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Post by patience on Oct 25, 2013 13:48:17 GMT -6
Chapter 63, cont'd.
The Christmas dinner at Gerald's place had the whole ridge community attending for the plentiful food and companionship. Each person had contributed a small gift to put under the tree and one person chosen by drawing a name from a hat, picked a gift and opened it. Another name was drawn and that person got to choose either a gift from under the tree, or the one already opened, whereupon the person without a gift could pick another from under the tree. As gifts were opened, it gave each a chance to get something they liked better, or to aggravate somebody by choosing the one they had. Lots of banter ensued, with adults having mercy on the younger people by letting them have what they wanted.
As the exchange was finishing up, people began to talk of Christmases past and how they were different.
"I like this better than before," Christopher said. He had chosen a package that had a simple, but elegant hand forged skinning knife with an antler handle. "We used to get stuff people bought for us, but it wasn't near as nice as what people are making now."
"It's more fun to make something than to go running around stores to buy things and spend too much on it." Tara said. "And it didn't mean as much. I know that somebody chose the best fruit to make these pies and took special care to bake them to perfection. Thank you, to whoever made them!"
Vickie Hoskins smiled at that, and said, "You're welcome. And thanks to someone who made these lovely gloves. It sure helps as cold as it is getting!"
Ed said, "I think we all used to be caught up in the spending routine for holidays. The stores and the TV kept pushing that, and most of us fell for it."
Alicia said, "If I had known what to expect, I would have bought more useful things back then. I can't believe what I used to think was so important."
"Isn't that the truth," Joann said. "It sure would have been nice to have a crystal ball and see what was coming, like Todd did."
"I didn't have a crystal ball, I just lucked onto some ideas that were floating around out there on the internet," Todd said.
"But you were paying attention and did something about it. That's what counts," Alicia said.
Gerald asked, "What do you see coming up now? I keep hoping things will get better, but I'm not seeing it happen."
"Well, it all depends on what kinds of energy we can find to use at an affordable price," Todd said. "There are a limited number of sources for energy, so I don't see things going back to what they were before the crash. Energy cost is the ceiling that we are up against now."
Ed said, "There is a lot of energy around, but most of it isn't as handy to use as oil. Like solar energy. There is a lot of it, but it is hard to harness for what we want to do, like plowing and hauling loads."
"Solar is at the root of it all," Todd said. "The sun powers the water cycle to evaporate water and create rain, then grow plants. We use firewood for heat that is an accumulation of solar energy. Any way that we can concentrate solar energy to suit our needs will help a lot."
Mike was thinking about how he could do that. He remembered seeing solar reflectors on the internet that concentrated heat on a water tank.
Gerald said, "Ronnie is ahead of us here, with his horses. They don't eat any of that high priced diesel fuel, and they can get all over these hill and hollows to get the logs out."
Ronnie said, "Yeah, but they eat every day, whether I use 'em or not. That means I need to use 'em every day if I can."
Gerald said, "Yeah, but at least you can grow the feed. It's the solar energy thing, like Todd said. The sun makes the grass and the grain grow, then the horses eat it and concentrate it so you can plow and log with 'em."
"I have to get enough out of the horses to make them pay for their feed, because if they weren't eating it, I could sell it. Of course, without them I'd have to buy diesel to grow the hay and grain, so I'm coming out ahead. It's just more time and work for me to use 'em, because they're slower than a tractor."
"There's no doubt that horses make sense for what you're doing," Todd said. "I'm thinking about it, but so far I can't justify going to horses for the grain farming we do with Dan. If the price of fuel goes up more, that will change to favor the horses. The problem now is how to harvest grain using horses. The old equipment for that is all gone, the horse drawn corn and wheat binders, and threshing machines that ran on steam engines."
"I' d have to go about it differently to make horses work out for us. Instead of selling grain, it would mean changing to less grain and more hay ground. That makes some sense, because without chemical fertilizers, we need to do the crop rotations and use manure to put nutrients back on the farm, or the ground will 'wear out' like they used to say. The soil gets poor if you keep taking crops off and not putting anything back in the ground. It's a matter of time before our soil fertility drops to where we can't make any money farming with tractors."
Ed said, "There was an old saying when I was kid, that if you sell hay, it's like selling your land. That was because you were selling off the nutrients of the soil in the hay. You need to keep some livestock to feed, and use their manure to keep your ground up."
Gerald said, "Looks to me like we could use wood gas for our cars and trucks. That outfit with the sawmill down in the valley uses wood gas to run the sawmill. That's an old Chevy truck gas engine they got."
