Great Western - 12. GW Chap 12

“Then we have a deal, I will have one of my assistants organise your first journey, for two weeks’ time, and they will email you with the details, Goodbye for now and see you in two weeks” the new boss said, before ending the video call.

“Holy smokes, that is amazing, can we cope without having the extra income?” I said a few minutes later, as we sat in silence in our meeting room, where the video conference equipment is located. “Yes, quite easily, the new train line will give us an extra income, and before wages, fuel costs and other costs are paid, we received over $32,000 in income, just one way, with a profit of about $4,00 after expenses” Dad replied.

“Ok, so about $16,000 a week with our current journey to Geraldton twice a week return, will that be enough?” I replied, “Yes, if we get good passenger numbers, it should be fine, we will need to have a 65% passenger rate to break even” Dad replied, which I understood.

“So with two new trains, which I presume to be the same 6 cars that we started off with, we will need to get some more infrastructure in place in Leonora and Esperance” I said to Dad, “Yes, we can split the train up a bit, as we suggested during the video conference, but since we are getting two whole trains, I suggest we have two trains each way on the Leonora to Esperance line, so that they link up with the Prospector on the same day.

I am not exactly sure, but I think there are two trains on the Prospector service, so if we have just five cars, three bronze, one platinum and one gold class cars, for each way on the new service between Leonora and Esperance, that would leave us with two extra gold class cars, to add to our current Albany to Geraldton service, or add it to the Prospector service” my Dad replied, as we stood and headed to Dad’s office next door, where Dad started up his computer, and soon after it indicated a new email.

“Dear Christopher and Vern, your two new trains will be shipped from Marseille, France next week, please let us know as soon as possible, to which port do you want the two 8 car trains delivered to”.

“Eight, not six, well I guess we will have an extra two Diamond class cars and two unknown class cars, to add as well” Dad commented, “How about we add one gold car to each of the two Prospector trains, and we add the two extra Diamond class trains to the Great Western, that way the family can have its own Diamond class car, and we will have an extra Diamond Class for paying passengers” I suggested.

“Yes, I think that would be the best option, and as I said before, we can always adjust the carriage numbers, depending on the number of bookings” my Dad said, as he opened a reply email, and switching to German, he sent an Email back to Switzerland, asking for the two trains to be sent to the port of Geraldton, as the storage shed, near the new train station, has the space for the two trains, plus there is a rail lion right alongside the CBH ship terminal, to make unloading a lot easier.

“Let’s leave the Diamond class car at home for the next trip, and we can work on what to do with it, when we return from Europe, along with the 4 extra cars that we were not expecting” Dad said to me, and I agreed with this.

We headed over to the main house, where Mrs Frazier had a late dinner waiting for us, and Dad let mum know what was discussed in the video conference and the email that followed. After dinner, I headed to my room, and opened my computer, and found an email waiting for me.

What surprised me about this email was that it was from Switzerland. “Dear Vern, just an added email, just for you, as you may already know, we are shipping two trains with 8 cars each, this is to inform you that the configuration of the cars is, four Bronze, three Gold and one Platinum for each train, so you have the one and only Diamond Class car already there.

I will leave it up to you if you let your father know, we will be telling him the configuration when you both arrive in two weeks. Regards…”

I decided to not tell Dad about the email, and after a quick shower, I headed to bed, after a long and tiring two days on the train. As I lay in bed, I thought about how we should split up the train, as Dad had said earlier, he wanted one train each way on the new South Coast Miner route, between Leonora and Esperance, with 5 cars each.

This meant, that there would be 2 Bronze and 4 Gold cars remaining, which is the same number of cars for the Great Western route, but in a slightly different configuration, with one less Bronze car, two extra Gold cars and no Platinum car. I jumped out of bed and went to my desk and booted up the computer again, and clicked on the email from Switzerland, then clicked on reply.

“Dear Sir / Ma’am, thankyou for your email regarding the train configuration, for the trains being sent here, I would like to make one request, if it is not too much trouble please. As we mentioned during the video conference, we will be starting an extra train journey, in the Goldfields and South Coast of our state, that will be called the Coastal Miner, with a five-car train in each direction, with the configuration being 3 Bronze class, 1 Gold class and 1 Platinum class.

With this in mind, and with you sending two larger trains, of eight cars each, can I please ask that you send the following configuration, with one train having 4 Bronze, 2 Gold and 2 Platinum, while the other train has 5 Bronze, 2 Gold and 1 Platinum.

This will allow us to have a complete, 6 car train for our current Great Western route, so that we can have a more regular train service. Thank you for your time with this matter. Regards, Vern Ashburton.” Once I was happy with what I wrote, I translated it into German, re-read it one more time then hit the send button.

