Great Western - 2. GW Chap 2

The same with five porter/stewards, they will do 1 ½ hour shifts at each station, so each crew member will not be doing the same thing for the whole journey” my dad said finishing the presentation.

“Well, that was the best presentation I have seen in a long time, and the very first time I have had such a high standard presentation by a man as young as Mr Ashburton junior, well done young man” the Minister announced, as he looked at the layout plans one final time.

“I am all for this proposal gentlemen, but as you are probably aware, I cannot make the decision on my own, and also we need to get an agreement with the private company that has the management lease on the rail network, did you expect any possible difficulties to arise out of the blue?” the Minister responded, “Only one sir, but that will be fine for the first few trips” I began, as I unrolled a map of the proposed route.

“Here in Northam, which is where the Great Southern rail line meets up with the East West rail line, there is no line to turn East only continuing West towards Perth” I stated and I looked at my father who nodded his head for me to continue.

There will be a need to install 320 metres of new track, from just west of town, to connect the two rail lines together, so that trains on the Southern rail line can travel East, and we are happy to pay 50% of the costs for the installation of this new piece of track, but you would need to deal with the costs for the land acquisition needed to lay that short section of rail down” I said, and I sat down again.

“Ich hatte vorgeschlagen, dass wir siebzig prozent de kosten zahlen” my father said to me in German, saying that he was going to suggest we pay 75 percent of the cost, and I shook my head no, and my dad just shrugged his shoulders.

“Well, I will have to discuss that with the Premier and the cabinet, we are meeting in a few days’ time, so I will bring this matter to there attention then” the Minister said as he stood up, and he held his hand out in my direction, and I shook it.

“I am sure my wife won’t believe me, when I tell her that I had a business meeting with a very bright teenager, where will you be attending school?” the Minister said, and I looked towards dad. “He and his younger brothers will be attending Great Southern Grammar sir” my father said.

“I have heard that it is a good school, I have a son a few years younger than yourself, and he attends a private school in Swanbourne” the minister responded, as he shook my father’s hand, and my father handed him a business card.

“We will let you know the outcome of the meeting, tell me what do you plan to do with the train if you don’t get approval?” the Minister asked. “I have a backup plan sir, but it would mean sending the train interstate, and I am sure you wouldn’t want that to happen” my father said with a big grin, and the Minster gave a short laugh before leaving the room.

When we stepped outside, my dad stopped and turned to me, “I am very proud of you son, you have obviously been doing your research and watching me closely, to have gathered all of that information, and presented it so well, I just wish my parents, your Australian grandparents were alive now, I am sure they would be just as proud” my dad said to me, with his eyes starting to get watery, and he pulled me into a hug.

Later that evening, soon after dinner and after my brothers had been settled in bed, my parents and I sat in the lounge area of our family suite, when my dad’s mobile phone rang, which was on a side table, right beside me, and I looked at the screen.

“Blocked number, surely it isn’t business at this time of the night” I commented as I picked it up and was about to hand it over to my father, “You take it, after today, I know that you are ready for the big world of business” my dad said to me. “Ashburton Engineering, may I help you” I said when I answered the call, and glanced at my mum to see her reaction, and she was all smiles like dad.

“Err, is this Vern?” came a voice on the other end of the line, “Yes sir that is correct, how may I help you” I responded, and I quickly switched to loud speaker, so my parents could hear the conversation.

“Hello Vern, this is James Markovich we met earlier today at the Minister of Transport’s office” the caller said, “Yes I remember, and you are on loud speaker, with the executive team listening” I replied, and I could see my mum trying to hold back a laugh.

“Oh right, well the Minister asked me to contact your father, to ask him when the train is expected to arrive and where will it be unloaded from the ship?” the Minister’s advisor said. “I am here Mr Markovich, and due to security reasons, I cannot reveal that information, all I can say is that it should be arriving sometime this coming week.

It will be stored away out of sight until we hear that some decision has been made” dad said out loud, “Oh, well um, the Minister was wanting to know, so that he can be there personally to see it being unloaded, and get a first hand look inside” the Minister’s advisor said.

“I am sorry Mr Markovich, but the decision is still no, I am sorry to disappoint you and the Minster, but we must keep its arrival a tight secret for now, as it is one of a kind in the world” I said before my father could speak, “that means Mr Markovich, that if this gets leaked out to the media, we will be looking at taking business elsewhere, goodnight” my father said and I hit the call end button, before the Minister’s advisor could respond.

“Wow, our son the businessman” my mum commented, and she stood up and pulling me to my feet, she wrapped me in a tight hug. “Let me breath Ma” I said, and she gave a short laugh as she released her hold on me, and I sat back down, then handed the mobile to her, and she turned it off. “That is enough business for one day, they can wait until tomorrow now” my mum said as she handed the phone over to her husband.

“By the way, I checked the location tracker of the cargo ship, that is carrying our precious cargo, and it will be arriving in Albany, late tomorrow afternoon, will you be alright with the younger boys or do you want to join us?” my dad asked my mum. “No, I have a heap of shopping to do, as I have no clothes to suit this Australian summer weather” Mum replied.

“We will have to stay overnight, so pack an overnight bag son, our flight leaves at 12.10pm, and we get down there just over an hour later, and I have booked us on the 1.45pm return flight the next day” Dad informed me.

