June 24th, 1963

  Overhauling a steam locomotive, especially in this day and age, is an art form. With skills and a good budget, overhauling a steam locomotive can be a straightforward job, for Roger, it was a long, but artful process, after his last run on Sunday, he backed into the engine shop, and his fire was put out, and on Monday, the overhauling begins, new flues and tubes were order, and his running gear was given a thorough overhaul, his boiler was still in good condition, and some cab parts were needed of refurbishing. His coaches were also moved into the shed for a light overhaul: a new floorboard, new seating, and refurbished windows.

  Ben was hoping to get Roger’s overhaul completed before the 1964 New Year. Still, with the funding due to the incident that happened two years ago, and with the increasing amount of volunteers and staff in the last year or two, the old Porter’s overhaul was getting completed at a faster rate, with help from the Reading Railroad to use their shops for some of the parts, buy the time spring has arrived, Roger’s overhaul was 90 percent completed, the volunteers and the shop staff were on the final leg of the project.

  The year was also intense when his youngest son, Samson, purchased the two industrial narrow gauge railway locomotives that he has been friends with for a while, 0-4-0t Bagnall John, and 0-6-0 Baguley diesel locomotive Timmy, for only ￡200 in working order, and now stored at the Ffestiniog Railway, Samson is planning to take them to the United States where he could operate them at the Hutton Steam Company, which the museum is doing quite well with laying down the mainline foundation, so far, only 6 miles.

  During that time, Ben was part of the 2 Foot Gauge Society, a Society formed in 1958 in the United Kingdom, just formed an American branch last year, and the first convention of the Society was held in June at the Westminster Grand Hotel, in Barry Street, in Westminster, Pennsylvania, which Ben, Lizzy, his sons Samuel and Samson, and Diana went, the meeting went well. Ben met up with the Lancaster Light Railway Society and the Friends of the California Pacific Railroad.

  Ben was curious about Roger visiting the California Pacific Railroad since his son and girlfriend visited the line last year, and were impressed by their operations, which led Ben to talk to the president of the Friends of the California Pacific Railroad, and a visit to the railroad, which became a long couple of hours of chatting over dinner. The Roger Railway has operated a special excursion in conjunction with the convention, with Simon becoming the engine in charge.

  Simon came to the railway after the final excursion on the end of September, on December 31st, 1962, the Simon Hill Railway became no more, the Forney type locomotive was welcome with open rails, and open arms from the other engines and the Roger Railway volunteers and staff, and he adjusted life quite well, like Clair and Roger, he has a matured personality, which is good for the younger engines, and since he was built to tackle the gradients of the Simon Hill Railway, he’s quick on his wheels, and he’s a great engine to help out during the busy summer season.

  Roger woke up in the shop, he was tired, but he didn’t sleep for the whole time, contrary to popular belief, the old Porter was awake when the shop staff wasn’t working on the old Porter, to numb him, they steam up the shop with this fragrant mist, to humans, it doesn’t affect them, it’s like an air freshener, to steam and diesel locomotives, with passenger coaches and caboose, it’s like an anesthetic, and also caused them to fall asleep and go numb, which could last 8-10 hours. His coaches also woke up. It was a cool morning, but the heat of the sun would make the shed a little unbearable. As his coaches woke up, Roger felt refreshed.

  “Morning, ladies,” Roger smiled at his coaches.

  “Morning, sweetheart,” Mary smiled at the old Porter.

  “Morning, Roger,” the three other sisters said in unison.

  Roger looked around the shop. There were no workers; he looked at the calendar.

  “It’s June 24th,” Roger told his coaches, “It’s been almost a year since we were out of service for our overhaul.”

  “Do you think we’re finished?” Mary asks.

  “That’s a good question, sis,” Taylor noted.

  “Who knows,” Roger told his coaches.

  Then, walking into the shop was Rick Alan, who was one of the earliest volunteers of the Preservation Society, and had been with the Society since 1951, and he could handle all sorts of projects to ease the load off of Ben and Lizzy, which included lighting the fire of the engines. Rick nodded to Roger and went into his cab, where the old Porter could hear coal shuffling into his firebox, crumpling sounds of boxes or paper, and a match being lit up.

  “I guess that answered all of our questions,” Roger giggled.

  Then, came to the shop is Henry Hurst, who is one the few original Roger Railway employees who stick around when the Preservation Society was formed, he was hired to the railway 30 years ago, and because a quite good shop mechanic, and was in charge of the restoration and maintenance of the rolling stock and engines, he held the title of ‘Master Mechanic of Steam’ since 1951, and he’s been Ben and Lizzy right hand man when it comes to projects in the engine shop, from working on the engines and overhauling rolling stock.

