Frank Jackson took a swallow of beer and settled back in to his chair. "Ah," he said. "Nothing better than beer on a summer day. Now, about the transportation problem we were discussing, Dan, we're going to have to support a larger army in the field. We've done pretty well with the vehicles around here so far, but they aren't going to be enough."
Dan Frost took a sip of his own beer and nodded. "I know it's a problem, Frank. Do you have any ideas on how to fix it?"
"Well, the obvious choice is to start building wagons," Frank said. "But if we do that we're going to need a lot of them. And that doesn't include all of the horses we'd need. Not to mention the equipment we'd need to outfit them, and the feed the horses will need when deployed."
"What about trains?" Dan asked.
Frank shook his head. "We're nowhere near ready with the rail lines we have right now. And with all the infighting going on with Quentin Underwood and company, I don't know when we'll ever finish the line to Halle. Torstensson is in town and one thing we discussed was the slow progress of the railroad."
Dan thought for a moment, letting his gaze travel around the room. His eyes lit on a Military Police lieutenant and an idea began to grow. "You know, Frank, there might be a way. Hang on a second, let me get someone." Dan waved and shouted, "Lieutenant Pitre, come here for a sec, will you?
"I think you need to talk to this Lieutenant Pitre," Dan said as the young woman made her way to the table. "She showed us some pictures the other day that may be a start on a solution to your transportation problem.
"Elizabeth, have you ever met Frank Jackson?" Dan asked.
"I think we talked a couple of minutes at Rita's wedding, sir. I know your wife, though," Elizabeth said, nodding at Frank.
"Frank, this is Elizabeth Pitre, New Orleans' gift to the Ring of Fire, MP lieutenant, and paratrooper," said Dan in introduction. "Elizabeth, General Jackson was talking about the problems we're going to have with keeping the armies supplied in the field. We don't have anywhere enough trucks to go around and we probably won't have enough for years. Would you tell him about the railroad your grandfather works on in England?"
"Well, sir, Granddad Spencer volunteers at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford, north of London. He works on a narrow-gauge railway that was standard in the British forces from WWI up into the 1960s. Besides a couple of paperbacks my granddad gave me, I've a bunch of pictures on my computer."
"Why don't you come over to headquarters tomorrow morning around ten? You've got me thinking and I want to bring a couple of other people to see your pictures," Frank said.
"Sir, I'll be there. I just need a few seconds to set up and plug in my laptop. I'll bring the books my grandfather gave me, too," Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth showed up at headquarters in a neatly pressed set of BDUs. She wore the black bar of a first lieutenant on her right collar, and the crossed pistols of the Military Police on her left. Instead of standard army boots, she was wearing black rubber riding boots.
General Jackson and two men were waiting in his office. One of the men was an older up-timer and the other was a down-time officer. She didn't know who either of them was.
"Elizabeth, this is General Lennart Torstensson and Charlie Schwartz. Charlie worked on the railroad link to the coal mine and helped to build the steam locomotive. He also worked on the B and O for more years than he likes to admit. General Torstensson is the captain general's chief of artillery," Frank said. "Gentlemen, this is Elizabeth Pitre, who, I'm told, might just have the makings of a solution to our transport problem. Why don't you set your computer up on this table and you can talk us through your pictures."
Setting up the laptop and getting to the right place took a few moments. Elizabeth began her presentation, "Sir, this picture is of a Simplex twenty-five horsepower gasoline powered locomotive pulling four cars at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. It is on a six-hundred-millimeter gauge railway, which is very close to two feet. This was the standard size light railway used by all sides during the First World War."
Elizabeth continued showing pictures, "The beauty of this system is that you use prefabricated track you can lay virtually anywhere and very quickly. You can also move a great deal of material over one of these systems. Most of the freight cars were rated to carry a ten-ton load."
She showed pictures in a WWI diorama setting. "Another good thing about this gauge is that it is small enough to run through a trench close to the front lines."
Torstensson asked, "You said they could carry a lot of weight, can you carry big things like cannon on one of these little trains?"
"Yes, sir," Elizabeth said. She pulled out a small paperback book titled Narrow Gauge at War and showed them a picture of a railcar carrying a large fieldpiece and then another picture of a standard gauge railway gun being hauled over several cars.
"How hard would it be to build some of these trains?" asked Torstensson.
"Charlie, what do you think?" Frank asked.
"You know, I bet you could use a garden tractor for a locomotive on something like this," Charlie Schwartz answered. "I think we might just be able to come up with something that would work, but track is going to be the problem."
"Would you try to build something like this for us?" Frank asked.
"I'll be glad to help and advise, Frank. But you really need to have a unit to experiment with this and figure out what will and won't work," Charlie said.
"Would you command the unit, if I authorized the formation of it?"
"Frank, I said I'd be glad to help and advise, but I'm too old to command something like this. You need a bright young officer to take charge of this. I'll teach him everything I know," Charlie answered.
"Excuse me, sir," Elizabeth said, "Why don't you appoint Mr. Schwartz as a chief warrant officer? It would give him the rank and authority he needs to train everyone in this unit."
"Chief warrant officer? What is that?" Torstensson asked.
"Chief warrant officer is a rank used in the U.S. Army for technical experts. A lot of army pilots had that rank, back up-time. It's like what you do with master gunners in your artillery," Frank answered. "Elizabeth, that's a perfect solution. That is, if Chief Schwartz has no objection?"
"Hmm, Chief warrant officer, I think I could live with that," Charlie said as he looked at Elizabeth with a twinkle in his eyes. "But I need a really bright young officer to teach and to lead this unit. I originally said I'd teach him but it could very easily be a 'her.'"
Jackson and Torstensson looked at the young woman standing in front of them. They could see the obvious intelligence in her eyes and that she knew what was coming next. Torstensson had a question first, "Lieutenant, what is that device you have on your uniform above the words U.S. Army?"
