Great Western - 11. GW Chap 11

“Can I get you anything?” I asked after I entered. “No thanks dear, the Porter has just checked in on me, so I am all good at the moment, and your father called in to say hello on his way back from the front of the train” Mum replied.

When I arrived back in the executive lounge, there was no sign of Dad and my brothers were arguing about the card game they were playing. “Stop arguing, or I will throw you off the train, and you can walk home” I said to my brothers, and the stared at me for a few moments.

“You know, I think he would do it too” Tomas said in response, and Oskar nodded his head in agreement, before they continued playing cards. I left them to continue with their game, and I went towards Car 7, to try and find Dad, and I found him in the rear crew lounge, talking to someone on the phone, and he wasn’t looking too happy.

When the call ended, I quietly waited for Dad to let me know what is wrong, in his own time. “The Port Hedland Rail link project is off. The mining company has decided that it is not worthwhile investing so much money in a project like that” Dad eventually announced. “I’m sorry to hear that Dad, but I am also glad as well, as I thought it was a bit too big a project for just you to manage” I responded, and reluctantly Dad accepted that I was right.

We headed back to the executive lounge, where we found both of my brothers asleep in a chair each, and we headed further forward to go and check on Mum, so as not to disturb them. Dad stayed with Mum, while I headed back to the Diamond Lounge which was empty, and I sat in one of the comfortable chairs, and dozed for a while.

I must have fallen asleep, and I woke up when I heard and felt the train slowing down, and looking out the window, I could see that we were approaching the town of Katanning, and after a bit of a stretch, I walked back to the Executive lounge, where the whole family was gathered.

“Hi Mum, how are you feeling?” I asked as I entered, “Fine thanks dear, but the twins are kicking up a storm inside” Mum replied.

“With some suggestions from Mum, we have come up with a brilliant new idea, that will make this train truly the Great Western” Dad announced, “Go on” I said to Dad, wanting some more information.

“We will go ahead with building the new rail line from Mullewa to Mt Magnet, then further East to Leinster, then south to Leonora, where there is an existing rail line, that can take us all the way to Kalgoorlie and Esperance” Dad said.

“Wow that is one hell of a trip, almost a U shape, how long do you think the trip would take?” Vern responded, “Well, with a 3 ¼ hour stop over in Geraldton, and the same time in Kalgoorlie, it would arrive around 11.30am on day two, if our calculations are correct” Mum stated.

“That sounds awesome; do you think we will get the approvals for the additional rail line?” Vern asked, “We already have the approvals for the line from Mullewa to Cue, so we just have to make a few minor adjustments, and we can get to work on the construction” Dad replied smiling.

“We estimate the journey to be about 2400 kilometres long, and will take 19 hours in total, including all the short and long stops, along the way, with 15-minute stops in Katanning, Northam, Dalwallinu, Mount Magnet, Leonora and Norseman” Mum added.

“Well, I guess it is better than nothing, especially after the Mining company pulled out of the earlier planned project, maybe when they hear about our new plans, they may think about it again” I said to my parents. “Yes, that would make it interesting” Dad said.

After the train left Katanning, a steward arrived with some morning tea for all of us, and we chatted about these new plans some more. “Dad, would we need some more cars to make it more financially worthwhile” I asked Dad after listening to my brothers chatting for a bit.

“Yes, that may be another expense, we will have to endure, and we think that another three more cars would be required. One more Bronze class, identical to Car 3, and two more Gold Class cars, with a slight difference that being that with no Executive lounge and Crew lounge, there will instead be crew bunks at each end on both of the new cars.

Two bunks on each side of the centre aisle, at each end of the two cars, with no kitchen in Car 8 so a small crew lounge can be placed there, make room for a total of 16 bunk beds.

In addition to that, I suggest we lose the conference room, and replace it with a further two more Cabins, that will be our family use, and with the extra cars, we can pull out one or two cars, depending on how the bookings go” Dad said to us.

“Sounds like you have it all fully worked out, and if my maths is right, with the three extra cars, that will make us 212 metres long” I said to my parents, who just nodded their heads yes.

“If you are going to put the two extra Gold class just before Car ten, then I would recommend that the conference room become the Platinum Lounge, and there be a Diamond lounge at each end of the Diamond Class car, since they are paying extra, we should give them the extra comforts.

Plus, if we can afford it, we can have another 14 metre Car, that is especially for us, with four cabins, a lounge, two toilets, one bathroom, and a study, which we can put between Diamond Class and Gold Class” I suggested to my parents.