  “Well, good news, Roger,” Henry smiled at the old Porter, “Ben has you check yesterday, and you and your coaches' overhaul is completed, and Ben wants you operating test runs before the Fourth of July Weekend.”

  Roger and the coaches were beaming with happiness.

  “11 months,” Roger realized how long his overhaul took, “One month over to my first overhaul at the Juniata Shops.”

  “Yep,” Henry agreed, “I was surprised as well, but with the Reading Railroad's help with some of the parts, it was going to be a quick overhaul. I’m proud to know that my work in the last 30 years has kept you going, with the help of my old colleagues.”

  “No wonder I felt refreshed, new, just like a young engine again,” Roger beamed with happiness.

  Ben and Lizzy came into the shops, and Samuel and Diana were operating Simon since Roger had obviously been in the overhaul stage. The old Porter was happy to see them.

  “Ben! Lizzy!” Roger cried out happily. He was quite happy to see them, despite seeing them during the overhaul process.

  “How are you feeling, Roger?” Ben asks, but before the old Porter could answer, Lizzy sprinted towards him.

  “How’s my cutie pie!” Lizzy came over and kissed Roger’s forehead.

  “I feel refreshed, happy, and excited,” Roger told both Ben and Lizzy.

  “I’m pretty sure that Henry already told you, but your overhaul is completed. There’s one thing, and that is a test run,” Ben told Roger, “Just to make sure all the parts and gears are in good working order, and giving them a test run gives the new parts a chance of being operated, it’ll give us also a chance to see if anything needs any last-minute adjustment and repairs.”

  “So, we’re giving you a test run today,” Lizzy told Roger, “All day test run, with your coaches, who we also gave a light overhaul.”

  Roger felt pleased.

  “It’s nice to run again after being in the engine shop for such a long time,” He sighed with relief, “I can’t wait to run again.”

  Roger slowly moved out of the engine shop, was moved to another track, and backed up into Taylor, coupling her up, and moved his coaches out of the shed. The feeling of pulling his coaches was satisfying since Roger hadn’t coupled up with his coaches in almost a year. The summer sun hit the old Porter, seeing the sun shining on his face, it was a nice feeling, with the only windows in the engine shop showing the sunlight, and feeling the sun outside was a great feeling.

  “Hello, sweet tea,” a familiar voice called out to Roger.

  Roger looked to his left and saw an engine that he loved very much, Betty.

  “Betty!” Roger cried happily.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  “Betty has been here since May, since the summer season was quite tough this year,” Ben told the old Porter, “So we invited her and her coaches to operate some of the trains until you came back.”

  Roger could see Peaches, PawPaw, and Strawberry, the three coaches from Betty’s old railroad, and they were also happy to see the old Porter and his coaches.

  “It’s nice to see you three as well,” Roger commented.

  “It’s nice to see you as well, sugar,” Peaches smiled.

  “Our railway back home has got a lot of miles of track,” PawPaw added.

  “It’s been busy here!” Strawberry lastly added, “So many passengers!”

  “Tell me about it,” Mary jokingly smiled.

  Railfans were in the yard and saw that Roger was in steam for the first time since last year. They were taking photos for prosperity and knew this would be a good day for the old Porter and the railfans.

  “How was last year?” Roger asks, he didn’t get to see Betty much last year since the Hutton Steam Company and Museum has been growing in the last two years, which caused the passenger operation to be quite busy during those times; he only saw her once during the 1962 season.

  “Busy,” She sighed, “But I operated a special excursion for the 1962 NRHS Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, on the Southern Railway Narrow Gauge Division.”

  Roger was surprised.

  “I didn’t know that the Southern had two-foot gauge operations in Georgia,” He told Betty.

  “Me neither,” She smiled, “But it’s a line from Atlanta to Marietta, which the line also operates to Macon, Summerville, and to Birmingham.”

  “That must be a nice mainline running,” Roger smiled at his significant other, “You must’ve shown them your Dixie Queen power?”

  Betty grinned.

  “You bet I did,” She told Roger, “With a fully loaded passenger train, nonetheless, tons of photo runbys, it was fun.”

  Roger chuckled.

  “It makes me miss mainline excursions,” Roger told Betty, “The World’s Fair is going to be great, I’m guessing the Hutton Steam Company has some new tracks from what PawPaw had said?”