"Sir, those are jump wings. That means I jumped five times out of a perfectly good airplane with a parachute and lived to tell about it," she said.
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 grass 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 assignment.
"What kind of miracle does this bunch of hillbillies expect me to pull out of my ass?" 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 hell 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 room with a table, a couple of chairs, and a telephone to use.
"Well Chief, I'm glad I got a couple of people from my old MP platoon. One of the first things we're going to need is a company clerk. Someone has to answer the telephone and track messages," Elizabeth said.
Chief Schwartz chuckled, "Ma'am, I think you're right. No military ever ran right without paper."
Elizabeth passed on some of her father's observations about armies and paperwork as she explained her background. She was an army brat of sorts. Her father was a reserve colonel who worked in the Pentagon as a civilian. Her mother had served as a nurse in the British Army. Her brother had served in the Coast Guard and was in his third year at Louisiana State University. Elizabeth told the chief about a videotape she found in the items she was planning to take home after Tom and Rita's wedding reception.
They found a TV/VCR and brought it into the office. Chief plugged it in and Elizabeth inserted the videotape. The tape started and Elizabeth forwarded it through scenes of a very young Elizabeth and her slightly older brother with their parents.
"This is what I think you'll be interested in," Elizabeth said. A very old man appeared in the screen with a man Chief now knew as Elizabeth's granddad. "This is my great-grandfather," she said. "He spent three years on the Western Front running these trains. I was probably about six when they filmed this; it wasn't long after that he died."
The old man began to speak, standing next to a locomotive like the one they had seen in the pictures. "Chief, you'll probably understand this a lot better than I did last night," Elizabeth said.
Chief Schwartz heard a man with an American accent asking questions of the old man and the old man's detailed answers. The interview continued for about ten minutes.
After finishing the interview, Elizabeth turned the TV off and turned to the chief. "What do you think?" she asked.
Rubbing his chin thoughtfully, the chief replied, "We might just be able to pull this off. The biggest problem we're going to have is track."
"Here's something else that might be of help," Elizabeth said as she pulled out her copy of Narrow Gauge at War. "We should probably get a couple of copies made of this book and get everyone to read it. Folks might have some ideas after seeing this."
"Good idea," the chief replied.
"I agree that we can probably pull this off," Elizabeth said. "Since I've been here, I've seen all sorts of stuff that people hang on to. We can probably come up with the stuff for the locomotives and cars pretty easily, but track is what is going to make or break us. I don't think it's as big a problem as some people might think, though."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, I've ridden over a lot of the territory in the Ring of Fire. Once I started thinking about it, I realized that there are a bunch of old railway rights of way. They didn't look as wide as normal rail lines," Elizabeth said. "We need to get out there soon and start looking around."
"Sounds like a good idea to me. At nine I've our first recruits coming to see General Jackson," the chief said. "He has a twenty-seven horsepower lawn tractor that he's willing to contribute as our first locomotive."
Elizabeth chuckled, "Chief, you and I are going to get along just fine. I need to go down to City Hall and find out where they found some space for us to set up a shop. I should be back in time to meet our recruits and I'll also start scrounging around for a clerk. What about tools?"
"Well, ma'am, I've got some things we can use and Anse Hatfield, he's our first recruit, has a bunch of stuff in his shed that will probably be of use to us."
Just then, there was a knock on the door and a young man stuck his head in. Sergeants Bicard and Born and Corporals Kerner and Schmidt from the MPs were reporting in for duty. Along with them was a young down-time man named Ludwig Bode. Bode didn't want to study classics any more, he said. When Elizabeth learned he could operate a computer and answer a telephone he was made the company clerk. Because he had had a year of ROTC, he didn't have to go to basic training, either.
"Sergeant Bicard, you're on your way to OCS," Elizabeth said. "After OCS, you come back here and take charge of the horse-drawn trams." Sergeant Bicard nodded his understanding with a smile on his face.
"Staff Sergeant Born, Sergeant Kerner, and Sergeant Schmidt, you three will have your hands full here," Elizabeth said. The three newly promoted NCOs nodded in understanding. "Sergeant Born will be the platoon sergeant of the horse-drawn tram platoon and Sergeant Kerner will be the Headquarters squad leader as soon as he trains our new recruit here to be a clerk," Elizabeth continued. "Sergeant Schmidt, you are now the mess sergeant. We will come up with a field kitchen where you won't have to cook over an open fire any more."
Later that morning, Anse and his friends reported to General Jackson's office. When Elizabeth saw the three Germans with Anse, she and the chief had a quick discussion before going into General Jackson's office. After the meeting with General Jackson, Elizabeth asked them to follow her to the company office.
"Sergeant Hatfield, I don't know how you are able to attract some of the most dubious company in Grantville," Elizabeth said. Anse tried to respond, but Elizabeth cut him off. "At this point, beggars can't be choosers. I'll give the three of you a chance. But, I'll be watching and you better believe that I will run your rear ends clear out of Grantville if you get out of line, understood?"
Anse and the three Germans nodded their understanding.
"Ma'am, is there anything else?" Anse asked.
"Nope, just get with the chief to get directions on where to bring the tractor," Elizabeth said.
After directing Hatfield where to bring the tractor, Elizabeth and the chief then back to their office. They had a lengthy discussion about what else they would need besides people to operate and maintain equipment. The first thing was track-laying and maintenance crews. Second was communications, since they knew they wouldn't get radios. Chief Schwartz suggested old-fashioned telegraph.
Before going to lunch, Chief contacted Pearl Chaffin, a widow who had worked for years as a telegrapher on the B&O. She agreed to take an appointment as a warrant officer and to train the telegraph operators for the railway unit.