Mike spoke up. "That's a lot easier to do with a stationary engine. To make wood gas work really well, it wants to be a steady engine speed, not changing all the time like a car or truck engine does on the road. And to make the engine last, you need a lot of filtration to get the acid out of the gas and that takes room. Makes it harder to do with a car or truck. And it isn't an instant start up, either. It takes a while to get the fire going just right. Not as easy as it looks. Might work with a tractor pretty good, though, since they run pretty steady speed in the field. I need to look into that more."
Alicia said, "It seems to me that land is the key to the energy thing. The more land you have, the more energy you can grow, whether it is trees, or grain, or whatever."
Todd said, "That's true, but it means you have to be able to farm that land and that means a bigger operation overall, with more horses and more work to make it all happen."
"Wind is free," Laura said. "Mike uses a little windmill to run a tumbler in his shop."
Mike said, "Yes, but that tumbler can run whenever it wants to when the wind blows. It's not something I can depend on day in and day out. The tumbler doesn't care, because it can sit there with stuff in it to polish until the wind is blowing and then it works. I just pay attention to how much the windmill runs to know when a batch is done. If there are more jobs like that, then yes, windmills are a good answer, like that water pumper I'm working on."
Ed said, "It all depends on how we can use these things the best and for what cost. We have to be smart in how we go about it. The better job we do of finding the right energy to run the things we want, the better we'll come out. That little windmill works for Mike's tumbler and the big one he's fixing will work to pump water. The horses work for logging on these hills and small farming, and wood gas works for the sawmill where they already have slab wood there to burn for it. I don't see any good answers for fueling a car or truck without it being expensive."
Joann said, "Yeah. We won't be running to the store for a loaf of bread anytime soon like we used to." ________________
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Post by patience on Oct 25, 2013 15:53:42 GMT -6
CHAPTER 64, February, 2016
Wes and Larry took a break from splitting firewood and opened the thermos of coffee Kate had made for them, warming their hands around the mugs.
Larry said, "I wonder if they'll ever come get those boxcars on the siding down there? They been sitting there for 3 or 4 years that I know of. The weeds have grown up on the tracks, so they haven't sprayed with herbicide for ages."
Wes said, "They might sit there forever. The railroads had parked a lot of cars like that long before the crash. But I think those got put there just before you and Gloria came out here. You can't see the tracks when the trees are leafed out, so I'm not sure."
"Those are all closed up. I thought they used to leave empty boxcars open when they parked them."
"Yeah, that's what I thought, too. Maybe they planned to leave them there for a long time and closed 'em up to keep the rain out."
They sat and finished their coffee, then went back to splitting wood for another hour. When they stopped again for a break, Larry said, "I'm curious as a cat, I guess, but I'm going down there and have a closer look at those boxcars."
"It's a long walk. I think I'll stay here."
There was something of a path, or a game trail through the woods down to the creek that Larry followed. The creek was frozen over. He tested his weight on the ice and then walked across it. His pant legs got covered with small burrs from the weeds that grew alongside the railroad tracks. He followed the tracks about a hundred yards to the cars on the siding that followed the small valley. The first two cars had no lock or seal on the doors so he wrestled with the latch until he figured it out. It was rusty and didn't move easily, but he finally got it unlatched. The door protested loudly, squeaking as he shoved it open about a foot. Inside were pallets of boxes marked, "Continental Steel Co. 16d Common Nails". The other pallets had other nail sizes and types.
Larry pushed the door closed and walked down to the next car. It had rolled woven wire fencing banded together on pallets, also from Continental Steel Company. The third car had barbed wire rolls. Larry went on down the tracks to a tank car. He couldn't tell what might be in it without getting on top of it and opening the fill hatch, but the drain valve was greasy and smelled like oil of some kind. He faintly heard Wes splitting wood in the distance and headed back his way, anxious to tell him about his discovery.
"What do you mean they are full? They wouldn't park a loaded train out here!"
"Well, they did. There's car loads of fence wire, nails, and barbed wire. The tank car I looked at smelled like oil, but I don't know what's in that."
"You gotta be kidding me!"
"Nope. Sure as I'm standing here."
"Man, could we ever use some of that stuff!"
"It's there for the taking, if we don't get caught," Larry said.
"Boy is that ever tempting!"
Larry said, "I'm not so sure it's a good idea to take any of it. If all of a sudden we had a lot of fence wire and nails and stuff, somebody would be wanting to know where it came from."
