The Maine & North Eastern Railroad: Rails to Individuality

Chapter 1: Journey

         The cold post winter potent was especially on the morning of January 14th, new years eve had seen the firm end of the 1970s that the ever venerable Mr Feaverick had just pulled his company through. It had been a tough struggle over those early years, as profits took some major hits when some of their once loyal lineside industries began turning towards the 'cheaper' and 'quicker' road based alternative, and while 1975 saw the Maine & NorthEastern post its first major losses, Mr Feaverick battled hard to secure its future. It

fact, it was on this day that he was heading to a meeting with the board of directors to propose another method of drumming up business for the slowly recuperating regional railroad.

         As he entered the large yard office, the battle hardened door gave off its signature groaning sound, alerting the members of the board to his arrival. "Good afternoon Mr Feaverick." the ever gruff and stoic voice drew his gaze to the right side of the room, where the equally experienced Mr Talnoe C. Proyer sat patiently, "Good morning Mr Proyer." After taking his seat at the large, ovalesque table, the meeting promptly began. Most of the subjects discussed during the meeting centered around the railroads financial state and operations, as they had a strong ending to their last quarter, (earning roughly 14M in december), and it had been proposed to put some of that funding into overhauling the railroads two GP9B unit's, as they hadn't been included in the GP10 rebuild program. However, after discussions of profits died down, the subject of the meeting turned to acquiring additional motive power.

         Mr Proyer, who normally played a hand in handling the railroads motive power decisions, began to speak"As I'm sure you all are aware, our last major locomotive deal was the purchase of 2 CF7's from the Santa Fe, and while the acquisitions have helped to alleviate some of the struggles we've been having with increasing local trains and manifest freights, we need to have equipment at the ready ahead of any further traffic surges...", he paused for breath, "...It is for this reason that I've gotten in contact with the heads of conrail to purchase one of their U25B's, as while it's vastly different technology wise from some of our senior motive power, it's power will benefit us in the on run." murmurs of agreement passed through the other 7 members on the board, Mr Proyer and Mr Feaverick then exchanged a look before Proyer nodded, giving Mr Feaverick the signal to bring up his plan.

         "Now, outside of this purchase, I have come with my own news regarding the planned purchase of another locomotive that will, in the long run, boost our relationship with the public.", the room went silent, as the entirety of the board focused on his words, "Now, as you know, most businesses like ours rely on ad campaigns and lucrative government contracts to build a following. However, what if we took a different approach to our methods? Wel, after looking back on ventures such as the Southern's own steam program, and the success of the American Freedom train, I propose that Maine and Northeastern railroad should acquire its own steam locomotive." A torrent of whispers ad hushed tones broke out amongst the other members of the board, as the idea of purchasing vintage motive power in such an era was an extremely risky one, however, one member of the board finally spoke up, "Mr Feaverick, as interesting as his proposal is, there is one glaring issue with this idea, Where are we supposed to acquire a such a locomotive? Surely none of the various groups would be willing to sell their engine to us!" inquired Ms Mareview, as the company's treasurer, any purchases would need to be sanctioned by her.

          "I'm glad that you asked Ms Mareview, as I've recently concluded some talks with some visiting businessmen from China, and if what they say is true, there is a steam locomotive sitting at Changchun with my name on it." His brows furrowed a bit as he continued, "The only obvious catch is that I have to not only go abroad, but I've had to pay for a space on a returning cargo ship. However, i can assure you all that the locomotive i desire will be more than capable of helping put our company on the radar, and given the deal i've made to acquire factory fresh replacement parts from their works, the engine will ebay be ready to go as soon as we arrive in Los Angeles on the return journey. Does anyone have any further questions?" Thankfully for Mr Feaverick, there were none, and the board meeting ended.

            A Week after making the arrangements, and taking an overnight flight to Beijing Capital International Airport, Mr Feaverick found himself driving almost 10 hours straight to reach his target, (It's a good thing he's a caffeine addict isn't it?), but he eventually found himself parking his Fairlady Z in the lot of Changchun's motive power depot. After locating the yard masters office, he waited patiently for the door to casually open. However, instead of opening casually, the door flung open, missing the edge of his nose by a few centimeters, after recovering from the brief shock, he locked eyes with the short, but ever eccentric man who helped him start his quest, "Hello Mister Feaverick, I have been expecting you for a while now!"

           Mr Qin Da was, to many of his colleagues, a very serious man who took his position as one of China Railways yardmasters very seriously. However,, to those who either brefend, or intrigue him, he is anything but 'serious', as he was a railfan through and through, something which became extremely clear to Feaverck as the two walked and talked throughout the yards, passing engines left and right, from mighty QJ's, to modern diesel locomotives waiting for the call to action. Eventually, as they came to a stop near a set of sidings, he locked eyes with the engine he was looking for, with the unmistakable wheel arrangement of a pacific, and a boiler that was coated with the marks of what was once hard work, her sturdy cab sheets spelled her name out in faded white numbers, "RM1118".