After lunch that day, Elizabeth and the chief met back at the office. They had a locomotive and a telegraphy trainer, but they weren't sure how they would get fuel. While discussing the matter, Chief remembered J.B. Torbert, who owned a still outside of town. J.B. Torbert was the town drunk before the ROF. However, finding himself in seventeenth-century Germany had been the motivitation for him to stay sober, one day at a time.
Chief Schwartz caught a ride with an army car out to Torbert's place after the discussion with Elizabeth. He called for J.B., but did not get a response. He saw some smoke coming out of the woods behind the trailer and walked out there, continuing to call for J.B. Torbert.
J.B. was out back tending his still. "Oh, hi, Charlie," Torbert said, "What are you doing out here?"
"Got something I'd like to talk to you about," the chief said. "You still brewing alcohol in that still of yours?"
"Yep, but only for fuel," Torbert replied. "And I've got a bunch of handyman jobs that are keeping me busy, too."
"Would you be interested in selling your still to the army?"
"The army," Torbert exclaimed. "What does the army need a still for? And what's an old man like you doing in the army?"
"You're now looking at Chief Warrant Officer Schwartz of the First Railway Company. We're going to build a unit that can lay track and operate a narrow gauge railroad," the Chief answered.
"Who's we and what's narrow gauge?"
"Well, we just got started yesterday. There's Lieutenant Pitre from the MPs, who will command. She's bringing four people from the MPs and we have a brand-new clerk. Anse Hatfield is bringing his tractor along. That's what we'll use for our test locomotive. He's got three down-time German friends of his who are joining, too," replied the Chief. "Oh yes, narrow gauge. That's when the track is smaller than normal. We're looking at something in the two-to-three foot range for a gauge. That's a lot lighter and easier to put down. Something like one of those little trains in amusement parks."
"What does she know about railroads?" asked Torbert.
"Actually, she's the one that General Jackson got the idea from. Her grandfather works on a military narrow gauge railroad in a museum up-time, so she's got some pictures. She showed me some real detail from an old videotape of her great-grandfather who actually worked on one during World War One," Chief Schwartz said. "And she's smart, really smart, someone who can look at something and come up with a solution where no one else can."
"Well, you're going to need someone to run this still. How about I come along with it?" Torbert asked.
"The lieutenant and I figured that's what you'd say. We'll take you, but she says if you fall off the wagon, you're gone."
"That sounds fair," Torbert said.
"One other thing; we'll probably make a lot of use out of your handyman skills. Do you have some tools to bring along?"
"Well, I've my hand tools, a power saw, a drill, and a couple of electric screwdrivers," Torbert said.
"That's real good. Can you have the still ready to move tomorrow morning? If you can, I'll send Anse Hatfield out here with some people to help you move it."
"I'll have it ready."
"Welcome to the First Railway Company, Sergeant Torbert." The chief held out his hand.
"Sergeant Torbert. I like the sound of that," Torbert said, shaking the chief's hand.
The next morning Private Ludwig Bode was playing solitaire on the office computer at his desk. The desk was in front of the TacRail office. Ludwig was congratulating himself on the easy job he had found. He was surprised when General Jackson and a younger man walked up the hall toward his desk.
"Gut Morning, General," Bode said. Coming to attention and trying to turn off the computer monitor at the same time wasn't working out too well.
"Is Lieutenant Pitre in, Private? Tell her I'm here to see her."
"Yes sir, General. The lieutenant and Chief Schwartz are going over the morning reports right now. You can go right in."
"Wait here, Bill," Frank said to the younger man as he entered the office. Inside he found Lieutenant Pitre and Chief Schwartz standing by the desk looking over some paper work.
"Good morning Lieutenant, Chief. I stopped by to see how things were going and to bring you a new man," the general said. "He will be perfect as your top sergeant, Lieutenant. He's a combat veteran up-time and in the here and now. With your two up-timer sergeants being the town drunk and a loafer whose only real job before the ring of fire was mowing grass, you need someone who knows what he's doing."
"Thank you, General," Elizabeth said. "We always need more people, but Torbert and Hatfield are doing a good job. And Torbert hasn't touched a drop since the Ring of Fire."
"Be that as it may, Plotz is yours." Frank opened the door and called, "Come in here, Bill. This is Bill Plotz, veteran of Desert Storm and Bosnia. He won a Bronze and Silver Star and has a Purple Heart with two clusters. He was a crew chief in the mine before it closed and acted as a sergeant in the battle of the Crapper and at Jena. Besides that, he's one of the hardest men in town. He's just the man you need to get your people under control. The story about how Hatfield pulled one over on you about those coveralls is all over town."
"General, while Hatfield didn't show the best judgment with the coveralls," Elizabeth said, "I gave the okay on their issue. It was a good idea because many of my people were down to rags."
"Don't cover for him, Lieutenant. Maybe he's going to do a good job and maybe he should go back to shoveling coal at the power plant; time will tell. But for now you have First Sergeant Plotz as your top soldier and he's going to watch over Hatfield and his merry men." With that closing comment General Jackson strode out of the office.
Elizabeth turned to Chief Schwartz, "Chief, you were going to check with Sergeant Torbert about how much more of that rail from the lumber trail is serviceable. I think you should to do that now and then stop by the locomotive shop and pick up a coverall for yourself. I'll bring the first sergeant up to speed on the unit."
Elizabeth could tell by the worried look on his face that the chief thought she couldn't deal with Plotz by herself. It was also easy to see that Sergeant Plotz had little respect for her rank or skills. After a year in the MPs and her informal Officer Basic Course under Gunnery Sergeant Duke Hudson, Elizabeth knew she could hold her own.
"Well, First Sergeant, what do you know about railroads? You realize you're going to be serving over men more knowledgeable and experienced than you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ma'am, I think the general made it clear my job is to keep the men in line and not to be creative. I'll leave that to the management types," First Sergeant Plotz replied.
"And you think I'm one of those management types, First Sergeant?" Elizabeth asked.