Wes leaned on his splitting maul and said, "I know for a fact that Continental Steel Company is history now. I remember reading on the internet that they went bankrupt and closed. That's why there weren't any nails to buy until they started getting some in from China lately. Continental couldn't compete with the imports back then."
"Wonder who it belongs to now?"
"It'd be hard to find out," Wes said. "I gotta talk to Ashley and Kate about this." __________________
"The railroads went belly up about that time," Kate said. "There probably isn't anyone around that knows those cars are sitting there, let alone what's in them."
Ashley said, "How could we find out who it belongs to? There's a new County Sheriff now. Maybe he would know. I'd rather find out what the story is before we go looting a train."
Three days later was Saturday, so the family packed Wes' old truck with things to sell at the market. They had some cured hams, aged cheese rounds that Kate and Gloria had made, several pounds of butter, a 20 gallon can of fresh milk, and a big box of eggs loaded. Kate decided to stay home and babysit with 3 year old Ella so Ashley could go shopping. Larry had no particular yen to stand out in the cold all day, so he was staying home. He'd had cold feet all week cutting wood. That left Wes, Ashley and Gloria to do the market business.
Brent Collins' farm was a couple miles further away than the fairgrounds, but nobody minded that because there was no City Mayor to deal with and there was the pole barn for shelter, plus hot food available. A sheriff's deputy usually showed up, more for trading than law enforcement, since Brent and his two grown sons didn't allow bad conduct. Shenanigans would get you thrown bodily off the property and told to stay off.
Today it wasn't a deputy, but Sheriff Townsend that showed up. Gloria had gone to high school with him and had thought later that she would have done better to marry him when he got out of law school than the piece of crap that Bob had turned out to be. She had no regrets about marrying Larry, though. He was a really kind soul and treated her like a goddess. She put all that out of her mind and spoke to Terry Townsend when he walked by.
"Hello Gloria! I haven't seen you for a while. Where have you been?"
"Well, I'm a farm wife now. Bob got killed in a car wreck and I married Larry Barnes. We're farming with Wes Blake and Ashley now on her Mom's place."
"That's a nice farm. I live a couple miles on out the road from there. Looks like you have a lot of good things to eat here."
"See anything you like" That ham is great stuff, and Kate's cheese can't be beat."
Terry looked thing over and said, "I'll be back in a minute. Let me go get my wagon to carry things."
Other customers kept them busy until Terry came back with a kid's toy wagon, a popular substitute for a shopping cart here. He loaded up a smoked ham, a round of cheese, a pound of butter, and 2 dozen eggs then asked, "What do I owe you for this?"
When he had paid and had his change, Gloria said, "Hey! Don't run off yet. I have a legal question maybe you could answer."
"What would that be?"
She lowered her voice so others didn't overhear and told him about the train cars on the siding, asking who they belonged to now. She didn't mention that they were loaded. He asked where they were, so she told him, on the siding at the edge of their farm. They owned a few feet the other side of it where the right of way went through their place.
"Oh. Well, I suppose they belong to you now. See, that is the Southern tracks and they went bankrupt along with most of the other railroads. The banks that received their assets are dissolved now, too. By law, the right of way reverted to the original landowners, so that whole right of way strip is yours again. The rail cars are abandoned property of the railroad and its' receivers, so they are yours, too, for what they are worth. Not much, I'd say. Maybe you could raise chickens in them, or store corn or something. A lot of farms have taken over rail cars like that and mostly use them for grain bins."
"Are you kidding me? We own the train?"
"That's what the law says. Of course, there isn't much being done with the law these days without much in the way of a court system. Actually, I am the highest legal official in the county now, like it was a hundred or more years ago."
"What do you want for your legal advice?"
"How about another pound of that butter? My wife will love it!"
"You've got it. Here!" Gloria graced him with her beautiful smile and Terry thanked her profusely. Maybe she had flirted with him just a little. It didn't matter. She knew he was happily married and she was too. It was all in fun and probably helped her learn what she wanted to know. She had planned it that way. ________________
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Post by nancy1340 on Oct 25, 2013 20:27:57 GMT -6
Very good. Thank you.
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Post by patience on Oct 25, 2013 20:36:02 GMT -6
I need ideas here.
