East Meets West

Travelling from an easterly directon, the engineer stood staring straight ahead at the bright light rapidly approaching from the west. He knew for certain there was only the solitary track, and in the darkness, the light got bigger and brighter with each passing moment. Frozen with fear, the engineer's mouth failed to utter a sound. His hand, unable to move from the gear shift couldn't pull down on the emergency brake dangling above his head. Behind him Charlie was working very diligently, and totally oblivious to his impending fate kept feeding the fire shovel full after shovel full. The pile of coal was getting smaller while the speed of the train kept increasing.

The train had eight cars in total with the locomotive in front followed by five passenger cars, a freight car and the caboose. The freight car carried various goods manufactured in the east coveted by the isolated farmers and ranchers toiling to make a comfortable living for their families in the west. The age of steam opened the area especially now that there was peace with the indians and enhanced security to protect against outlaws.

One of the passenger cars was a luxurious private car, complete with mahogany interior, a full size bedroom, office, private kitchen complete with its own chef, a fully stocked bar and a comfortable sitting area for relaxing or entertaining. It was just as one would expect for the owner of the railroad.

The remaining passenger cars were the regular sort, fairly sparse inside, with hard wooden benches most of which were covered with well worn uncomfortable cushions. Lanterns were lit by the sole conductor providing the only internal light source. Since the wood stove could never provide enough heat to warm the inside air all the windows had to remain shut.

The outside was painted red with brown and gold trim around the windows. Large black letters beneath the windows identified the railroad to whomever was around to watch it as it travelled on its prearranged schedule. Most of the seats were full and the passengers quietly watched the lights of the night time sights pass by. There were small towns fronting snow covered mountains and bridges spanning fast running rivers. Skyscrapers towered over highways full of traffic and bright billboard signs advertising everthing from cough syrup to shoes.

The approaching train, on the other hand, travelling from the west was an automated high speed transport controlled via satellite links in a faceless control room far away. The locomotive was the new fuel efficient version that required little downtime maintenance. Normally, it would be running up to a hundred cars or so, often providing a back hauling service for other less cost effective railroads. This night it only hauled three cars as it passed a solitary cowboy playing his harmonica by a campfire, a pony express rider late on his rounds, and a covered wagon soon to become obsolete.

This was the wave of the future carrying both containers and transport trucks, saving costly driving time, non-reneable resources and the environment. Since there were no human eyes on board, there was no one to realize the significance of the light on the much smaller, older train approahing on a lower speed from the west.

It was only a matter of time before the inevitable happened, total destruction as two generations of technology collided with an impact too severe for anyone to imagine. Then, the entire vally was illuminated. The two trains slowed until they stopped completely only inches apart.

"Michael," a loud voice called out. "What did I tell you about sneaking down here and playing with my trains. You're likely to break something."

"Sorry, Gramps. I just couldn't help myself."