SMCM RY LR CH7

Chapter 7: Railroad Detention

Later that evening, Yard Master was on his way back to the shed when the troublesome duo came up from behind.
Yard Master: (To himself) "Aw crap"
Fred: "Sup Yard Master, how's it goin'"
Yard Master: "Not now you guys, I am very stressed out right now."
Scott: "Aw come on ye old fart, have some spirit."
Yard Master: "Back off you two, this isn't the right time for this."
Fred: "Looks like Mr. Grumpy doesn't want to have any fun."
Yard Master: "ALL RIGHT, THAT'S IT! You two are now assigned 3 days of coal shunting at Grandville Coal Mines."
Fred: (Laughing) "That's a good one Yard Master."
Yard Master: "I wasn't making a joke, I'm serious."
Scott: "No way man."
Yard Master: "Who's in charge here, me. You two pissed me off so both of you will report to the coal mines first thing in the morning."
Fred and Scott: "Aw crap."

Early the next morning, Fred and Scott arrived at the coalmines. Boy were they pissed off when they saw all the dirty coal cars sitting on the sidings.
Jack: "Well look what we have here, Fred and Scott got in trouble by the big guy."
Fred: "Shut up Jack, you know how much we hate getting dirty."
Scott: "Yeah."
Jack: "Well I've been put in charge to make sure you two do what your assigned."
Scott: "Who says you're in charge."
Jack: "The old fart did." *snicker*
Fred: "What's so funny."
Jack: "Did you really call Yard Master an old fart?"
Fred: "He is. He doesn't have a sense of humor."
Jack: "What ever, there is a long line of coal hoppers over there, take them and load them under the shoots."
Scott: "What are you supposed to do?"
Jack: "Watch the both of you and take the loaded cars to the pick up siding."

Fred and Scott head off to retrieve their cars to load while Jack was making funny faces behind their backs. He just loved bossing around Fred and Scott as they started to get covered with soot from the loading coal. Jack knew how mad they were as they continued the harsh dirty work.

Later that evening, Fred and Scott were getting very tired.
Jack: "Alright you two, your work is done for the day."
Scott: *Panting* "Finally we can go back to West Park."
Jack: "You two are staying here. You two will be sleeping in that shed over there."
Fred: "Are you freaking serious. There is no way we're sleeping in there."
Jack: "It's that or the outside sidings."
Scott: "Fine, we'll take the stupid shed."
Jack: "It should keep the snow off of you."
Fred: What ever."

The troublesome duo head off for the shed as Jack took the remaining loaded cars down to West Park. As Jack was descending the mountain, he could not stop laughing about Fred and Scott calling Yard Master and old fart and he got to boss someone bigger than him around.
Early the next morning, Tom and Jack both brought more empty coal hoppers to the yard and dropped them off before Fred and Scott woke up. While they were sound asleep, Jack snuck up and blasted his horn.
Jack: "Wake up ladies, time for work."
Fred: "Jack, man, what the hell was that for."
Jack: "It's time to get up and load some more cars. The more you work, the faster you two will return to West Park."
Scott: *grunts*
Fred: "I'm already dirty enough, just let us go…"
Jack: "Yard Master specifically told me that you two need to work a total of 3 days of coal shunting."
Scott: "Bull crap."
Jack: "Now get to work before I call Yard Master."
Fred: "What ever."

As Fred and Scott head for the empty hoppers, Jack and Tom started snickering as they watched. Moment's later; Gordon joins in and makes funny faces behind their backs. When things were starting to get real funny, Gordon called Yard Master.
Gordon: "Hey Yard Master, you better come up to Grandville right now."
Yard Master on the radio: "Is Fred and Scott not doing their work."
Gordon: "No mate, they are just covered in soot. You have to come up here it's so funny. Jack, Tom and I are already watching them."
Yard Master on radio: "Alright, I'll come up and see, but only for a little bit."
Gordon: "That's fine mate, see you when you get up here."

About ten minutes later, Yard Master watches Fred and Scott do all the dirty work. This entire time, Fred and Scott aren't taking notice that they have a crowd watching them.
Fred: "My god I need a brake."
Scott: "Um Fred?"
Fred: "What?"
Scott: "Why is Jack, Tom, Gordon and Yard Master laughing."
Fred: "Say what!"
Scott: "See, right over there by the pick up siding."
Fred: "They must be laughing at us. I wander why?"
Scott: "Because we're covered in soot you idiot."
Fred: "Ah son of a boxcar!"