  “Yep!” Betty replied, “We purchased some tracks from the Simon Hill Railway and have been laying them since the beginning of the new year, and we’re almost to the 10-mile mark, just 6 miles so far, probably will be completed near the end of summer or the start of next year.”

  “We’ve been told that the gradient is quite tough for the line extension,” Peaches told Roger, “3 percent gradient with curves that would make the Southern Railway proud.”

  Roger looked at Peaches.

  “That is tough,” Roger noted, “But how many operating steamers on the railway?”

  “Just me and Silas,” Betty told Roger, “The shop staff is overhauling the German 0-8-0 tender engine since she’s powerful enough to haul the train up the gradients.”

  “At least the good thing is that you could stretch your wheels.” Roger added, “Anyway, it’s nice to see you again.”

  “I do too,” Betty smiled.

  Ben leaned out of the cab.

  “Betty would be operating the regular train today much later,” He told the old Porter, “After your test run, you’ll mostly be resting in the yard, which gives you enough time to spend time with her.”

  Roger beamed happily.

  “Thank you, Ben!” He told him.

  “Well, Roger,” Betty looked at the old Porter, “It’s time for you for your test run, you don’t want to delay that.”

  “Oh yeah,” Roger blushed a bit.

  After a quick look around by Ben and Lizzy, Roger blew his whistle and left the yard. With the train being light and not filled with passengers, the old Porter left the yard quickly and began his test run.

  The feeling of the rails was something familiar. After being out of service for so long, it felt like he was on a different railway, but it was just that track maintenance had been very good, and Roger's overhaul wheels and frames made it a much better experience; the coaches were happy too, feeling their wheels on the tracks. This was such a pleasant feeling, Roger could see railfans on the side of the tracks; they were probably quite surprised to see the old Porter and the old saddletank whistle at them.

  “What’s been happening since I was out of service?” Roger asks Ben.

  “Other than general maintenance on the railway, not much,” Ben told Roger, “It’s been well, Simon has proven to be good during the fall months last year, and quite well during spring and the beginning of summer, Elizabeth would take over for July operations.”

  “No wonder why the tracks felt so different, the work train team did quite well,” Roger praised happily, “The tracks felt good on my wheels.”

  “For events, other than the Fourth of July Weekend event coming soon, not much for this year, but you are invited to the California Pacific Railroad,” Ben told Roger, “I’ve spoken to the Friends of the California Pacific Railroad, and decided to host a weekend of events during August, the whole month, with you being invited, Lizzy and I took a visit to the railroad during the Memorial Day weekend, and was impressed by the operation.”

  Roger was curious.

  “How was it?” Roger asks.

  “Hotter compared to Pennsylvania,” He told the old Porter, “They’re rebuilding the mainline to Sacramento to Folsom from what I’ve been told, which operates on high mainline speeds, but their coaches and engines are in such good condition, and their engine shop is the Southern Pacific Sacramento Shop, which been occupied by the CPR since 1877! They have four steam locomotives in preservation, three 2-6-2s and one 0-4-4t Forney, like Simon.”

  “We enjoyed our trip to California, quite a different feeling compared to Pennsylvania,” Lizzy told Roger, “But we’re excited to bring you and your coaches.”

  “Well, I’m excited,” Roger smiled, “I’ve never been to this railroad or California.”

  “It'll be an experience since the Friends always wanted you to visit their railroad,” Ben told Roger, “And they’d gladly accommodate us for our California adventure.”

  Roger smiled at that. Today has been quite good, and he hasn’t felt anything off yet. With most shakedown runs, this would be a chance for all the kinks to get worked on, but right, it’s going well, the old Porter whistled happily to the trackside railfans, and arriving at Roger Station, proven to be as surprised as well, since another friend that Roger hadn’t seen since last year.

  “2102!” Roger cried out happily, “It’s nice to see you again.”

  “It’s been a while,” 2102 smiled at the old Porter, “How are you doing today? On a test run?”

  “Yep,” He replied, “I’m operating a simple test run with my coaches, nothing wrong so far, it’s been well, how’s life been?”

  “Not too bad, got many excursions from the spring season, I’ve met your significant other, Betty, she’s a nice engine,” 2102 told Roger.

  The old Porter smiled.

  “Yeah, I really love her very much,” Roger told 2102.

  2102 smiled with melancholy.

  “Other than what’s happening in Vietnam, the 1963 seasons went quite well for me; excursions have been booming since I’ve returned to service,” the 4-8-4 told Roger.

  “Really? What happened?” Roger asks curiously.

  “Well, the Army of the Republic of Vietnam decided to be nice with Buddhist protestors by shooting or spraying,” 2102 told Roger, “It seems like the U.S. government ain’t too happy, one of my crew has a brother who works for the government, it seems like a war is going to happen.”

