She gave him a thoughtful look and then asked, "Aren't you a little young to be a head conductor? I always thought they were old men."
Karl nodded. "Normally you would be right, but I started as a trainman before the railroad opened for business. My father was the foreman who helped build this section of the railroad and I worked on his crew. When they posted the job announcement for trainmen, I already knew the route and the engineers. Mr. Lowe decided to take a chance on a younger man and now here I am!"
"Is your father Fritz Alpendorf?" she asked with an amazed look on her face.
Karl was speechless for a moment. How did she know his father? "Why yes. How do you know his name?"
"I've met him a number of times when he came to my father's steel plant to check on the new rail production. I must say, you do bear a strong resemblance to him."
Karl started to get a tight spot in his chest. She was way above his station in life. The short hair and open attitude had left him with the impression she might be a shop clerk. The daughter of a steel mill owner? Never! Nevertheless, he had to ask, "Who exactly do I have the pleasure of addressing?"
"Oh! I'm sorry. I should have introduced myself. Father says my manners are atrocious at times. I'm Lynn Pierce. I'm on my way to Imperial Tech to study mechanical engineering." She stuck out her hand. "And you are?"
Karl bowed, took her hand and kissed it, as he imagined a nobleman would. "I am Karl Alpendorf, head conductor on this train. Very pleased to meet you." They both laughed at his performance. A chuckle from across the aisle caught their attention. The old grandmother there was smiling.
"Such a nice young man. And so polite," they heard her whisper. "I wish I was still young."
Turning back to Lynn, Karl asked, "Are you really planning to study engineering? Why would you want to study in such a boring field?" Lynn's eyes went wide. Karl realized that had not been the right way to ask the question. Before he could recover, Lynn launched into an explanation that evidently had been used numerous times before.
"It's not a boring field! I've worked the past few years for my parents as a draftsman and engineer on all sorts of projects at the mill. And done a good job too! If I'm going to be able to do the more complicated work that the mill will need in the future, Father says I have to have the training that will be needed. He agreed that after two years at Tech I could take on larger projects. I helped with the design of the machines that rolled the rail we're riding on!"
The conversation was interrupted by a small boy walking up to Karl and tugging politely on his coat sleeve. Karl turned and asked, "Can I help you?" The boy, who seemed to be bouncing more than the car motion would explain, motioned for Karl to bend over so he could whisper in his ear. Karl nodded and then stood up. "We'll be right back." He escorted the child to the restroom at the end of the car. Opening the door, he said, "Here you go. Just pull the latch back when you get ready to come out." He walked back to Lynn. "Just part of my job, running the train."
Lynn looked puzzled. "I thought the engineer ran the train?"
"Oh no, he only drives the engine. The conductor runs the train. He's responsible for arriving on time, making sure everything is run safely and that the passengers are taken care of properly. A very important job!" He straightened his coat and, unconsciously, struck a pose. The youngster chose that moment to leave the restroom and announce to his mother in a loud voice, "They even have running water!" as he raced back to his seat.
Lynn's rejoinder, "But you're still pretty young!" brought Karl back to earth.
They talked for almost twenty minutes about Karl's work, Lynn's plans for school, and her ideas on new products for the mill. Karl held his own in the technical discussions, describing the engineering problems his father had encountered with construction at various points on the line. Lynn described what the mill was doing for rolling the new steel rail. As they passed over a short trestle, Karl described the headaches they had encountered with the pilings. "The land in this area is very soft and marshy. It took them almost two weeks to get the pilings down far enough to hit solid ground. They had a lot of problems with supplies and equipment sinking into the ground. We've had to keep real close watch on the track to make sure it doesn't buckle or slide. They were eventually able to find a solid ridge up ahead that rises above the soft ground. It's close to a stream and follows its course for about a mile." The train started to slow down as it reached the foot of the uphill grade.
Karl noticed the door on the stove had come open. "Excuse me. I need to attend to the stove." He walked over and checked the coals. They were dull, with lots of ash. He shook the grate and cleared the ash. Not much was left of the fire so he reached for the water pail, which hung nearby, to douse the remnants. As he tossed the water in, he felt a vibration that was unfamiliar. Suddenly, he felt more than heard a loud series of crunches through the frame of the car. A loud screech of steel on steel came from the direction of the engine. Without thinking, Karl dropped the pail, slammed the door of the stove closed and locked it. At the same time, he yelled out, "Everyone grab something and hold on!" He looked up and saw Gunther and the fireman fly past the window, heading for the soft ground alongside the track. The car reared up in the air. Lynn was thrown from her seat and a small trunk flew off the luggage rack and struck a glancing blow to her head. A wrenching crash, then the car then stopped abruptly. Karl grabbed hold of the overhead rack to keep from being thrown onto the stove. When Lynn's limp body was thrown, he grabbed her with his free arm and hung on. A sharp, grating pain in his arm meant something had broken, but his grip on the luggage rack held.
A loud, metallic snap sounded from the car behind them. Karl frantically looked toward the rear. The second car tilted almost ninety degrees in the opposite direction his car was leaning. The crash posts had held and they were safe from that direction. The cars gave one last groan, settled and stopped moving. Amazingly, he and Lynn were the only ones who had been thrown forward. Everyone else had heard his warning and held on. He called out, "Anyone else hurt? Check those around you."
A voice from the far end of the car called out, "I think I broke an ankle."
Still holding Lynn, Karl called out, "Can someone help him?"
Surprisingly, the grandmother from across the aisle got up and went back to help. She managed to walk on the sides of the seat legs with little difficulty. Karl checked Lynn's pulse. It was strong, but a nasty gash on her head was bleeding freely and already starting to purple. She moaned a little, but didn't waken. He set her down, then took out his handkerchief and pressed it firmly to the cut.
The stove was still secured to the floor by its stay bolts and the door was shut. Fire, the other major concern in train wrecks, wouldn't happen here, but Karl could smell a faint smoke odor. It must be the stove on the other car. Fighting back nausea and pain from his broken arm, Karl gathered up three fire grenades that were fastened above the stove and made his way back to the second car. Luckily, the doors were unlatched, but he still had trouble stepping across, clutching the grenades to his chest. When he finally entered, the stove was still attached, but the door had come off its hinges and coals were spread on the floor. He quickly threw all three grenades. Their glass shells broke and spread the chemical on the coals. Holding his breath, Karl grabbed two more grenades from above the stove and added them to the effort. The flames sputtered out, Karl ducked out of the door, closed it and sucked in a lungful of clean air. While the grenades were very effective in killing the flames, he had also been warned that they were equally effective in killing anyone who breathed in too much of their fumes.