Glancing over at Frank, Torstensson said, "She"s definitely tough enough to do this. And from this presentation, she has more knowledge about these little trains than anyone in this room."
"Lieutenant, you just got a new job," Frank said. "You"re now commander of the First Railway Company (Provisional). Right now the company is you and Chief Schwartz. You two get together tomorrow and come up with a list of what you"ll need to get started."
"Lieutenant, after you get things started, I"ll send down a liaison officer to work with you to figure out how best to use these little trains of yours," Torstensson said.
"Sir, I was supposed to go on a duty swing with the Military Police starting ne-" Elizabeth began.
"You don"t worry about any of that," Frank interrupted. "I"ll deal with Dan Frost."
"Yes, sir." Elizabeth sighed. "If I"m going to be transferred, can I take a couple of people from the MPs with me? I"m going to need all the help I can get to make this work." Mentally she was kicking herself for not keeping her mouth shut.
"Let me know who you want from the MPs and report here tomorrow morning. I"ll have a place for you and Charlie to start work," Frank said. "Go on now; you really did a good job with this and we need to pick your brains as much as Charlie"s."
"Yes, sir." Elizabeth said. As she walked away she felt like she had just gone from the frying pan into
the fire.
Before leaving headquarters Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz met up and had a cup of coffee together. The chief started out with some ideas he had. "I know someone we should get on board pretty quickly," he said. "Anse Hatfield. He ran a switch locomotive up in Detroit for a few years. Besides that, he has a couple of lawn tractors and other stuff that we might need."
"Hatfield. I think I"ve heard of him," Elizabeth said. "Isn"t he also a bit of a gun nut, too?"
"Yep," Chief Schwartz answered. "and he can probably provide some weapons out of his stash. I bet we aren"t going to have a very high priority for weapons."
"Works for me," Elizabeth said. "If he has any sort of railroad experience, that"s a good thing. The
tractors and weapons are gravy." * * * Chief Schwartz was walking by the power plant when he saw Anse Hatfield and three other men. They were sitting outside the little tavern up the road from the power plant. Two of Anse"s companions were obviously German mercenaries. The other Charlie wasn"t sure about. The fellow was wearing khaki work pants and a Blue Barn dog food baseball cap but also had a German farmer"s shirt. His boots never came from a store, either. Charlie didn"t know him and he knew most of the West Virginians.
"Hey, Hatfield. Got a minute? I need to talk to you," Charlie called.
"Sure, Charlie. We"re just sitting here resting up from the afternoon shift," Anse replied. "By the way do
you know the guys?"
"Can"t say I"ve had the privilege, I"m Charlie Schwartz," he said, extending his hand.
"This is Wilfried Schultz, Bernhard Toeffel and Jochen Rau." Anse pointed to the Tavern and added,
"Benno and Jochen run this place and Wili works with me at the power plant, pushing coal."
"Glad to meet you fellows," Charlie said, looking over the trio. Toeffel and Rau, both in their twenties,
were obviously former mercenaries, but Schultz was harder to place. Schultz didn"t look like a mercenary, but the gun on his hip didn"t make him look like a farmer either.
"Okay, what do you need? Do you want a beer before we start talking?" Anse asked. "Benno makes a
pretty good brew."
"No beer, Hatfield. I"m on duty," Charlie said, pointing to the bar on his collar. "I"m in the army now.
You"ll notice I"m a chief warrant officer. Since you"re a friend you don"t have to call me sir. You can call me Chief."
"Well, since I"m not in the army, how about I keep on calling you Charlie? The offer of a beer still
stands. I"ll even buy, just to show you I still like you even though you"re an officer," Anse replied.
"Anse, that"s what I want to talk to you about. Were you serious when you said you drove a switch
engine?" Chief Schwartz asked, wondering if he could convince Anse to join his unit. "We could use a man with that kind of experience."
"Sure, I was serious. I ran a switcher for five years. And, what do you mean "we"? You mean the army
needs me? I don"t mind the militia, but if you"re talking full-time army . . . I need to think about it.
Besides, what does the army need with some one who can run a switch engine? I don"t see too many switchers around. That coal for the power plant would be a lot easier to move if we had one," Anse said.