The flight down to Albany was a lot different than the long flight from Europe, with the 30-seater plane bouncing up and down the whole trip with severe turbulence, and I felt quite ill when I stepped on the ground once more. “I’m not sure if a can handle another trip like that dad” I commented, and my dad just chuckled, as we headed into the tiny air terminal to collect our luggage from the luggage trolley.

After a fifteen-minute ride in a taxi, we arrived on the outskirts of the City of Albany, and it was looking very much like just a country town, as the taxi turned down a street, and I saw a modern looking motel on the corner. “They don’t have anything high quality, so we will just have to do with this” my father said as we exited the taxi with our overnight bags, and Dad paid the driver, giving him a sizable tip.

Once we had checked in, and had a quick look at the information folder that available in our two-bedroom suite, Dad called for a taxi and about twenty minutes later, we arrived at the bottom of the main street, overlooking the harbour, and we watched as we drove along the foreshore towards the berth number 6.

Are you sure this is the place you want to go?” the taxi driver asked us, “She is here already. Yes, take us down to the gates please” my dad replied. Once the taxi had turned around and left, we approached the guarded closed gate. “Good afternoon, my name is Christopher Ashburton, can you inform the Captain of the ship that we have arrived to inspect the cargo” my dad said producing one of his business cards and handing it over.

Without saying anything, the guard took the card and went into his demountable office, and he made a phone call, which only took a few moments, before returning. “Do you have any identification apart from this business card?” the guard asked, and both dad and I produced our passport, which the guard inspected closely before handing them back.

“A crewman is coming to escort you onto the ship, wait here till he come” the guard stated. When someone finally arrived a good ten minutes later, he was wearing an officer’s uniform, and he was wearing a hard hat and carried two more. “Good afternoon Mr Ashburton, we were not expecting a second person” the officer said as he handed over the two hard hats, which we put on, and we followed the officer down the wharf, until we reached a tower, that has stairs.

I looked up at the ship which towered over us by a long way, and we began the climb up the stairs and along the gangway, until we finally stepped onto the ship, were the Captain and another officer were present. “Welcome aboard, I’m Captain Sven Anderson, from Denmark, as you can see your cargo is neatly crapped up tight, and no one but myself and my 1^st officer know what it contains” the captain said to us.

We spent the next two hours having a close look at each of the six cars, to see if there was any damage of any kind, and we were pleased to see that the train had made the journey without a dent on it.

“Congratulations Captain, you and your crew have done a wonderful job of getting it here in one piece, I have arranged for some additional cranes to assist with unloading the cargo, which will be arriving just on dark this evening, as I want all 6 items unloaded at night time, and connected together, so it can be taken to its storage facility before daylight tomorrow” my dad announced.

“The ships cranes can handle the weight sir, it did it when we loaded the cargo in Genova, Italy, we just connected it up to the lifting points on each item and lifted it directly off the flat bed truck onto the ship” the Captain replied.

“As you can see the train line is too far away to lift it directly onto the train line, so we will have to put each one on a flat bed truck and move it over to the train line and lift it off.

It looks to be about fifteen metres from the ship to the wharf, and another fifteen metres to the track, I just hope that the cranes are strong enough to handle the load?” I stated, “This is my son, Vern, he is becoming quite the young businessman” my dad said, introducing me for the first time.

After a bit more of a chat with the captain, we walked back to the security gate, and thanked the guard on the way out. “Feel like a bit of a walk” you haven’t done much exercise since we left Switzerland three days ago, or was it four days ago?” my father commented, and I just laughed.

“How far are we walking?” I asked, “About 4 ½ kilometres, to where we are storing the train. Quite by luck I found this large unused shed right beside the train line, and I had a replacement rail switch installed, to replace the once that had been removed, so we can back the train into the shed and lock it up.

It is too long to fit it all attached, so we have to split it into two sections to fit it all in, then all we have to do is wait for the Transport Minister to get back to us” Dad said to me, as we started the trek alongside the road known as Princess Royal Drive.

“Do we have to unwrap it to be able to move it?” I asked, “No the local train crew will do that for us with one of their engines, thanks to a $100 cash bonus and a carton of beer for each of the two train drivers” my dad replied. “Why a carton of beer each?” I asked confused, “That is the going rate in Australia, for doing a favour” my dad replied with a big grin.

After we spend a day or two with the family in Perth, we will all fly up to Geraldton, to check out the facilities they have in Geraldton, they don’t have a train station any more, or should I say that the train station no longer has a rail line that goes to it, as the city had built over it, so we may have to build a new train station” my father informed me.

“Is there another way there apart from flying?” I asked dad. “Yes, if you want to spend 6 hours on a bus between Perth and Geraldton, it is the same with here, six hours from Albany to Perth” my father replied and I groaned in protest. Once we had inspected the storage shed, we walked back into the centre of town, where we found a taxi to take us back to the motel.

“This is quite a beautiful little town dad” I stated as the taxi began to move. “Change of plan, can you take us to 198 Grey street West please” Dad said to the driver, “Yes sir, that is called the White House or McKenzie House, it has quite a bit of history to that old place” the driver said to us. “Why are we going there?” I asked quietly so the driver couldn’t overhear.

“I will tell you when we get there” my father said and less than two minutes later we were parked outside a giant house set right back from the street, and the taxi driver stopped outside the gates and we climbed out and paid the driver, waiting for him to drive off before we made a move.