When Fred and Scott came over to the pick up siding to drop off their loaded hoppers, the others started to laugh even harder. Fred was getting ready to flip out when he saw Emily the NPCU coming up the hill with Garry pushing her to find Fred. As she got closer, Fred felt embarrassed since he is covered in coal soot. She was shocked to see Fred all covered in soot.
Emily: "My god, Fred why are you all dirty?"
Fred: "Talk to the old fart over here."
Yard Master: "Fred, don't make me add another day of shunting."
Fred: "I'm not made for coal shunting."
Yard Master: "Well you have a good 3000 horse power and you could pull a damn freight train with that power."
Fred: "So. I'm a passenger locomotive, not a shunter like George. He's an SW7 for Pete sakes."
Yard Master: "What about Spencer the F40PHM-4C? He hauls freight trains every day."
Fred: "He was built for freight service old man, plus he has 4500 horse power."
Yard Master: "You younger locomotives are so smart these days. I can't even make a funny joke because I'm so old."
Tom: "Take it easy Yard Master, you're not that old…"
Yard Master: "I'm 65 Tom, that's pretty old for me. That's why I don't haul trains anymore."
Gordon: "Come on mate, we all know you can still haul freight."
Yard Master: "If it's a short switching train, then I can."
Gordon: "What if you hauled passenger trains?"
Yard Master: "I don't have the best looks and speed for passenger service. I was built before any of you were and my cousin Charles, he's an FP45. He looked better than I did in the old days and he still does."
Scott: "He was built for passenger service…oh that's right, F45's were made for freight and FP45's were made for passenger service. That's why Yard Master doesn't want to haul passengers."
Fred: "You just had to give everybody a history lesson of the F45/FP45's didn't you Scott."
Scott: "What ever."
Yard Master: "All right that's enough, Fred, Scott, time for you two to go back to work and the rest of us should go, except for you Jack. You still have another 4 hours of work left as well."
Jack: "Ok Yard Master."
Tom: "Before we go, we never knew you had a cousin."
Yard Master: "I just never told you guys."
Fred: "How come we never seen him before?"
Yard Master: "He's always hauling classic passenger trains far north from here, near Oakland and San Francisco. He's taking some time off from work and is coming down to visit. Trust me, you guys are not going to tell us apart except that he has a steam generator making his a tad bigger than me."
Scott: "Does he have a sense of humor?"
Yard Master: "Why yes he does, but don't take advantage of that. Ok now were really getting distracted, now every one, back to work."

As the second day of shunting had passed, Fred and Scott could not wait another day to return to the warm shed of West Park Yard. The two locomotives were getting really sick and tired of the same work every day for a total of three days. Fred had the worst idea yet. Jack was fast asleep and Fred told Scott to hook up with Jack and put him under the coal shoot. Fred said the all clear and a ton of coal fell on to of Jack.
Jack: "WHAT THE! FRED, SCOTT, WHAT THE $@#& DID YOU GUYS DO TO ME!"
Fred: "That's what you get for making fun of us, now we can make fun of you."
Jack: " What the $@#& did I do to you guys.
Fred: "It looked like you and the others were making fun of us yesterday and we are reeking revenge against everyone, starting with you."
Jack: "You better not do anything bad to Yard Master. He will do something like this again."
Scott: "Do what again?"
Jack: "Give you guys another really dirty job."
Scott: "Like I really care about that Jack."
Jack: "He could send you to the steel mill in Weston, that place is really dirty. George just loves his work shunting the steel cars around and unloading coal. That place it really dirty."
Fred: "Jack is supposed to get dirty, he's a switch unit."
Jack: "You know what, you guys are of task and get back to work."
Fred: "Fine, we'll get back to work. Though dumping that coal on you was pretty cool."
Jack: "No it was not."
Scott: [laughing]

As the troublesome duo complete there last day of coal shunting, they were so happy to return back to West Park. They do not know what king of "welcome back" they are going to get. Scott thinks that they are going to have a rude "welcome back."
As they pulled in, everyone was laughing very hard and the troublesome duo was not impressed. Yard Master came up to them and said that they were hilarious and made everyone at West Park laugh until they couldn't laugh anymore.
Scott: "Well this isn't much of a surprise old man. I knew this was going to happen."
Yard Master: " Come on you two, can you accept a joke."
Fred: "What do you mean by "accept a joke" Yard Master?"
Yard Master: "You two never really got in trouble, I totally made you think that you got in trouble. I told everyone to make you guys feel like you got in trouble. Basically you two totally fell for it."
Fred: "Why you son of a Boxcar."
Everyone (but Fred and Scott): [Laughter]
Tom: "I can remember your faces as you were loading those hoppers, you guys look so pissed that it made everyone laugh."
Gordon: "See Yard Master, your not too old to make jokes."
Yard Master: "I just wanted to see if I still had some jokes up my sleeves."
Samantha: "I have to say, that was pretty funny."
Carl: "Now you two must…where did they go?"
Yard Master: "They must have gone to the train wash to get clean."
Mike: "What wimps, look at the rest of us, we're all dirty as well."
Yard Master: "Because there passenger locomotives Mike. My cousin Charles is the same way because up north, it is much warmer and lots of sun, so he likes to shine off his shiny clean paint."
Carl: "Typical."