Plotz looked at Elizabeth's jump wings which she had transferred to her coveralls that morning. "No, ma'am. Two groups of people I never argue with are paratroopers and MPs and I understand that you have been both. So I guess you're not one of those management types."
"Actually First Sergeant, I'm one of the managers of our little enterprise and you're going to have to be one also if you stay with us. And as a management type your style had better fit with mine or we're going to be working at cross purposes, I hope you understand that. If you're going to be the first sergeant of the rail company you're going to have to learn to be creative. And First Sergeant, you mentioned the MPs. From what I remember from my reading of police records your command style is quite different from mine. And you're going to use my style. Is that understood, First Sergeant? Or do I tell General Jackson to find another home for you?"
"No, Lieutenant. I think I'll stay with the railroad for a while. You never know, I might become one of those management types"
"Fine, Top. Let's go down to the train shop and introduce you to the train crew, and then over to the mess to meet Sergeant Liesel Schmidt who runs our commissary squad or else you won't get fed. Then we'll go to the rail shop and meet the track crew. You know Hatfield and Torbert, but you don't know Born. All the soldiers need to know who you are."
Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz were at the unit mess having a cup of hot soup when PFC Rau came up to them out of breath like he'd been running.
"Fraulein Lieutenant, Herr Schwartz, I was out hunting and I came across something you really need to see."
"What is it, Private?" Elizabeth asked.
"Fraulein Lieutenant, it looks like some iron tracks going into a hole in the ground," Rau replied.
"Chief?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ma'am, it sounds like an abandoned dog hole mine to me," said Chief Schwartz. "We really need to look at this; there could be some stuff we could use there."
"I couldn't agree with you more. Let's grab some of the others and have a look," Elizabeth replied.
When they got to the old mine, they found about twenty yards of track going into a boarded-up entrance. It looked as if it had been abandoned for years.
Elizabeth and the chief looked at each other like they'd won the lottery. "Chief, am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" she asked.
"Ma'am, I just wonder what else we're going to find once we get these boards off," said Chief Schwartz. "Anse, Bill, let's get everyone up here, get this place opened up and start getting this stuff out of here."
"Chief, why don't we move some of our prefab track out here? We could get some more equipment here and haul it back," Elizabeth said.
"Ma'am, I'll send word back to Torbert to get things moving this way. We'll also need some lights to go looking in this old mine. No telling what we'll find once we open things up. We should also get some lumber out here for trusses," Chief Schwartz replied.
The old mine was a beehive of activity. The track layers were starting to clear a route back toward the road while Elizabeth, the sergeants and Chief Schwartz were waiting for PFC Rau and some of the younger personnel to open the mine.
"Private Rau, you found this, you have the first look," Elizabeth said, handing him a flashlight. When the first board came off the entrance, Rau shined the flashlight in the hole.
"Fraulien Lieutenant, what is this?" asked Rau.
"Corporal Rau, you're looking at two narrow gauge coal mining cars," Elizabeth said.
"Fraulien Lieutenant, I'm not a corporal."
"You are now," Elizabeth said, glancing at Chief Schwartz with a smile on her face.
"Chief, how deep do you think this puppy goes?" Elizabeth asked.
"Ma'am, I don't know," Chief Schwartz replied. "But I'd be willing to bet that since we found one of these old mines there'll be some more around here."
"Ma'am, you should also talk to Henry Dreeson and some of the other old-timers," Anse Hatfield said. "There could be a few more of these abandoned operations around here."
"First Sergeant Plotz, take charge out here. Get Sergeant Torbert's crew to lay track right up to the end of this track. Then have Sergeant Hatfield's men continue clearing that entrance. When they finish, send them for their locomotive and don't let anyone into the mine until Chief Schwartz and I get back," Elizabeth said. "Chief, I think we need to go to town and talk to the mayor and some more of the old-timers."
About an hour and a half later, Elizabeth and Chief Schwartz arrived at City Hall and asked to speak to Mayor Dreeson. "Henry, we found something that could really help us out but first off, do you know Lieutenant Pitre," the chief said.
"Only by reputation. I understand you were a pretty good cop when you worked for Dan Frost," Mayor Dreeson said, smiling.
"Well, sir, sometimes I miss the police," Elizabeth said. "But right now I'm working on a military narrow gauge railroad. Mr. Mayor, we found an old mine with a couple of narrow gauge rail cars and a bunch of track. I don't know how much you know about what we're doing, but the track and rail cars are perfect for our project."
"I knew there was work on railroads, but this is the first I've heard about anyone doing something with narrow gauge," Mayor Dreeson replied.
"Mr. Mayor, we've been experimenting with narrow gauge for a couple of months now. We converted Anse Hatfield's garden tractor as our first locomotive, scrounged up a couple of others that we're converting, and we're now working on a larger locomotive based on a Subaru Justy," Elizabeth said. "At the same time we came up with a few cars on the old lumber trails that we're rebuilding. Our biggest problem is track. Strap rail is not worth a hoot and there isn't enough of the good rail we're finding on the old lumber trails. If we can find more of it, the First Railway Company can be truly operational."
"Why don't I call Ken Hobbs, and you can show us both what you've found. I think we might be able to help you out and in more ways than you think," said Mayor Dreeson.
"This was my uncle's old place," Ken Hobbs said as he looked at the mine entrance. "There are a couple more of these around here, too. You should be able to get a bunch of track out of them."
"What about the old Joanne mine?" asked Mayor Dreeson.
"You know, I didn't think about that," Ken replied. "Didn't they have a couple of locomotives, too? And what about the line that went through the middle of town? I seem to recall that the town didn't have enough money to pull up the tracks so they were just paved over."
"You know, I plumb forgot about that one," said Mayor Dreeson. "Bill, Lieutenant, you probably just got a couple of miles more track there alone. You also got me thinking about something. We need to go over to the Joanne mine. I think you'll want to see this. We also need to go back to City Hall and look at a couple of old maps."
