The Christmas Train (23 page)

Kristobal said, “Uh, what happens if one of the cars comes loose? Do we just go barreling down into the abyss?”

Higgins replied, “No, the automatic braking system comes on and the car stops. Train technology has come a long way over the years.” He pointed out the window. “We’ll climb to 7,580 feet at the highest point.”

“That’s pretty high,” said Kristobal.

“Well, it’s not the highest track elevation in this country. That’s on the California Zephyr past Denver at a little over 9,200 feet. In South America—I forget which country—there’s a train track at an elevation so high they have to give out oxygen to the passengers. We go through a half-mile-long tunnel that runs under the pass, and once we get out of that we’re in New Mexico. We’ll descend down the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and into Raton. Raton’s at an elevation of 6,666 feet, so while the descent is sharp, it’s not really that far.”

Misty looked stricken, and she grabbed Max’s arm. “Did you say 6,666 feet?”

Higgins looked at her over the rim of his coffee cup. “Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you sure that’s the elevation? Exactly?”

“Well, yes, ma’am. They measure those things pretty precisely.”

“Oh my God!” said Misty.

“What’s wrong, honey?” asked Max.

“Don’t you see, 6-6-6-6? It’s the worst possible combination of numbers, it’s even worse than a triple 6.”

Max turned pale. “You’re right, the mark of the Devil, plus another 6. Totally bad karma.”

“Is this really a problem?” asked a nervous-looking Kristobal.

“In my line of business, it doesn’t get much worse,” said Misty emphatically. “Can we stop the train?”

“Isn’t there a brake rope to pull, like in the movies?” asked Lelia. She was seated next to Kristobal and was anxiously clutching his arm.

“Uh, no, they don’t have those anymore,” said Higgins. “Now just calm down, it’ll be okay. The Chief runs this route twice a day, east and west.” He checked his watch. “We’ll be entering the tunnel pretty soon.”

“Is it dark?” Kristobal wanted to know.

“Well, most tunnels are, son,” replied Higgins judiciously. “But we won’t be in it long. In and out in a blink and then on to Raton and New Mexico.”

Tom eyed the diamond ring in his hand. It had belonged to his mother, and ever since her death he’d carried it with him. In fact, he’d very nearly pulled this ring out and handed it to Steve instead of the one he was supposed to. In turn, that bit of confusion had also led him to start toward Eleanor with the band of gold rather than merely handing it to Steve to place on Julie’s finger. He pocketed the ring, examined himself in the mirror, smoothed down a few stray hairs, adjusted the tie that Kristobal had loaned him for the wedding ceremony, took a long breath, and told himself for the hundredth time that this was what he had to do.

A few minutes later he knocked on Eleanor’s compartment door. She slid back the curtain, stared at him, then drew the curtain back and he heard the door lock click into place. He rapped on the glass again. “Ellie, I really need to talk to you, right now.”

“Go away!”

“I need to ask you something, and I’m going to ask you right now.”

She flung the door open so hard, metal plunked hard on metal.

“I thought I’d made myself more than perfectly clear!”

Tom reached into his pocket for the ring and started to shakily descend to his knees.

The interior of the train was thrown into darkness as the Chief entered the tunnel. The next events happened with terrifying suddenness. All of the snow covering the southern crest of the mountain closest to the train tracks broke loose from the overpowering strength of relentless wind gusts and the tons of new-fallen snow. Officially, the avalanche started at 11:15 Mountain time, and it raced down the mountainside at tremendous speed; it was enough snow that, if it were melted, it would have formed a decent-sized lake of considerable depth. The avalanche hit the slide fences located between the mountain slope and the train tracks, which had been installed there for the very purpose of detecting track intrusions. The impact occurred with such force that it not only flattened the steel fence but also ripped it off its supports and carried it down the mountain.

This collision sent an automatic red alert to Amtrak Dispatch that, in turn, instantly communicated to the engineer of the Southwest Chief to stop the train dead in its tracks pending further developments.

The Chief had just emerged from the tunnel under the Raton Pass when the signal was given, and the engineer applied the brakes with the swiftness that the gravity of the situation required. Indeed, he didn’t need the warning by Amtrak Dispatch because he could see the awesome spectacle clearly through his windshield, though it was a considerable distance up the track. So powerful was the tidal wave of snow and rock that it spread out laterally, and a substantial tributary headed dead at the Chief with enough potential lethality to cause the engineer, who’d been running this route for fourteen years, to whisper a quick goodbye to his wife and kids. He’d seen many things during his railroad career but nothing that came close to what was presently bearing down on him and his train. He closed his eyes, because all he could envision happening in the next few seconds was the utter destruction of the Southwest Chief and all those on board.

As the train lurched to a halt, everyone sensed that this wasn’t a normal stop. When the idling train began to shake as though an earthquake were occurring, they became sure of it. Thankfully, they couldn’t see what the engineer could, but they all heard a growing rumble that was immediately identifiable to several people on board who’d heard such sounds before.

“It’s an avalanche,” shouted Tom, as he looked out the window.

Eleanor paled. “My God.”

He ripped a mattress off the bed, grabbed Eleanor, threw her on the floor, put the mattress on top of her, and then covered the mattress with his body as the train continued to shake and gyrate and the sounds of the mountain’s snowy skin sliding off became deafening.

Back in the lounge car everyone was under the tables. Some scribbled last will and testaments on napkins, others stumbled through long-forgotten prayers. Max and Misty clung to each other, and Lelia and Kristobal did the same, his long arms wrapped protectively around her.

Higgins was under the table too, but he was looking out the window still, his worst fears realized with sudden ferocity.

Miraculously, the enormous sideways thrust of the hurtling snow stopped before it knocked the train off the track. However, when the engineer finally opened his eyes, the only thing he saw was an impenetrable wall of snow.

