Rails
By Mark Miner
A glance at my watch revealed it was 5:20pm. Time to check on the last things, then head home. I hadn't been up
to see the derailed gondola, so I headed out with my radio and my gloves. The tracks wound along the property line to the north. Not knowing where the car had gone off, I started at the end of the spur and walked almost to the main track. The railroad gate was in the tip of the triangular property, and the first of four cars being pushed out had jumped. It was just an empty scrap gondola, wood floors for the electromagnet, and the gross dry weight was 61,000 lbs.
Swearing guided me to Bryan. He crouched under the car near the front trolley, an enormous bottle jack squatting on a tie. He and Kevin had coerced one side back on track, and they were attacking the other two wheels. The jack was rated to 35 tons. Bryan began pumping the lever, and the colossal cylinder crept towards the axle and made contact. The car groaned as it received a point load it wasn't used to, but it gave, and it arose. The wheel kissed the gravel goodbye, and headed towards the rail top. Almost even. A little more. The jack ran out. With less than a quarter inch to go, the jack ran out of travel.
A man and his dogs walked by along the right-of-way, enjoying the cool evening.
I stood up to look for rail scraps, and noticed a desiccated bird carcass lying nearby. Gross. Kevin came up with a short rail, and he crawled under the car to maneuver it in place. The car groaned down onto it, the jack came free, and we looked for a spacer.
The man and his dogs came back. One of them ran over and began sniffing the bird. The owner called. The dog continued sniffing. I threw the bird away and the dog looked around, then back at its owner. Good. The owner called it again. The dog spotted the bird again, trotted over, and began rolling on it. Bryan looked at it, shook his head, and chuckled "Gross, man." The dog got bored with the carcass and wandered back to its owner. The man walked away. I felt sorry for him.
5:45 came and went. I wanted to get home. The car was still fighting. I checked with Bryan, he had it under control. I went home. Next morning, I took another walk up north. All systems were go. The gondola was back on track. The bird, however, was missing.
