole affair over to her. Let's see how you like it when you explain those missing books to Celestia's favorite student.

"Spike, if I bring back the books, will you let use the library?"

"Ha! You promised me that you'd do it last time - and while the kiss you gave me then was nice, the books are still missing. What am I supposed to do - give the kiss to Twilight Sparkle? Instead of the books?"

I pawed the snowy ground. "Well, if I bring the books to you right now, can I use the library then?"

"Books first," the dragon said. "Then we'll talk."

I could hear his footsteps move away from the door - apparently he considered the conversation over. I had been remiss about returning the books I had borrowed so long ago. If I wanted back into the library, I'd have to take the long run back home and bring back the long-overdue books. I turned to leave.

My eyes fell on a weathered poster, pinned to the side of the library. It was offering a free self-improvement course, to be taught at the maze in the gardens. It was old - the dates were from this past summer - but the course had been taught by a minotaur named Iron Will. I used my magic, pulled the pins from the signboard, rolled the poster up and put it into my saddlebags. Then I galloped off.

Breathing deeply, I stood exhausted outside the library a little more than a half an hour later. "Spike... I... got...your... books," I panted. "I ran... all the... way... home and... got them... Please... let... me in."

The door opened. "Let me see them," Spike said warily.

I concentrated and the 'Equestrian History: A Foal's Guide' rose out of my saddlebags before dropping back.

"Okay, you better come in," The dragon stepped aside as I dragged myself inside. While I was running, I didn't seem to notice the cold but standing outside the library, I started to feel the chill in the air.

"Thank you," I finally gasped.

Spike was already at my saddlebags, pulling out my long overdue books and stacking them on a table. "That's all your books but where are the maps?"

"Maps? They're still... at Colophon's bookstore. I'd get them... but Colophon is currently... in Canterlot."

"I see," Spike said. "And what's this? It's not one of our maps."

Spike was holding up the rolled up poster that I took from the signboard.

"I saw that... pinned outside," I replied, still trying to catch my breath. "If there's one minotaur, there's got to be more... If I could get in contact with them, we'd solve our railroad's construction labor problem."

Spike looked doubtful. "I don't know," he said. "I seem to remember there being a book about monsters of Equestria that mentioned minotaur tribes. Let me have a look."

In short order, Spike returned with a thick tome entitled 'Monsters of Equestria: A Bestiary'. Sitting down on a stack of books, he began to quickly flip through the pages. "Ah-ha! Here it is," he finally said. "Minotaurs are a savage species, known to prey on ponies. They can be found in the Haysead Swamps where they roam in tribes of 20 to 40 individuals. Very dangerous." He closed the tome with a final-sounding thump. "Cherry, if you take my advice, forget it."

"But... but... but they're strong and they have hands so they'd be perfect to work on the railroad."

Perched on his stack of books, Spike studied me. "The minotaur that taught this class, Iron Will, might be civilized - but that's not true of most of them. If you go into the swamps looking for minotaurs, you most likely would be captured. They'd plan to eat you. Or enslave you and then eat you later. Then I would have to organize a rescue effort - like we did when Rarity got captured by the Diamond Dogs."

"Rarity? Diamond Dogs? What happened?

Spike stood and with pride, told how Rarity and him were out digging for gems when the Diamond Dogs decided to grab Rarity, pull her down into their tunnels, and force her to find and dig for the jewels that they prized so much. Spike ran back to Ponyville, collected Rarity's friends and returned to break into the Diamond Dogs' tunnels. Using a spell that Twilight Sparkle had learned from Rarity, they found where the Diamond Dogs were keeping Rarity. Spike persuaded Twilight Sparkle to act as his steed and then charged, lance in hand, to free Rarity from her bondage.

He paused and added that Rarity was in complete control of the situation when Spike and her friends broke into the chamber where she was being held. The only thing that they could do is help Rarity cart her gems back to Ponyville.

"These Diamond Dogs, what are they like?"

Spike thought for a moment before explaining that little is known about the tribes of Diamond Dogs. They prefer to live underground in warrens that they dig themselves. Burrowing for gems and jewels, their mines run for miles. No pony knows what they do with it. Twilight Sparkle once speculated that the Diamond Dogs may offer their gems to dragons but there's no evidence supporting that theory. "And that's all that anypony knows," Spike concluded.

"And where did you going searching for gems, Spike?" I asked.

"There's a good field of jewels southeast of town - hey, you aren't thinking of going there, are you?"

I smiled and swished my tail. "Why Spike, why would I do something as foolish as that?"

Spike climbed down from his stack of books. "Don't even think of it! We almost lost Rarity in that maze of tunnels," he said, waving his taloned finger at me. "You'll end up a pit-pony, pulling their carts for the rest of your life."

I kissed him. He was so cute I couldn't resist. While he was still thinking of something to say, I turned and left the library.

Over the next few days, it snowed almost every day. I think the pegasi had given up and were letting the clouds drop their load onto Ponyville and the countryside. On the day that Coal Fire was going to arrive, the sun tried to poke through thick clouds. On a snow covered station platform, Windstorm and I waited and watched for the smoke of Coal Fire's train.