The farm belonging to Kate, Ashley, Wes, Larry and Gloria is 160 acres, a quarter section which is half a mile square. The railroad runs along on edge, so they now own half a mile of a siding track that continues on to through the neighbor's farm to join the mainline. Boxcars average 55 to 65 feet long including the hitch affair on the ends. So, in that half mile of track (2,640 feet) there could be up to 44 rail cars--boxcars (some insulated), tankers, dry hoppers (that haul things like powdered gypsum for making drywall, or wheat flour, etc.), and flatcars with containerized freight on them (those big steel boxes that every prepper covets), often the way that imports are handled, moved first on oceangoing ships, then to rail, and finally to semi trucks. They can contain about anything. No open gondolas full of coal, though, because this lot has been sitting there for 3 years plus.
So far, Larry found fencing and nails from a steel wire plant. What will our folks hope to find? What disappointments will they find? Ruined canned food? A 70 ton car load of compacted cardboard going to be recycled? Dead rats?
WHAT IS ON THE TRAIN?
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Post by kaijafon on Oct 25, 2013 21:10:56 GMT -6
I live right by a track where those open gondolas come by full of coal every day. I always crack up about those electric cars supposedly "cleaner"/"greener" cause all the electricity around this part of the state is from COAL! And anyways.... what I'd like to see on the train is one whole box full of those metal fence posts and a wide variety of hand tools and hand drills, hammers, screwdrivers, screws, and windows and screens and screen doors. and leather stuff.... hardware stores always smell like leather... to me.... sigh ...love that smell...
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Post by kaijafon on Oct 25, 2013 21:12:03 GMT -6
oh yeah, I was gonna say that even a boxcar full of cardboard could be used to make raised beds it's good at killing grass...
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mommasue
New Member
Only slightly strange .
Posts: 16
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Post by mommasue on Oct 26, 2013 7:38:05 GMT -6
how about all the stock from a closing $ General ? Maybe being sent to another store. Would have a wide variety of goods. Sewing notions, paper goods, stationary, school supplies, a few tools, some foods. batteries and so on.
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 26, 2013 10:18:28 GMT -6
Several cars loaded with new vehicles.
Containers headed for WalMart - could be work clothes, boots, tools, cloth, staple groceries, TVs, video games, seeds, fertilizer, bicycles (the front wheels and axles from two bicycles could be used to make a decent cart - the pedals and rear wheel could power some small shop equipment or drive a small generator for charging a bettery - or make a tricycle with two front wheels and a cargo box)
Container with dry-charged batteries (batteries are built, charged, then the acid transferred to a plastic jug so the process of pouring in the acid gives a fresh, fully charged battery).
Container of solar panels - but cables, charge controllers and inverters probably wouldn't be in the same container.
Hopper car of soybeans - future biodiesel production?
Car loaded with dimensional lumber (2x4, 2x8, etc)
Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using proboards
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Post by patience on Oct 26, 2013 18:48:39 GMT -6
Thanks for all the good ideas! Hard telling what is in the rest of the "consist". Chapter 64, cont'd. "We own the TRAIN?" "That's what the Sheriff said," Gloria told Kate. "Well, that beats stealing it," Larry said. Wes had been thinking about it and said, "We need to get a look at what is in all those cars, and then make some plans. First, what are we going to do with it? And next, how do we get it out of the boxcars and up here. It's across the creek, and it's half a mile away." Larry said, "I'd say just leave the stuff where it's at for now, and keep quiet about it. Some stuff we could make a little bridge across the creek with some logs and go get things with the tractor and loader. If that doesn't work for some things, we can cut the fence and take it across that pasture we've been using on the next farm." Ashley said, "Larry's right to keep quiet about it for now. If the word gets out that there is stuff in the cars, there will be no stopping the scavengers. If we go through the neighbor's farm, we'll have tracks in the snow and anybody could tell what we're doing there. Better do the work from this side if we can." Gloria said, "I want to know what all is in those boxcars. It could be anything. It's getting late this evening to go poking around down there, but first thing tomorrow after I do the milking I'm going to have a look." Larry said, "I'll go with you. Opening those car doors is a real pain. I'll be taking some oil and a crowbar." Wes said, "I like the bridge idea. Let's take the chainsaws down there and cut some trees on the far side then drop them across the creek. If we can get several across the creek for supports, we can cut poles for decking and spike them into the logs. We've still got a lot of long pole barn nails left over we can use for that. I'm thinking about getting some of those heavy boxes of nails and rolls of fence wire up here." Larry said, "Haven't you got log prongs for your tractor loader? Thought I saw some somewhere." "Yeah. They're in the machine shed. They're a pain to put on, so I don't take the bucket off the loader unless I have to." "That's the way to handle those pallets of stuff. For now, we can use the loader bucket. We'll need that to help grade a dirt road down there. This is going to take a while, so we better figure on making a road up to the house." Kate said, "Sounds like maybe we struck it rich, or maybe not. But it's going to be a lot of work either way." _______________ When chores were done and breakfast over, everyone except Kate and Ella went to explore the train