Why did I ever decide to go to Rita's wedding? Elizabeth thought as she saw the latest effort of the 1st Rail Company (Narrow Gauge tactical) of the new U.S. Army. First Lieutenant Elizabeth Pitre was not a happy camper on this crisp September afternoon in 1633. She was a "volunteer" for this project by being in the right place at the wrong time. When she was stressed, the "Dis, dat, dese, dose, and dem" of a New Orleans' childhood came out.
"What da hell kind of goat rope organization do I have here," she muttered to Chief Schwartz. It wasn't that she didn't understand the importance of her job. She had been perfectly happy as an MP platoon leader and was in line for command of the next MP Company to be organized.
Elizabeth was looking at a derailed train consisting of a garden tractor locomotive and two narrow gauge flatcars. The flatcars were about twenty-feet long and looked like half-sized versions of standard gauge cars.
"First Sergeant!" Elizabeth called, "Get the train back on the rails, bring the track laying crews back, and let's get ready to go home. We'll do the after action review before we head back.
"Chief, is it what I think?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes ma'am, another case of not leveling the roadbed enough," the chief said, "but the rails didn't break or spread this time and we laid a mile and a half of railway in six hours."
Elizabeth merely shook her head and walked off. Six hours of wasted work. Well, maybe not wasted . . . they were getting a better feel for what they could or couldn't do. They were learning what they needed to fix and what wouldn't work. She thought about the two months it took to figure out that they needed more than two drive wheels on a locomotive.
At the end of the tracks she arrived at the site of the derailment. Three men were righting the lawn tractor locomotive, with another sitting nearby holding his leg. "Y'all okay, Sergeant Hatfield?" she asked.
"Yes ma'am', he answered, "Just a little shook up. Toeffel twisted his ankle when he was thrown off the flatcar, though."
Elizabeth looked at the now dented tractor. "Hooah. Third time this week. What do you think caused it this time? Chief Schwartz thinks it's because the roadbed isn't level enough. Why do you think it happened?"
Sergeant Hatfield scratched his head and thought for a couple of seconds. "Mr. Schwartz is the railway expert, but I think if the tractor was heavier it would stay on these uneven rails. This locomotive should be heavier anyway, ma'am. Let me weld some seats over the front wheels and have two more men ride there to test it?"
"You might be onto something, Sergeant Hatfield. We'll try it tomorrow. At least we already have the track in place. Do you think the track can handle the additional weight?" Elizabeth remembered only too well the experiments to come up with strap rail before they found the dog hole mines.
"I think so, ma'am. These rails will hold a lot more weight than the strap rail they are playing with on the standard gauge lines so a couple of hundred extra pounds on a tractor should be all right."
"Well, by the time you get this turned around and back on the tracks, everyone else should be here." Elizabeth walked farther down the tracks to see what the laying crew was up to. Sergeant Torbert had a platoon of new German recruits working on clearing the route and laying prefabricated track sections. Sergeant Bach, who was also the bandleader, was there in his role as the platoon sergeant of the wire platoon. First Sergeant Plotz and the two were already discussing the events of the day.
"We were very lucky today. We didn't have a lot of clearing to do," Sergeant Torbert said. "If we're going to lay track in the woods, I'm either going to need a lot more people or equipment. I'd really like to have three or four chain saws. I'll talk to my brother tonight to see what he has hidden in his barn that we might be able to repair."
"Yeah, you got a lot of track laid, but you have to be more careful. It derailed again about half a mile down the track," First Sergeant Plotz replied.
"Afternoon, ma'am," Sergeant Torbert said as he saw Elizabeth approach.
"It'd be a lot better if we could keep the train on the tracks," Elizabeth said. She greeted her sergeants personally and then said, "You done good, Sergeant Torbert."
Once all the personnel were assembled, Elizabeth began, "Okay, we got a mile and a half of track laid in six hours, but the train derailed. Sergeant Hatfield thinks he can do something with more weight on the locomotive, but the chief thinks it is because of roadbeds not being level enough. We also need to be faster in laying the prefabricated track. We need to work out better procedures for using other troops when they are available."
"Ma'am," one of the privates said, "we can dig fast but we need some sort of tool to tell us when the ground we're digging is level."
Sergeant Torbert said, "That's right ma'am. In fact we need some sort of gadget we can use to find the most level place so we won't have to dig as much."
Elizabeth noted this as a project for the chief and Sergeant Hatfield.
Sergeant Bach said, "Perhaps my wire teams could be of some help, too. If we know where the track is going to be laid, we could go out and find the best places while we lay wire. That way you already have the telegraph line in before the track is laid."
"Good idea, Sergeant Bach. Anything else?"
Her soldiers were tired and hungry and just wanted to get back to their billets. It had been a long day. "Top, lets get our troops back to the train and get them home. It's been a long day and I still have to meet with the regimental commander to back-brief him," she told First Sergeant Plotz.
Elizabeth returned to the Hatfield farm after meeting with the staff of the 1st Grantville Volunteer Regiment (Hans Richter). The one bright spot of a disappointing day was that there were now more soldiers cross trained in track laying who could help her when the word came. She expected that word sooner rather than later.
She looked at the soldiers lined up at the mess railcar and felt a small twinge of satisfaction. Well, that at least is something I did that turned out all right, she thought. The kitchen car had three gas burners designed from a picture of her grandfather's crawfish boiler. It was also set up so a griddle could be used for breakfast cooking. Elizabeth loved food like only someone who was born in New Orleans could. That, combined with her father's continual carping about quality of military cooking, made her very interested in what she and her soldiers would eat. She detested the blandness of their diet and she normally carried a bottle of hot sauce everywhere. But supplies were running out and she kept what she had left for special occasions.
