Margaret took a long look toward the Sierras and the track they had traveled. “Do you think Isaac is onto us?”
“Only a question of how long, dear sister,” he said with his usual high degree of self-assurance. “But by the time he realizes we’ve flown San Francisco and finds a locomotive to give chase, we’ll be halfway to Canada and he’ll have no chance to stop us.”
43
ADELINE WAS LOFGREN’S PRIDE AND SWEETHEART, and he spoke to her as if the locomotive were a beautiful woman instead of a steel, fire-breathing monster that charged up the curving grades of the Sierras and through Donner Pass. Without having to pull two hundred tons of cars weighed down with passengers and luggage, she performed effortlessly.
The spring air was cool and crisp, and snow still covered the ground. Donner Pass was the notorious section of the mountains where the most poignant event in western history had taken place. A wagon train made up of a dozen families that would pass into legend as the Donner party became trapped in the winter blizzards of 1846 and suffered terribly until rescued. Many survived by eating the dead. Out of the original eighty-seven men, women, and children, only forty-five lived to reach California.
Bell had been fully awake since passing through Sacramento and was finding the scenery spectacular—the towering, rocky peaks; the forest of fir trees, some with branches still laden with snow; the summit tunnels, which were blasted out of granite by Chinese laborers in 1867. Adeline plunged into the black mouth of a long tunnel, the roar of the train’s exhaust reverberating like a hundred bass drums. Soon, a tiny circle of light materialized ahead in the darkness and quickly grew wider. Then Adeline burst into the bright sunlight with a noise like thunder. A few miles later came the panoramic view of Donner Lake, as the train began its long, curving descent to the desert.
Bell stared with some uneasiness down the sheer thousand-foot drop that was within a step or two of the edge, as the locomotive swung around a sharp bend. He did not need to urge Lofgren to go faster. The engineer was pushing the big locomotive at nearly thirty-five miles an hour around the mountain curves, a good ten miles faster than was considered safe.
“We’re across the summit,” announced Lofgren, “and have a downgrade for the next seventy-five miles.”
Bell stood and gave Long his fireman’s seat on the left side of the cab. Long thankfully sat down and took a break, as Lofgren closed off steam and allowed Adeline to coast down through the pass in the mountains. Long had been shoveling coal almost nonstop since they had swung onto the main line at Sacramento and up the steep grade into the Sierras.
“Can I give you a hand?” asked Bell.
“Be my guest,” said Long, lighting up a pipe. “I’ll tell you how to shovel the coal into the firebox. Even though we’re loafing along for the next hour, we can’t let the fire die down.”
“You don’t just throw it in with a shovel?”
Long grinned. “There’s more to it than that. And it’s not called a shovel; it’s a fireman’s scoop, size number four.”
For the next two hours, Bell labored in front of the maze of pipes and valves as he learned the intricacies of firing a locomotive. The tender was rocking from side to side around the turns, making it difficult to shovel coal into the firebox. It was easy work, however, with Adeline running downhill. He shoveled just enough coal to keep the steam up. He quickly learned to open the firebox door wide, after hitting the scoop against it and spilling coal over the floor. And instead of stacking the coal in a fiery pile, he developed the knack for making a level fire that burned bright and orange.
The sharp curves were left behind as their arc increased as they dropped down to the foothills. An hour after Bell turned the scoop over to Long, the fireman shouted to Lofgren: “We’ve only got enough water and coal for another fifty miles.”
Lofgren nodded without taking his eyes from the track ahead. “Just enough to make Reno. We can put in for coal and water there and take on a relay crew.”
Bell realized that the race over the mountains had taken its toll on Lofgren and Long. He could see that the strain on body and mind had drained the staunch engineer, and the physical effort of maintaining steam on the steep grades had sapped the strength of the indefatigable fireman. It seemed evident to Bell that Cromwell’s train crew must be worn out as well. He checked his watch and could only wonder if they had narrowed the gap.
“How long will it take to assemble another crew?” Bell asked.
“As long as it takes to coal and water the tender,” replied Lofgren. Then he smiled wearily, revealing a set of crooked teeth, and added, “Providing we’re lucky and one happens to be standing by.”
“I’m grateful to you both,” Bell said sincerely. “You did a heroic job getting over the Sierras. You must have set a record.”
Lofgren pulled out his big Waltham railroad watch with its locomotive engraved on the back of the case. “Indeed,” he laughed. “We shaved eight minutes off the old record set by Marvin, me, and Adeline six months ago.”
“You love this engine, don’t you?” said Bell.
Lofgren laughed. “Take all the Atlantic locomotives ever put on rails: they’re the finest in the world, all built exactly the same, with identical dimensions and construction. Yet, every one is different—like people, they all have diverse personalities. Some can run faster than the others, with the same steam pressure. Some are finicky while others are jinxed, always having bad luck with repair problems. But Adeline, she’s a sweetheart. No whims; never cranky, eccentric, or ill-tempered. Treat her like a lady and she’s like a thoroughbred mare that wins races.”
“You make her sound almost human.”
“Adeline may be a hundred seven tons of iron and steel, but she’s got a heart.”