At last, a smudge on the horizon announced the impending arrival of the train. It had only three passenger cars behind the engine. As it got closer, we could see four strong earth ponies harnessed to the front of the train, rapidly pulling it down the snow-covered tracks. It pulled up to the station and the four ponies stepped out of their harness.

Coal Fire stepped down from the shortened train and looked disdainfully at the engine. "We got into the foothills outside of Canterlot before the engine started to slip. Luckily, they brought along the helper ponies from Fillydelphia or we would never have arrived at all," he snorted.

"Hi, Coal Fire," I said. "Can I introduce you to Windstorm? He's been busy laying out our route to Canterlot."

Windstorm bowed his head. "Welcome to Ponyville. We were going to meet in the company headquarters but the painters have been busy. The building reeks of wet paint so the painters have been leaving the windows and doors open to air out the place. This means the building is also freezing cold."

"We're going to gather at Colophon's bookstore." I added.

As we trotted through the snowy streets of Ponyville, Coal Fire told us of his progress. Filthy Rich and he had come to an agreement in the last week and organized his new company, 'Railway Works Fillydelphia'. He had taken a lease on a barn and acreage outside of Fillydelphia and arranged to have tracks laid into the barn. Some ponies were already hired and starting to work on Baldy-Win's backlog.

"But I have much bigger plans," Coal Fire said as we arrived at the bookstore. "I want to put in new buildings - with erection shops, transfer tables and machine shops. I hope that you can arrange the finance to make it come true."

"So do I," I answered in a small voice.

Inside the bookstore, the rest of our railroad staff was waiting. I made more introductions and we settled down to work.

"I want to thank Coal Fire for traveling to Ponyville in this weather," I began. "We have almost completed our business plan which I'm taking to our... financial backer in Switzerland at the end of the week. The business today is to decide on the rolling stock and locomotive power. For this reason, Coal Fire has agreed to take part in our meeting."

"It is obvious to every pony here," Windstorm said. "that the existing rolling stock and locomotives leave alot to be desired. The question is, how soon can Railway Works Fillydelphia provide more modern alternatives?"

"At the moment, RW Fillydelphia is more of a repair shop than a manufacturing shop," Coal Fire said. "When we scale up, we can start producing the simpler freight cars fairly quickly. At the moment, Equestrian Railways needs flat cars and gondolas, correct?"

Windstorm, Steel Star and I nodded.

"Do you plan to construct them along European or American models?"

Steel Star raised a hoof. "I don't understand. European? American?"

Windstorm turned to the grey earth pony. "Coal Fire is referring to the way that the cars are constructed and coupled together. The American model means that the cars use a single coupler both to connect cars as well as to absorb the shock and wear of coupling and uncoupling. European cars use a loop and hook method to connect trains. The shock and wear is taken up by two buffers mounted at the corners of the cars. I'd like to point out that existing Equestrian railroad cars also use the loop and hook method. We'd be introducing the use of buffers in Equestrian railroads."

"There's less danger of a pony being crushed with the buffers and hook method," added Coal Fire. "So, for back-compatibility with existing railroad cars, we'll go with the European model." He picked up a pencil and scribbled a few notes on a piece of paper. Dropping the pencil, Coal Fire continued, "I can have RW Fillydelphia work up a simple design for temporary use but if we could get some freight cars from Europe, we could use them as a pattern for future work."

All the ponies looked at me.

"Err, why is everypony looking at me?"

"Cherry, you are going to be in Switzerland at the end of the week," Coal Fire said. "This is a perfect opportunity to look around and try to pick up plans, models, information and schematics of modern railroad cars. You might even be able to acquire some actual railroad cars."

"Don't limit yourself to just freight cars," Windstorm added. "See if you can find some information about passenger cars as well. Something like the 'Am' and 'Bm' classes of the Deutsche Bundesbahn."

"Am, Bm?" I was getting confused.

"They were 26.4m (86 ft 6 in.) long passenger cars used in much of the German long distance trains. More than ten thousand cars were built so..." Windstorm thought for a moment before writing something down on another piece of paper. "Here, Cherry. Here's the address of Friedrich Speyer, a good friend of mine at the Leinetal Eisenbahnfreunde Verein. He can help you find what you are looking for. I'll write to him and let him know that you are coming." With his hoof, he slid the paper across the table towards me. "He can help you."

"Locomotives?" wondered Steel Star. "How soon before you will be able to start cranking out some modern steam power, Coal Fire?"

"If we're building them from the ground up, it may take us a year or two before we start producing anything. I am still in the planning stages. Ponies have to be hired and trained, supply chains set up and machines have to be built to build the locomotives. This isn't building a quarter-inch scale model."

He looked at me. "If we had locomotives to restore, I think we can reduce the time to three to six months."

I sighed. "So in the meantime, we'll use ponies to haul building supplies out to the track layers?"

"Unless you can find some steam locomotives for sale," Windstorm answered. "Talk to Friedrich Speyer and his club. Maybe they will have some ideas for you."

I looked at the ponies in front of me. "So, all I need to do - is persuade the financial bankers that this railroad is worth investing in, then go out and find us the rolling stock and locomotives?"

Coal Fire, Windstorm and Steel Star nodded.

"Oh... yay."