"Well, young Lieutenant, I've a treat for you tonight," Mess Sergeant Liesel Schmidt told her. "I was able to get hold of some fish for you today."
"Is there enough for the troops, too?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yes ma'am." Liesel knew that the only way Elizabeth would eat was after every soldier in the unit was fed first. "Corporal Rau was practicing with some of the new hand grenades and he accidentally threw one into the river. We have enough fish for a couple of days."
"I bet," Elizabeth said, restraining the urge to chuckle. She had too many relatives who thought game and fish limits were strictly advisory. Her father often said, with a big grin on his face, that he thought the reason her grandfather made sergeant was because of his skill in doing such things as fishing with hand grenades. "Sergeant Schmidt, what am I going to do with you?" Elizabeth asked.
"Well someday, you're going to teach me to cook this gumbo you're always talking about," Sergeant Schmidt replied.
"Tell you what, good Sergeant, I'll write out a copy of a sausage gumbo recipe off my computer and let's see what we can do next week. I've seen some good-looking venison sausage we should be able to use." Elizabeth was thankful that she had her laptop with her when she made the trip to Grantville. On it was most of her life in one form or another.
When she arrived at the company's orderly room, Elizabeth was surprised to see that the chief and her sergeants weren't wrapped up in their usual evening argument about what went wrong and how to fix it. Normally Chief Schwartz and Sergeant Hatfield would be locked in a tooth and nail fight about what should be done. Elizabeth was in no mood to referee tonight. She just wanted to eat and go back to her room.
To her surprise, there was no argument tonight. Elizabeth soon found out why. Her old college roommates, Mary Pat Flanagan and Caroline Platzer were waiting for her. With the support of the warrant officers and NCO's, they virtually dragged her to the Thuringen Gardens for junior officers' night.
Elizabeth went off with her friends and drank herself into oblivion. She ranted and raved the whole time about her frustrations over the last year, beginning with her belief that she was shanghaied into the railways.
Elizabeth got so drunk that she had to be carried home by First Sergeant Plotz and Sergeant Hatfield. Her friend Caroline put her to bed. As soon as she was carried out of the Thuringen Gardens, Frank Jackson's phone began to ring.
Thankfully, Diane Jackson was the voice of common sense and kept Frank from doing anything rash. Diane went over to Elizabeth's quarters and spoke to her first.
About an hour and a half after meeting Diane, Elizabeth appeared at the army headquarters in Grantville wearing the one set of U.S. Army battledress she saved for special occasions. She was thankful she left her dirty uniforms in her car before she went to Rita's wedding. But the rubber riding boots bore no comparison to the jump boots she had left behind.
As Elizabeth waited in General Jackson's outer office she was surprised to realize she really wanted to stay with the railroad project. When she was called into the inner office she found General Jackson, not behind his desk as she expected, but looking out the window.
"Come here, Lieutenant, look out there. What do you see?" Jackson asked.
As Elizabeth looked out all she saw was the typical scene of a Grantville street, people from the twentieth century and people from the seventeenth century, to judge by their clothing, going about their business, many of them riding the new streetcars. And she knew many would be speaking in the mixed German-English patois that was becoming the common street language of Grantville, and to a certain extent of the new U.S. Army.
"Just people, sir. It looks busy."
"Yes it is busy, about as busy as I've seen Grantville in the last few years, before or after the Ring of Fire. I wish Mike Sterns and Rebecca were here. They could put this much better, but I think that street is so busy because the people feel safe. And do you know why they feel safe, lieutenant?"
"Because of us, sir, that is, the army?"
"Bingo, Lieutenant, they feel safe because of us, and that means they trust us to protect them. Now how would you feel if the person who is supposed to protect you was dancing on the tables and falling down drunk?"
"Sir, for the drinking I've no excuse, but I wasn't dancing."
"But you did make a spectacle of yourself and passed out in front of half the town. By this morning the other half has heard about it. And you did have to be carried back to your quarters. Lieutenant, I got a number of calls about you last night, all of them wanting you relieved from command. This is a small town and everything you do is noticed and talked about. Your private life is normally none of my business, but when it becomes public it becomes my business. You have to be a model, someone people look up to and not a town joke. There are some people who are just waiting for you to screw up. And when you do, guess who gets the complaints?"
"General, I—"
"Stop, Lieutenant. I picked you for the job so I should get the complaints, but I don't want to hear any more about anything we can avoid. You have to realize you live in a fishbowl and there are a lot of hungry cats just waiting for a chance. Do you understand?"
"Yes, sir."
"You have to know how important this rail project is. We need a way to supply Gustav's armies that is better than horses and wagons, and this is the best shot we have. In fact it is one of the most important projects we have right now. And from what I hear, you're doing a good job. If you don't know that, it is partially my fault. I should have visited your unit and let you know. So we're going there right now. Besides, that tramway subsidiary of yours has made life a lot easier for people in Grantville."
"Now sir? We don't have anything prepared to show you. All we have is the track out to the farm and our training locomotive. It's not too impressive, sir."
"Call and have the engine and a flatcar meet us at this end of the track. We'll ride out on the train."
When they arrived at the railhead they saw Sergeant Hatfield, Corporals Toeffel and Rau with Private Schultz turning the lawn tractor locomotive around by picking it up off the tracks and rolling it around the flatcar. Corporal Lehrer and Private Schroder from the signal platoon were there, practicing hooking up a telegraph to an existing wire. As usual, the four men on the train crew were dressed in stained mechanics coveralls. All the NCOs stripes were painted on, upside down. Private Schultz was wearing a set of coveralls that were too small. Hatfield and Schultz had their up-time pistols in holsters, but Toeffel had two wheel lock pistols stuck in his belt. Rau had a sheathed knife that must have had fourteen inches of blade strapped to his leg. As a finishing touch, all four were wearing ball caps with Blue Barn dog food logos on them. Lehrer and Schroder were wearing clean overalls and also wearing Blue Barn dog food caps.