“I agree with you about giving the Platinum and Diamond class passengers more lounge space, but I am not sure about the extra car just for us, and don’t forget, we will have to employ extra staff to cope with the extra passengers” Dad said to me.

“How about we wait till we get home tomorrow, then we can look into it in more detail, in the office” Mum suggested to us, and Dad and I agreed to this.

We arrived in Geraldton, five minutes early, and once all the passengers had disembarked, the staff got to work to give the train a thorough clean, and to restock everything in the kitchens, before we stored the train away in the new shed overnight.

I stayed with Dad to help supervise everything, while Mum took my younger brothers to the hotel, and relaxed till we arrived, just in time for dinner to be served in our three-bedroom, family suite. After dinner, Dad checked for any emails, and he whistled in amazement, which caught my attention; I walked over to the table where he was sitting.

“Dear Mr Ashburton, with your train service from Albany to Geraldton and return now in service, we are wondering, if your company would be interested in taking on all country train services, those being the Prospector, Australind, Avonlink and the Merredin link trains. I look forward to hearing from you soon, in regards to this matter. Yours Sincerely, Minister for Transport”.

“Wow Dad that is something new to consider” I said after reading the email over Dad’s shoulder. “Yes son and it puts a whole new idea into my head, if we take up just the Prospector, and keep it on the same timetable, we can tie the Great Western into providing a connection train to either Perth or Kalgoorlie.

Plus, if we start another journey on existing rail lines, from Esperance to Leonora, that can connect up with the Prospector service” Dad said to me, and I thought about what he said for a moment then smiled.

“Dad, I think that is brilliant, and it will mean no extra capital costs for new train lines” I responded. “Yes, but we will have to build an extra platform and siding in Northam and Kalgoorlie, to allow for the extra trains, meeting at the same time” Dad said.

When we arrived back in Albany, Mum and my younger brothers headed back to the house, while Dad and I supervised the cleaning up of the train, so it is ready for the next journey in a few days’ time, as Dad had set a timetable of two journeys each way per week for now, with departure from Albany being on Monday’s and Thursday’s, with a return journey the following day.

When Dad and I arrived back at home, we went straight to the office next door, as Dad wanted to make a video conference call with his former boss in Switzerland, with it being nearly 6pm here and 11am in Switzerland. During the video conference, which I mostly stayed silent for most of it, with it all been done in German, more detail was given on the consultation job that Dad was being offered, and after he had all the information, Dad turned to me.

In English, “So son, what do you think?” Dad asked me unexpectantly, “I think it will be great, especially if we go ahead with the extra train journey” I replied also in English, “Excuse me, you said extra train journey? Master Vern, can you please explain?” Dad’s former boss asked in German, and I spent the next ten minutes explaining our plans to extend the train passenger service, after receiving a request from the state government to take up running the country rail services.

“It sounds like your son has a lot of involvement with your new rail business Mr Christopher, why is that?’ the train company executive from Switzerland said in German, “Well sir, he is doing his schooling via online at a local College, and so when not doing his school work, he is my executive assistant for Ashburton Engineering” my father explained.

“Well in that case, I wish to extend my offer to you too Vern, to travel back to Switzerland, with your father, so you can continue to be his assistant, also included in expenses to be covered by us” the train company executive responded. “In that case sir, I accept your new job offer, but I will have to discuss the part about Vern with his mother, before that is decided” my father said.

“Very well, I understand, now going back to the other train service that you are planning, tell me how many cars will you require for that?” the Executive in Switzerland asked, I jumped in, before Dad could answer, “Well sir, it will be a less used service, so I would say no more than 5 cars, we have named the different classes for the different levels of comfort.

Those being Bronze, Gold and Platinum, with Diamond, for the shorter car that you sent us recently, which we brought back to Albany with us today. We would like to order two more gold class cars and one more bronze case car for the current service, with the no buffet servery in the bronze class, and the open space at each end of the Gold class car, having crew lounge rooms.

Plus, three bronze and two gold class cars for the new service, with those being the same as on the original plans” I said to Dad’s new boss in German. “I see, that should not be a problem, we already have two complete new trains built and ready for service, with no orders in place at the moment, if you are happy with my proposal.

I will give you these two trains, instead of the money offered for the consultation work for a period of two years, what do you say to that?” the boss in Switzerland said, and both Dad and I were surprised at this very generous offer, just made.

“I will happily accept this offer, as long as during that two-year period, your company continues to pay for the flights and accommodation for both of us, when we are required to travel to Switzerland” Dad responded.