cars. They crossed the creek where Larry did before and had a look in the cars he had opened. These were toward the east end of the string of cars. The west end of the string was out of sight around the curve that direction. Larry got better at opening the doors after some practice. After an hour of work, they had opened a car full of plywood bound for Home Depot, and one of boxes of motor oil and lubricants, besides the 3 that Larry had opened earlier of woven wire fencing, nails and screws, and the barbed wire. Larry worked methodically down the string toward the east end. The next car had pallets of instant coffee and boxed teabags. The next 2 cars were dry bulk hoppers, both full of masonry cement. A boxcar beyond that held dry charge car batteries and crates of plastic acid bottles. The next one had huge rolls of paper, 3 feet in diameter bound for a printing business in Indianapolis. Another came from Porter Paint Company in Louisville, but the paint was in cardboard boxes full of buckets. Larry cut into one box with his pocket knife and saw 5 gallon plastic buckets of Outside White Semi Gloss Enamel. He closed that door quickly, noting that the car was insulated and the paint was Latex base. He knew freezing would damage it and hoped it was still okay. The last 2 cars on the east end were flatcars with containers on them. The containers were padlocked, but those yielded to Larry's crowbar, with some damage to the latches. There were two 30 foot long containers per flatcar, all with Chinese markings on them. The first one had pallets of schools supplies, and the second had boxes labeled, "Designer Purses", "Leather Coats", and "Ladies Fashion Shoes". When Gloria saw that she said, "It looks like we will be in style for years to come! But I'm cold and I'm hungry. The rest can wait. I'm going to the house." Ashley said, "I'm going with you. Let the men tough it out if they want to." Larry said, "You go on to the house and warm up. I'm going to look in the last 2 containers." Wes took over the crowbar and ripped the latches off the last two containers. One was labeled to go to Wal Mart and was bull of boxed bicycles. The other was destined for Harbor Freight's distribution center and was full of solar panel kits. The men were getting cold, too. They latched the containers shut and started the long walk to the house. Kate had a pot of beef stew on the wood cook stove and it smelled heavenly. She was taking biscuits out of the oven when they came in. When she had been informed of the contents they had found so far, she said, "What can we possibly do with those rolls of paper?" Ashley said, "I suppose we can cut it up somehow and use it to write on. Paper is hard to find now." Gloria was delighted. "This is like the best Christmas ever! And we haven't got a good start yet. I wonder how many more cars there are? Did you guys count them?" Wes said, "I think there are about 3 dozen more, give or take. "We'll get a better look later." "It's pretty gray out there," Kate said after lunch. "It looks like we'll get some snow." "Could be," Wes said. "It felt pretty humid out there. I better get the cattle in the barn and do the feeding before we go back to the train cars. If we get a lot of snow it would be better to have the cattle up in the barn lot." They fed all the animals early and got the woodpile on the porch replenished, carried in a couple extra buckets of water from the hand pump, and threw a tarp back over the pump to prevent it freezing up. By the time they were finished, big snowflakes were coming down and they all decided against walking the half mile back to the train cars for the day. When Gloria went out to milk that evening, the snow was 4" deep on the walks and still coming down fast. _________________
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Post by patience on Oct 27, 2013 7:30:21 GMT -6
Chapter 64, cont'd.
The next morning was Monday, when Ed had said he would work on some boots for Christopher. Joann looked out the window when she went out to stoke the wood stove and saw white everywhere. There was no sign of the trails to the hen house or other buildings, and the road to Mike and Laura's house was recognizable only by the lack of weeds and brush. She looked at Ed's truck and saw it was about a foot deep and still coming down. This ought to be a good morning for a batch of pancakes, maple syrup, and lots of fried ham she decided. She wasn't planning on going anywhere for a while. She had come to a belief in God late in her life and her thought as she looked outside was that God had put the snow there, and he would melt it away in His own good time without any help from us humans. ______________ At the Nichols house, Ronnie looked out at dawn, discouraged that he wouldn't be able to do any logging for a while. He thought it would be a good time to butcher a couple more pigs and get the meat in the smokehouse. Tara wasn't going to like that, he thought. She had in mind to work on herb preparations today, and butchering was always a cold job. _______________ Gloria's curiosity was put on hold, while the family tended to livestock and waited for the snow to stop before trying to dig out paths to the various buildings. It was a little warmer than yesterday, at 26 degrees on the porch thermometer. They needed to do laundry, so that meant it would be hung in the house to dry near the wood stoves in the kitchen and living room. The added humidity in the house would be welcome to keep their noses from feeling so dry. _____________
In town, nobody was going anywhere except a few hardy souls with snow shovels, digging out the sidewalks from 19" of snow. It was wet and heavy, then it had gotten colder overnight and frozen harder. Shovels worked best when used to cut chunks of it then lift it out as a block. What businesses there were did not open until after noon when walks could be cleared. Streets remained blocked with snow, although people trampled trails across intersections. _____________ Mel Sawyer told Vickie, "I'm glad the snow waited until today. I'd hate to have to fight it on market day."