With Hatfield and his crew riding on the engine driven by Toeffel, there was plenty of room on the flatcar for Elizabeth and the general.
"Tell me about this. What am I looking at?" General Jackson asked.
"Sir, all this line was laid by the original crew using the existing road as a roadbed; it's basically two-foot gauge tracks using prefab rail sections. This runs out to Hatfield's father-in-law's farm where we have a turning wye. Then the rail branches into two lines and they head off into the woods. Total we have right now is about fifteen miles of track, not counting the wye, our storage yard and three sidings. We tried using strap iron on the top of six-by-four-inch wooden rails to save material, but it kept breaking. Then we got lucky and found the twenty-pound rail that was used in the dog hole mines and on the lumber trails. The twenty pound is fine for narrow gauge, but if you want to make a higher capacity standard gauge line you'll need heavier track."
"And your people have put in this track since the project started?"
"Yes, sir. We're up to about one and a half miles a day on unprepared ground. This stretch on the road we averaged about two and a half miles a day. Right now we have about forty-five miles of track we have recovered, and we're building twenty miles of that into twenty-foot sections of prefab, with the rails and ties already together. That lets us lay track just like a big toy train. If the lines are replaced with new made heavier rail the old rails can be reused."
The general looked at the engine, "Lieutenant that really is just a big lawn tractor isn't it? And why isn't Hatfield driving? I thought he was your engineer?"
"Yes, sir. The engine has close to twenty-eight horsepower. We had to modify it to a 0-6-0 configuration to adequately transfer power to the tracks. Toeffel is driving because we're training rail crews as well as track crews. Corporals Toeffel and Rau are both trained drivers. Sergeant Hatfield likes to let both men get more experience, so I would bet that Rau was driving on the trip into town. Private Schultz is trained to be a brakeman, though with just one car he's along for his muscle more than his skill."
"Hatfield," the general called out, "how many cars can that thing pull?"
"Ten is all we have overhauled right now, General, and we have pulled them all at one time, loaded. Now that's on level ground. On a hill, it's about half that. But we're working on three more locomotives. One is a bigger one using a Subaru with a four cylinder engine and four-wheel drive. It should be able to pull twice that load. You'll have to talk to Lieutenant Bicard and Sergeant Born about the horse-drawn cars. I don't know much about them," Anse answered.
"Lieutenant, how much can each car carry?"
"Sir, from what I can figure out, the coal cars are rated at two tons each, the lumber cars at five tons, and the flatcars at ten tons. However, we won't carry more than two tons a car because they start spreading the rails at about two and a half tons. We're also building some cars we can use for horse-drawn trams and they can carry about a ton and a half each."
"So on level ground with what is really a lawn tractor, you can move twenty tons at ten to fifteen miles an hour. Is that about right, Lieutenant?"
"Yes sir, though it is much closer to ten than fifteen miles per hour. And we're getting better. Give us better equipment and we can lay track faster. As we get more coal cars overhauled, we'll be able to haul a lot of ballast to level out the roadbed and smooth over rough spots."
General Jackson appeared lost in thought as they rode to the end of the track where Sergeant Torbert had a group of recruits clearing ground. A horse-drawn railcar was nearby, loaded with prefabricated track sections.
After watching for a while, the general asked, "Those all your men, Lieutenant?"
"No sir. Most of them are from the First Volunteer regiment we're cross training. Torbert works well with the recruits and we have cross trained about two hundred in track laying and clearing," Elizabeth answered.
"And what are they doing?" the general continued.
"They are laying what we call a training fork. They put in a switch on the branch and run a set of rails out in to the woods for about a mile and a half. They have to clear and level the ground first for the length of the fork. They have some prefab track sections ready to lay, and we're using the horse-drawn trams to transport the sections to them. Right now we have four forks, but they can be removed and the rail reused."
"Well, let's head back," said the general.
At the end of the rail they found that the crew had turned the engine around ready to head back.
"I want to stop at your headquarters and see your camp, Lieutenant," General Jackson said.
They arrived at the camp just as Sergeant Schmidt was feeding the first shift.
"What is that thing, Lieutenant, a stove on wheels?" the General asked.
"That's our field kitchen, General. I based the burners on my grandpa's crawfish boiler and the chief had it made in a metal shop in town. We laid a special siding for it as practice with switches," Elizabeth answered.
"I like it. And this is your design?"
"Well, yes. With the chief's help, sir. Want a closer look?"
General Jackson walked over to look at the kitchen. As he got closer he saw that the mess car was just one of the improvements; there were garbage cans and immersion heaters running off a bottled gas tank that was on a rail car parked behind the kitchen car. The soldiers were washing their tin plates and forks in heated water. In front of the mess car was a water tank mounted on rail wheels.
Just then Sergeant Schmidt saw him. "Want some fish, General? We have enough for everyone. I'll get you some. Grab a plate and wash it and your hands. No one gets fed unless they wash up. The lieutenant is a 'Teufel' for washing."
"I haven't heard that sort of lecture since I was in Basic Training," said Jackson.
"Sir, if there's anything I learned from my daddy it's the importance of field sanitation. He used to think it was a pain in the rear end. But he read an article in The Field Artillery Journal years ago about how the Afrika Korps had a large amount of soldiers who couldn't fight because they were sick. When he took my brother and me to France we walked through some of the British cemeteries from the First World War. He always got angry about how many men died needlessly from disease."
She continued, "I didn't know anything about the old way of doing things with mess kits, but between the chief and the up-time sergeants who were in the Army, we came up with the immersion heaters and the basic setup. The first sergeant told me that the old immersion heaters used dripping gasoline, which struck me as dangerous and a pain to deal with. So they came up with one that would use natural gas instead."