  “A war?” Roger asks Ben and Lizzy, were checking him over to see if there’s anything wrong, but also listening.

  “Things are getting intense outside of our little world,” 2102 said to his friend, “I know that politics isn’t usually something talked through in our lives with other engines, but it’s important to think about.”

  “Because our crew could be part of a war,” Roger said to the 4-8-4, “I remember some of my crew were drafted during the Second World War.”

  “With the Cold War playing a big part…it’ll be a moment in time for America to be drafted in another one,” 2102 said to the old Porter.

  Roger looked at 2102.

  “What makes you think like that?” He asks, he wasn’t being mean, curious at most, but usually war is a tough topic amongst railroads; mostly every railroad during the Second World War played a huge part, including the Roger Railway, and knowing that crews were drafted into war, with some of them not returning home. Roger was generally curious about why 2102 would mention current events.

  “My railroad has been increasing the workload,” 2102 told Roger, “And the higher-ups are planning to end the Steam Program, though, maybe next year.”

  “I see,” Roger said, looking at the ground, “Sorry I said that.”

  2102 smiled.

  “It’s okay,” He sighed, “I would say the same thing to you if you ended up talking about the state of the world right now, you lived longer than me.”

  Roger chunkled a bit.

  “Though,” Roger looked at our 4-8-4, “How is the president going to handle this?”

  “That’s a good question, and I don’t know,” 2102 bluntly told Roger, “But knowing how my crew talks fondly of JFK, I feel like I could handle this well.”

  The passengers of 2102’s train were getting back into the coaches.

  “I’ll see you later, there will be tons of excursions that my railroad is operating during the Fourth of July Weekend,” 2102 told Roger.

  “See you later,” Roger told the 4-8-4 as the engine left the station.

  After a couple of minutes more of looking through the old Porter, Ben came up to Roger.

  “You did quite well for the test run, no issues at all,” Ben smiled, “Henry and his team always did a great job; he taught me as well before the handover ceremony.”

  Ben uncoupled Roger from his coaches, and the old Porter moved around the points through the passing loop and coupled in front of Charlotte. Lizzy coupled up the old saddletank before going back into the cab. Some railfans at the station saw that the first phase of the test run was over, and they’re now heading back to their cars for the return trip to the yard.

  Roger operated back to the yard with flying colors. The test run was a great success, and despite being on a Monday morning, there were many folks in the yard to see the old Porter back onto the rails. Betty was also happy with the test run so far.

  “We’ll probably do one or two more test runs,” Ben told Roger in the yard, “Just to make sure, and you’re ready for July next week, which will be busy. The return trip went well, and I can see Henry having a big smile.”

  To which he is sitting on a chair, relaxing with a calm smile.

  “I feel great,” Roger smiled, “I can’t wait to operate some passenger trains.”

  “While Lizzy and I can’t say that you’re ready for service after one or two more test runs,” Ben came over and put his hand on Roger’s saddletank, “But you’re ready for service.”

  Roger smiled.

  “Thanks, Ben,” He told Ben.

  The old Porter was uncoupled and moved to a different track, next to Betty, just to rest.

  “Today has been nice,” Roger told Ben, “I can’t wait to operate some more test runs.”

  “You’ll be operating light engine for the rest of today,” Ben told the old Porter, “The Fourth of July Event next week is going to be busy, since Betty is going to be participating.”

  Roger smiled happily.

  “That’s great!” He smiled.

  “It’s been a good morning, I’ll let you have some alone time before the last test runs,” Ben told Roger, and he and Lizzy left the yard as John Taylor was left to tend the fire.

  “How do you feel, honey?” Betty asks.

  “I feel great, I’ve met 2102,” He smiled happily, “We talk quite a bit.”

  “I’ve met that 4-8-4, he's a nice engine,” Betty agreed, “Anyway, my engine driver just got a record player for his birthday, and recently visited the United Kingdom, and got this album called ‘Please Please Me’ from a band called The Beatles, you want to listen?”

  Roger smiled.

  “Sure,” He told Betty.

  She grinned.

  “Let’s hear this, Jimmy!” Betty told her driver.

  Her engineer, or engine driver, opened his portable record player and put the record in; the sound that came out of the record player was amazing, with clear sound, and the music was quite different. Roger never heard this; this was a new sound for him, this was something special, it was comforting and calming to Roger, is this what younger folks these days listen to? The old Porter closed his eyes, enjoying the music, knowing that he returned to service.