"Anse, we"re putting together a crew to build a narrow gauge railroad. It won"t be like the one they"re building to the oil field, though. It will be a tactical rail to follow and supply Gustav"s army. Something quick and dirty, throw down the track, run a supply line faster than horses, pull it up and move on. You"d be perfect to train engineers, since you know how an engine is supposed to work," Chief Schwartz said.
"Well, it sounds like a good idea, but I repeat, what are you going to use for an engine? I still don"t see
any around," Anse replied.
"Don"t you start laughing," Chief Schwartz said, shifting uncomfortably. "We"re going to use a lawn tractor. I think eighteen to twenty horse power will be plenty for what we want. It will be small enough that we can load it on a barge or wagon to move it around. I don"t notice anyone mowing their gra.s.s since the Ring of Fire, and those little motors are going to waste."
"What gauge are you going to use? And where are you going to get track? There"s a lot more to a
railroad than just an engine," Anse said, shaking his head.
"That"s what this unit is for. We"re going to solve all those problems and any others that crop up. For example you left out brakes and wheels. This is an experiment to find out if it can be done. It is important. You know how they supply armies in the here and now, don"t you? We"re trying to give them a better system. Gustav is going to be fighting a defensive war and you can"t rob your own people and expect them to like it," replied the chief. That got the attention of all four men.
"Sounds like you at least have the questions figured out, Chief. But where are we going to get a lawn
tractor?"
Schwartz noticed the change from "you" to "we" and began to think that he had just gotten an engineer.
"Well, I was going to leave that to the engineer to figure out. If I remember correctly you had a nice Gravely ride-on tractor at one time. What ever happened to it? The government would pay for it, you know."
"Yeah, I still have it. Me and Hank are changing it over to run on ethanol right now. Don"t know why, our lawn care business is pretty well dead. It"s a twenty-seven horse power Professional Model, to be exact. Think it would work?"
"That"s just what we need, nice heavy tractor with good power. Now all I need is someone to drive it
since you"re not interested," Charlie said.
"Wait a minute," Anse said. "I never said I wouldn"t do it. If you"re going to use my tractor I might as well go with it. I went through Nam as an enlisted man and what was good enough then is good enough now. With that condition, sign me up, Chief."
"Well, I just happen to have an opening for a sergeant in charge of a train crew," Charlie said. "Sew three stripes on your sleeve and meet me and Lieutenant Pitre at Frank Jackson"s office at nine o"clock tomorrow morning. You better remember that he"s General Jackson, and be on time."
"Lieutenant Pitre? You mean you"re not in charge?" Anse asked noticing the looks on the faces of his
three friends.
"No, Sergeant Hatfield, I"m not. We"re working for a real U.S. Army officer who knows all about narrow gauge railroads. I"ll see you tomorrow morning," Charlie said.
After the chief left, the three down-timers began to speak at once. "Lieutenant Pitre from the MPs? She threatened to arrest us after the business with Wili"s cow came out," Rau finally said over the general noise level.
"Ja," Toeffle agreed, "und the police don"t like our tavern."
"Guys, I get tired of sitting around just spinning my wheels. This is my chance to do something. Pushing coal at the power plant is not my idea of a long-term career," Anse stated."Und we will be helping protect farmers." Wili stated. "I will join.""Are you sure, Wili? This isn"t like being in a local militia.""Ja, Ich go with my brother." Wili responded as he laid his hand on Anse"s shoulder.Toeffel looked at Rau. "Jochen, business is bad. We should sell the tavern und go with them." Then with a grin at Hatfield he added, "We are the real soldier here. Und we will protect the old men." * * *
Later that evening, Elizabeth and her old college roommate, Caroline Platzer, were having dinner at the Thuringen Gardens. Elizabeth was not in the best of moods with this new a.s.signment.
"What kind of miracle does this bunch of hillbillies expect me to pull out of my a.s.s?" Elizabeth ranted.
"At least with the MPs I"m doing something useful."
"Beth, like you"ve told me on more than one occasion, lead, follow, or get the h.e.l.l out of the way,"
Caroline responded. "Who knows, you might actually get something going. I know you will do better than that bunch claiming to be laying a line to Madgeburg."
On that note, Elizabeth changed the subject. Caroline wisely followed her friend away from the subject
of railroads for the rest of the evening.
Early the next morning, Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz met at Army headquarters. They were given a