Within a minute from sending the email, my computer indicated an incoming Skype call, just before I shut the computer down, and I pressed the accept button, and for the next twenty minutes, I was in a video conference call with the big boss’s executive assistant, before was able to return to my bed to get some sleep.

“Who were you talking to on Skype, so late last night?’ my Mum asked when I appeared in the kitchen for a late breakfast, “I was talking to one of my tutors, about an assignment that I need to get completed, before I go to Europe with Dad” I lied, but surprisingly, Mum accepted my explanation, and continued reading the paper, while Mrs Frazier delivered a plate of cooked breakfast for me.

When Mum finished reading, she placed the paper on the table and stood up to get another cup of tea, and I glanced at the new headlines on the front page. “Train magnate sues Great Southern Grammar” which caught me totally by surprise, and I dropped the fork, which caused quite a noise, when it hit the plate. “Sorry, I just saw the front-page headlines” I explained, as I reached for the paper, to read the story.

“Mr Christopher Ashburton, local owner of the Rocks mansion, and the Great Western Train, appeared in court today, as part of his case of suing the prestigious Grammar school, for allowing for bulling to take place in their school and not taking appropriate action with the culprits.

The court heard today, that Mr Ashburton’s oldest son, Vern, was shoved hard against his school locker, which caused him to fall and blackout, on his first day at school, after missing a week of school, due to him being the only casualty, of the train collision that took place just outside of Northam.

The Headmaster, Ms Clare Orrington, stated that the students who caused the disturbance at the school had been appropriately disciplined, and she thought that Mr Ashburton was wasting the court’s time and money.

In response, Mr Ashburton stated that the lead bully ran away when he spotted the police waiting for him in the administration building, after a second incident, and that the police gave the other boys an official warning, while the main culprit has yet to be found and charged, by the police.

He also stated that the other boys received lunchtime detention, and a month’s suspension, for their input into the two bullying attacks at the school, while it is not known if the school has been in contact with the main culprit, which Mr Ashburton felt was inadequate, considering that his son has a hairline fracture to his skull.

The magistrate stated, that there was a clear case for compensation to the Ashburton family, with the school failing to keep a safe environment to the students at the school, and that the case will go before a judge in the Supreme Court in Perth, with a date to be set”.

“Holy smokes Mum, sounds like the Grammar school is in real strife” I said to Mum after finishing the article. “Yes dear, and now maybe they will sit up and take notice, when someone like your father complains about bullying in schools” Mum responded.

“Is Dad in his office next door?” I asked, “No, he is at a meeting with the lawyers” Mum replied, and so after breakfast, I returned to my room to do some studies, like I should have been doing. Dad arrived home just before lunch time, and he came into my room to see what I was doing, as I was in the process of doing one of my assignments, which really was due before I flew off to Europe.

“Good to see that you are studying son” my Dad said to me, as he looked at my computer screen, to see what I was working on.

“Australian History, that is a good thing to brush up on, since you have spent so little time here” Dad added. “Yes, but I am writing about a piece of history, that for many years been covered up by the highest-ranking Australian army officer and politicians at the time” I explained.

“Sounds very interesting, go on” my Dad said. “Its about a man, who at the age of ten, emigrated to Western Australia, in 1904, along with his parents and two older sisters, from the Isle of Man, with his father being a primary school headmaster.

He excelled in his studies and sports at the Grammar school in Perth that he attended, and soon after graduating from high school, he joined the Army, near the start of World War 1, where he fought in the Middle East & France, and soon after reaching the rank of Captain, he received the Military Cross” I said.

“Well, it sounds like this man was a hero and deserved his award, I look forward to reading your assignment, when it is completed” Dad responded.

Until we get the second service operating from Leonora to Esperance, Dad decided to keep to two runs a week each way on the Albany to Geraldton line, and so a few days later, when Dad said that he had too much work to do, to go on the trip, and said he would allowed me to go on my own.

Since we had two bookings for Diamond Class, Dad arranged for that car to be added to the train, and I would use Cabin one for myself, and I decided to take my college books with me, so I could get as much work done on my assignments, so I don’t have to worry about them, while I am in Europe with Dad.

On Wednesday night, Dad informed me that the new piece of track just out of Northam was now completed, meaning we no longer needed to stop at Avon Yard, to change tracks, and that work has begun with the construction of the second train platform at Northam.

The next morning, I was up early, and Mrs Frazier had a cooked breakfast waiting for me, when I entered the kitchen at 6.30am. Just as I was finishing my breakfast, Dad appeared. “Are you all set and ready to go?” he asked me, as he received a cup of tea from Mrs Frazier and sat down at the table.