He managed to report in to Amtrak and was told that, presumably, a second avalanche on the other side of the tunnel had taken another slide fence with it. A minute or two either early or late and the Chief would be at the bottom of a ravine, not a single person on board having to worry further about the upcoming holiday. Yes, lucky indeed, the engineer was told by Amtrak Dispatch, though he’d seen that for himself. On the other hand, the Chief was now sandwiched in, unable to go either forward or back, and the storm apparently was just getting started.

The meteorologists had now weighed in with an updated forecast, an accurate one this time. The region was being blasted by a winter storm the likes of which hadn’t been seen in thirty years. The old storm had claimed over six hundred lives, with some people, cut off from every known point of civilization, having died of starvation. They were folks in remote, inaccessible areas, precisely like the one in which the Chief was now idling helplessly.

Higgins looked to the sky as high winds began to sweep off the mountain and buffet the Chief with such power that the enormously heavy train was rocking back and forth at unsettling angles. In all his years working the rails, he’d never been in a position quite like this. Looking out the left-side window, no one could fail to see that it was a long way down. With the snow continuing to fall, another avalanche couldn’t be ruled out. And the next one just might take the Southwest Chief with it. chapter twenty-eight

An hour later Roxanne issued a formal announcement over the train’s PA system, telling people what had happened and what was being done to help the trapped train. The latter was fairly meager, since there wasn’t a whole lot that could be done right now. As she explained, with twin mountains of snow blocking both the way to LA and the rails back to Chicago, the Chief squarely in the middle, and a blizzard hammering the region with high winds and snow, the best that could be done right now was for people to remain calm and in their compartments. It wasn’t an easy instruction to follow, and the corridors were constantly filled with anxious folks seeking more detailed information.

Herrick Higgins had gone up to speak with the engineer and come back with an even more worried look. Tom and Eleanor had joined Misty and Max in the lounge car, where they alternated between staring out the window at a sheet of white snow, tensing with each slam of wind against the walls of the train, and occasionally peering out at the two-hundred-foot drop off the left side of the train. Lelia had discreetly retired to her compartment with her new compatriot, Kristobal.

“I knew this was going to happen,” said Misty. “Four sixes, how could it not happen?”

“Well, I’ve been doing this a long time,” said Higgins, “and it’s never happened before. Train travel is the safest way there is to get around, even safer than a plane if you look at the numbers.”

“Could there be another avalanche?” asked Misty. “One that hits the train?”

“It’s Mother Nature,” he replied, “so anything’s possible, but I think with two avalanches already, most of the snow that’s going to come down already did.”

Tom looked at the old railroader. “So what now? How do they get to us? We can’t exactly wait for the spring thaw.”

“No, we can’t. But getting to us is a little difficult. The freight company that owns these tracks is a good one, with lots of resources, but with the track blocked by all that snow and the weather the way it is, there’s not much they can do. These are tight quarters here, not a lot of room to maneuver. And there’s really no place for a small plane or helicopter to land, even if the weather settled down.”

“Well, that’s comforting,” said Max.

Roxanne came up looking exhausted. She’d been everywhere in the last hour or so, calming passengers, consoling the boys’ choir, making sure that all the things that could still be done on the train to make people more comfortable were done. She sat down and caught her breath.

“Well, on top of all this, it seems that the crook that hit the Cap got on board the Chief: A bunch of people have reported items missing.”

Max shook his head. “This is truly amazing.” He and Misty exchanged glances.

“The good thing,” said Higgins, “is that we added the third engine at La Junta, so we have an extra powerplant to help us through.” Roxanne nodded at this.

“What do you mean?” asked Max.

“The electrical power that keeps the lights, heat, et cetera going comes from electrical generators in the engines—generators powered by the diesel-fuel engines. Head-end power, it’s called.”

“So when we run out of fuel, we run out of electricity,” said Tom.

“Basically that’s right. But with an extra engine, it gives us more time.”

“How much more time?” asked Max.

“Hard to say. We took on extra fuel in Kansas, but the Chief refuels at Albuquerque, about two hundred and fifty miles from here.”

“And it took a lot of fuel to climb the pass, so the diesel tanks aren’t exactly full,” said Tom. Higgins nodded. “So we could be talking hours here, couldn’t we, before the power goes.”

“Well, the engineer is doing all he can to conserve fuel.”

“Can’t we put all the passengers in a few cars and cut off power to the others?” suggested Max.

“No, the system doesn’t work that way. The engines generate true hotel-like power, and whether they’re heating three cars or ten, it’s the same fuel consumption. Now, when I went up to see the engineer, we did come up with a strategy. He’s alternating among the three locomotives, putting one and then another in standby mode, which is the setting for supplying electrical power while standing still. That balances fuel supply among the units and conserves fuel, because the units not in standby mode are placed in slow idle and fuel burn is minimal.”

“Why not just turn some of the engines off?” asked Eleanor.

“Burns too much fuel to get them started again,” said Roxanne.

Higgins nodded and said, “And the other problem is that trains don’t carry antifreeze in their coolant system because it takes too much water. You have to keep the engines idling to prevent the pipes from freezing. In weather this cold, once you turn off the head-end power and the heat fails, you have less than an hour before the pipes start freezing. Then you have no water for food preparation, drinking, sanitary requirements.”

“I’m glad we put on extra food in KC,” said Roxanne. “We’ll start rationing right now, because we have no idea how long we’ll be here.” She rose to go back to work. “If I need help, I’m sure I can count on all of you, right?”

They all nodded back. She smiled bravely and trudged off.

Four hours later it grew dark. Most people had returned to their compartments and covered themselves with blankets and were now contemplating their possible demise.