"John D. Fitzgerald - The Great Brain At the AcademyUC - 4" - читать интересную книгу автора (Fitzgerald John D)

it bark like a dog when he said he had to learn all about
trains by the time he arrived in Salt Lake City. But how
could he if he didn't get to ride in the locomotive? He
realized it was something every kid dreams about but only
one in a million ever gets to do.

He got off the train with Sweyn and walked up to
where the locomotive was preparing to take on water and
coal. He had seen many locomotives in Adenville but this
was the first time it had entered his mind that they were
things of beauty. The locomotive had the number 205 on
the round brass plate on its nose, a shiny brass bell, a
whistle and headlight, a blue steel belly, and gigantic

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wheels. With smoke coming from the smokestack and
steam escaping from the cylinders it was almost as if the
locomotive was a living thing.

Tom walked back and waited for Mr. Walters to
come out of the stationmaster's office.

"Think they will ever have it so passengers can eat
right on a train?" he asked.

"It is coming, Tom," the conductor said. "We already
have sleeping cars on the main line invented by a man
named Pullman. And a man named Fred Harvey is work-
ing on a dining car that will serve hot meals right on the
train."

"You sure have taught me a lot about trains," Tom
said. "But I'll never know all I should unless you fix it so I
can ride in the locomotive from here to Salt Lake City."

'T can't do that, Tom," Mr. Walters said. "It is
against regulations."

The conductor didn't know it but he had walked
right into Tom's trap.

"It is also against regulations to let card sharks operate
on trains," Tom said. "This Harrison fellow could have
gone on cheating passengers for years if it hadn't been for
me. And you can report how these crooked decks of cards
are marked at the factory so other conductors will know
how to spot them. I figure the railroad owes me something
for that."