Great Western - 14. GW Chap 14

Although I didn’t point it out to them, I am glad that you added the Code of Conduct of Passengers, as part of the conditions when purchasing a ticket” I replied.

“As long as you are ok, I am tempted to have you get off at Northam, and get you to catch the afternoon flight back to Albany from Perth” Dad said to me, “I am ok Dad, don’t worry, it has all been sorted” I responded.

“Ok then, we will see you at home tomorrow afternoon then” Dad said, sounding still not very happy with the situation, “By the way Dad, since there is only going to be one Diamond class, I think we should reduce the number of cabins to three, so as to allow more room for a dining room, lounge and study” I said, and there was a long silence before there was a response.

“We will discuss any changes, when you are back home, have a safe trip, bye for now” Dad said and he ended the call. During the next two hours of the journey, I thought about what Dad had said to me, and I had come to a decision just a few minutes before we arrived at Northam.

“Reynold, can you please contact the Prospector, and let them know they will have one more passenger to East Perth, as I am heading back home” I said to the Porter, when he answered my call.

“Very good sir, consider it done” Reynold responded before I ended the call, and pulling out my mobile, I dialled the number for the Airline, that does flights south to Albany, to book a seat on this afternoon’s flight, before gathering my luggage and preparing to leave the train.

Once on the Prospector, I relaxed, and tried to ignore all the activity happening on the train, but it was hard, when there were people moving around all the time, and I made a mental note of this. At East Perth, I caught a taxi directly to the airport, as I had just over an hour before boarding the afternoon flight to Albany that would get me home at 5pm.

When the taxi dropped me off outside the office about twenty minutes after landing at Albany, I let myself into the office building, disarmed the alarm, and walked to the back door, where I reset the alarm, and walked out the back door, pulling the door closed, before making my way through the side gate, that leads to the house.

“Master Vern, I was not expecting you to be home till tomorrow night” Mrs Frazier said sounding surprised as I walked into the kitchen.

“No, plans changed, after an incident on the train, earlier today, and I came home from Northam” I explained, as I headed upstairs to my room.

For the next week and a half, I chose to remain at home, and not travel on the train twice weekly, and instead, I spent the time concentrating on my studies and work with Dad in the office. When the day came for us to leave for our trip to Europe, we had packed lightly, with one small suitcase and a briefcase each, and we took the late afternoon flight from Albany to Perth, before catching our direct flight to London, leaving at 7.20 pm.

We would be arriving in London at 5.05 am local time, and we would have just over 3 ½ hours, layover, before catching our connecting flight to Zurich, where we would arrive at 11.40 am local time, where we are booked into a hotel to rest, since we will be travelling for nearly 21 hours straight. When we did finally arrive at our hotel in Zurich, I went straight o my room, had a shower and collapsed onto my bed, promptly falling asleep.

Dad woke me up nearly four hours later, and suggested that we go for a walk, to get some exercise, before we have some dinner, which I gladly agreed to. When we returned to the hotel after half an hour of walking, Dad checked his emails, and called me over, when he saw one of interest.

“Mr Ashburton, after reading about the success of your current train route from Albany to Geraldton, and with some discussions with the Mining company Board, it has been agreed, that we would like to inform you, that we have reconsidered your offer.

We feel that it will be beneficial to the mining company and the state of Western Australia as a whole, to have a train line from Newman to Geraldton, via Meekatharra and Cue. We look forward to your response to this request”.

“Well that make a big change doesn’t it” my Dad said after allowing me to read the email. “Yes, but I have one concern about that route to Geraldton, the distance from Newman to Mullewa is around 900 kilometres, right? Well, I estimate the distance from Newman to Leonora, less than that distance” I said.

“You might be right there son, and it would mean that we could have a journey to Port Hedland to Esperance, via Kalgoorlie, that would be more beneficial than from Port Headland to Albany” Dad responded.

Retrieving my own laptop, I began to work out the two distances with the assistance of Google Maps, “Dad, I was wrong, it is 120 kilometres shorter to Mullewa, than it is to get to Leonora” I said once I had worked it out. “I see, and where is the junction, if there were two lines, one for each direction?” Dad asked me, which surprised me a lot.

“Err, a locality called Kumarina, north of Meekatharra” I replied, “Well, let’s begin working out more details for two lines, so we can present them to the Mining company, when we return to Western Australia” Dad announced, and I nodded my head in understanding.

The two-week stay in Switzerland, was informative, and tiring, as we spent 6 days a week doing 8 hour days, of which most days was spent in meetings. On the last day, we had our final meeting with the Board of Directors, of the Swiss Engineering company.

“Are you sure that you don’t want to return to living and working here in Zurich, your talents are wasted being so far away” one of the Directors said to Dad in German, and Dad looked at me, took a deep breath and let it out before answering.

“As much as I would like to sir, my main commitment is to spend more time with my family” Dad responded also in German. “So, tell me young man, what new projects are you working on in Australia?” another Director asked me.

“Well sir, we were planning on establishing a second country service from a large town in the south east coast, called Esperance, to the mining town of Leonora, with a stop-over in the mining city of Kalgoorlie, but plans have changed since leaving home.

We received an email from the big mining company, that we had approached on a different proposal, and they have seen how well and popular our current train journey is operating, and are requesting a new proposal” I responded.