General Jackson was amazed by what he was seeing. "Lieutenant, I want to bring Ed Piazza and Greg Fererra out here to see this. We need a field kitchen and this plan would be perfect. We could mount it on a wagon instead of a rail car. What else do you have to show me?"
Elizabeth led him to her field office, where PFC Bode called up on the company computer the design for the field shower unit and a design for tent heaters that would run off the same bottled gas as the kitchen. Then they went to the shop tent to meet PFC Dressel, the company blacksmith and to see the natural gas/coal-fired forge that Sergeants Hatfield and Torbert had come up with for making small critical parts from scrap steel.
After that, Elizabeth took him to the signal shack, which was a purpose built car with a telegraph station on board as well as the company's one radio. "We started training telegraph operators before we got the radio and it wasn't too difficult to cross train the telegraphers to send Morse over the radio," Elizabeth explained to General Jackson.
"Eighteen miles of railroad, three hundred troops trained to lay track, trained engine crews, trained horse-drawn trams, you're making your own parts and your troops eat better than any in the field. You know, you have done a hell of a job, Major."
As Elizabeth turned to correct the General she saw the smile on his face.
"It's long overdue, Elizabeth," General Jackson said, as he held the insignia of a major out to her.
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't thank me, Major, you earned it. Now what do you need to make this unit ready to go? As of now this unit is no longer provisional and I think the army is going to want more than one battalion like this."
"Well, we need more blacksmiths to work on fabricating new equipment, one or two captains, a few more lieutenants, at least one more radio, and if possible a small sawmill. I already have a signal detachment that can lay wire and operate a telegraph system. I'd also like to transfer about two hundred and fifty men to fill out the track laying platoons and form a horse-drawn tram company. You talk about expanding to a battalion and more. If we do, I want to make Hatfield, Plotz, Born, and Bach warrant officers so they can command platoons. Promote Bicard to captain so he can command the tram company and Torbert to first sergeant as a start. Anything else we can build and we'll promote from within as I expand the TOE." Elizabeth paused, "And sir, this unit will be the One hundred forty-first Railway Battalion, otherwise known as the Louisiana Tigers."
"Well, before I ask why one hundred forty-first and why Louisiana, where's this band I keep hearing rumors about?" the general asked.
Elizabeth smiled and said, "Easy, sir, they're the wire platoon and some of the telegraph operators of the signal detachment."
Jackson smiled as he shook his head, thinking she's got military bureaucrat in her blood and knows very well how to hide things in the open. He then asked, "You know that Richelieu has changed the name of Virginia to Louisiana, don't you?"
"Sir, it's my home and I want to ram it up the rear end of the arrogant Frenchman that took the name of my home away from me. Besides, there are no alligators and bayous in Virginia. They sure don't grow rice there. And, I 'gaw-ron-tee' that there's no way they would ever come up with Tabasco Sauce there," Elizabeth said. "Besides that sir, I wanted my people to realize that there was more to the old United States than the great state of West Virginia."
"Does this have anything to do with the LSU football team being called Tigers?" the general asked.
"Well sir, the One-four-one is one of the Louisiana units that LSU got the tiger mascot from. My daddy served with the One-four-one until he had to leave for promotion," Elizabeth replied.
"Done," he said. "How were you ever able to get Plotz, Hatfield and Torbert to work together or work at all? That's really amazing," General Jackson told her.
"Well, General, it just took a half-English coonass to sort these hillbillies out." Elizabeth answered with a smile, "Really, they're all good men, sir."
On a cold spring morning in 1634 a new train was loading up in Grantville to move north. This was a different sort of unit from the normal volunteer regiments that completed training in the Grantville area.
First, a marching band was playing New Orleans style brass band music and alternating numbers with the fifes and drums. On the bass drum was written "U.S. Military Railway Band" around a brick-red colored shield-shaped crest with the head of a Bengal tiger on it; below the shield was a gold ribbon with the words "Try Us."
Another difference was the load on this train was made up of steel-wheeled railcars, not rubber tired vehicles. These trains were loaded on the standard gauge flatcars for transport to Halle, where they would be loaded on barges.
Large amounts and different types of equipment were moving out. Flatcars were loaded with prefabricated sections of rail, lumber cars were laden with rails, coal cars were filled with equipment, and there was one car loaded with spools of telegraph wire.
Another difference was that families were going with this unit. With the attached Volunteer Pioneer Regiment to provide security and track laying support, the total convoy numbered nearly two thousand personnel.
A young woman dressed in up-time U.S. Army battledress with a new gold oak leaf on her right collar walked the length of the train accompanied by an older man in overalls.
"Well Chief, I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be," Elizabeth said.
"Yes ma'am, I agree with you. Time to go," Chief Warrant Officer Charlie Schwartz replied.
"I'll meet you back at our train," Elizabeth told him. She then went over where two other young women were waiting for her.
"You take care of yourself and be careful," Mary Pat Flanagan said.
"And what am I supposed to do now that you're leaving?" Caroline Platzer asked.
Beth looked at her roommates of her last two years at WVU and said, "I'll miss both of you very much, but you know I'll be back." After hugging her friends, she went to the lead locomotive and pumped her arm up and down, the signal to move out. The 141st Railway Battalion was going to war.
"Well Chief, on to Halle. I hope the navy has the river open so we can travel on barges up to Scherwin Lake," Elizabeth said.
"Ma'am, it'll be a lot easier and quicker to get to where we need to go on barges," Chief Schwartz replied.
"I couldn't agree with you more. This is going to be a pain, but on the other hand, we're going to be needed," Elizabeth said.
"Well, we have the advance detachment with some equipment at the Schwerin Lake railhead, but we have to lot to work out on how we're going support the army," the chief said.
"Your idea of setting up an advanced base camp at Schwerin Lake is a good one," Elizabeth replied. "We'll just have to see what happens when we get there."