“I have heard all about it and checked out your website, including the journey map, and I am very impressed” the Board Chairman began, can we find a map of Western Australia, so you can show us this new idea that you have” he added, speaking to one of the assistants seated at the back of the room.

“Sir I have my laptop computer with me, and would be able to show you, if we can connect it to the Audio-Visual equipment” I said.

Five minutes later we had a large map of Western Australia projected onto the large screen, which is a map of the railway lines in the state. “Gentlemen, there are a few versions of railways in this state, the Perth Suburban rail network, which is all electric.

The 5 main lines beginning and ending here in Joondalup in the north, Perth in the City, Midland in the East, Armadale in the South East, and Fremantle in the West and Mandurah in the South Coastal.

As well as that, we have the Government country rail service, from East Perth as the main terminal, south to the city of Bunbury, that train is known as the Australind, and there is the Prospector that travels out to Kalgoorlie, and on the same rail line the Avon Express goes as far as Merredin.

At the moment, Ashburton provides a country rail service, from the City of Albany in the far south coast, to the city of Greater Geraldton, in the Mid-West of the state, and we are currently preparing to have a service running from the south east coastal town of Esperance, to Leonora, via Kalgoorlie” I announced, as I pointed out the locations and the rail lines on the map.

“What are the lines located in the far north?” one of the Directors asked me, “Those rail lines sir, are privately owned and run mining rail lines, providing access from the mine sites in Tom Price, with a link to the Port of Roebourne, and from Newman, with a link to the Port Hedland port facilities” I responded.

“Apart from the port facilities that you have stated, where are the other ports, that load and unload large amounts of cargo?” the Chairman asked, “The Town of Esperance and City of Albany both have major port facilities, as does Geraldton, Fremantle and Bunbury” I replied.

“Wouldn’t it be best if all the rail lines were linked together?” one of the Directors asked, and I looked at Dad, before sitting down. “That is a good question, and one that we are looking into, as mentioned earlier, we will be meeting with some mining companies, when we return, to discuss plans for doing just that, with a rail link from Newman, down to Leonora, to link in with the rail line to Kalgoorlie and Esperance, and also west to Geraldton, via Mount Magnet.

Both distances are about the same, and if this takes place, it will allow mining companies to travel to Esperance or Geraldton, if the Port Hedland Port facilities are not available, due to severe weather conditions like Cyclones, which are a regular event in the wet season, from November to April each year” Dad said.

“Christopher and Vern, before you both arrived here two weeks ago, we met to discuss ways of working together, with your projects in Australia, and we would like to put a proposal to you” the Board Chairman said to us, which surprised both Dad and me.

“Go ahead Mr Chairman, we are listening” I said politely, “For an investment of 7.63 million Swiss Franc, we would like to ask for a 15% share in your company, and also send you one or two staff, to assist with your business” the Chairman said.

“Well sir, we would have to discuss it with the other director of Ashburton Engineering, before we could give you a response” Dad said in response, “Who is this other director, may I ask? The Chairman asked, “My mother” I replied simply with a smile, and this made the Chairman give a short laugh. “Very well, we will await a reply, preferably within a week, which will be about the same time as your new trains arrive.

After the meeting ended, and we were wished a safe journey home, we headed back to the hotel to rest, before we began the trip home tomorrow. “Holy smoke Dad, 7.63 million Francs, what is that in Australian Dollars?” I said as we climbed into a taxi, “About 11 million Australian, at a rough estimate” Dad replied, “Wow, so how are the shares for the company divided at the moment?” I asked.

“Mum and I have 32% shares each, you have 16% and your brothers have 10% each, so if the Swiss Company want 15% shares, we would have to take them out of mostly you and your brothers shares, so Mum and I still have controlling shares” Dad said.

“If us boys loose 5% each, then this won’t affect your shares” I suggested, and Dad immediately shook his head no. “I want you to have more shares than them, so we will have to come up with a better solution, what about if we offer 14% shares for 7 million Francs, then we will have a better way of dividing the shares, Mum and I will loose 2% each, yours will remain the same, and the boys will loose 5% each” Dad suggested.

“Ok, but what does that convert to in Australian currency?’ I responded, “I would say about 10.1 million, which will help us to keep our dept down along way, compared to if we did it on our own” Dad said, “Ok I agree with that, lets see what Mum says to it, when we call her tomorrow morning” I said and we chatted about other plans, once we get back to the office in Albany.

Back at the hotel, I went back to my computer and started to work out some ideas, and after nearly two hours of putting together a plan, Dad walked up to the table. “Come up with any solutions?” Dad asked me, “Yes, I think that we should keep the Albany to Geraldton journey as it is, and change the name to South Mid Coaster.

I suggest we have a separate journey from Port Hedland to Esperance, which will be the Great Western, leaving Port Hedland at 1730 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so it arrives in Kalgoorlie in time to link in with the Prospector the next morning, to East Perth” I started.

“Well that sounds fine to me, I think if we did do the other trip, we wouldn’t have enough trains” Dad responded. “If we have the Great Western leave Port Hedland on Tuesday and Thursday, it would arrive in time for the Wednesday and Friday morning Prospector, which will get to Northam in time for the connection to Albany and Geraldton.