"I doubt if anyone would come anyway in this weather. What are you up to today?"
"Hm. I have to run the trap line, in case I caught something fit to eat. That might be it for the day. I don't take to cold weather like I used to, and kicking through snow ain't my idea of a good time. Have we got any of that chili left from Saturday's market?"
"Yes, there's about a half gallon of it, and I already split it with Charlie and Denise. Hope you like it."
"That's just the thing for a cold day. We'll be fine." _____________
Gerald asked Anne if she could help him decant the last batch of wine today?
"Yes, I don't have anything that has to be done. Do you think Ed will clear the road today?"
"I doubt it. He might hit it a lick when the snow stops, but not before. Fuel costs too much." Gerald went to the window and looked out. "I'm glad I got some wood up on the porch last night. Looks like about a foot and a half on the trailer bed and it's still snowing." ____________ "Why don't we get a snow day off school like we used to?" Sophia asked Alicia.
"Because you don't have to leave home for school, you know that," Alicia said. "Now let's get through the lessons and you kids can go play in it after lunch."
Emily wasn't complaining. Matthew had ridden one of Ronnie's big work horses to their house for school, since there wouldn't be any logging done today. He'd cleaned the packed snow from his hoofs and put the horse in the new barn with some hay and fresh bedding. They would have to go give him some water at lunchtime and she could help. She wanted to spend all the time she could with Matthew, preferably without the adults around. He seemed to be oblivious to her part of the time, but he had noticed that she'd rolled her dark blonde hair and had some waves in it today. Sophia thought the boy was nice, but told Emily she was goofy about him. Emily didn't mind her sister. She had plans for Matthew. Matthew was almost 19 now and she would be 16 soon. She thought they were old enough to get married. All she had to do was convince Matthew and she was sure she could do that.
Sophia liked Christopher a lot better than Matthew. He was less than a year older than she was, and had always treated her like family. He'd been nice from the first day, not like the kids she remembered from school before, even though she wasn't as pretty as her sister. She didn't enjoy running around in the woods as much as he did, but she went with him sometimes just because she liked him. Sophia knew that you couldn't marry your brother, but she also knew that Christopher wasn't really her brother. It was nice they could do lessons together since they were both in the 8th grade. __________________
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Post by patience on Oct 27, 2013 19:49:38 GMT -6
CHAPTER 65, March, 2016
It was ten days before the snow melted off so Wes, Larry, and their wives could go back to look at the train cars. Wes had dug out a can of old bolts and some wrenches to secure the door latches where they had twisted off padlocks. Knowing more about what they faced, this trip they also carried a big pipe wrench to help get rid of locks and open rusty door mechanisms. The next one in line to deal with was the tank car that Larry had looked at but failed to open.
A fill hatch on top was the logical place to inspect it, in case the drain valves should be inoperable, or fail to close. Larry had a tin can with a wire fastened to it to dip out some of the contents, which, when they looked at the other side of the car, was plainly labeled "Kerosene". The tank car beyond it contained "Naptha", a somewhat dubious name, so Larry dipped our a can of it. It smelled like lighter fluid, and burned like gasoline. He tried a drop of it on his old Zippo lighter and found it worked just fine. Maybe they could find some other use for it, since there was 28,500 gallons of it, according to the car markings, the same amount as the Kerosene. Larry did know that kerosene was essentially the same as #1 Diesel, so they could use that to fuel the tractors. Wes and Larry talked about it and decided that the safe way to get the liquids out of the tank cars was to use a siphon hose. Not understanding the valves on the cars they would leave them alone.
The next 2 boxcars were bound for the Ace Hardware distributor. One was mostly outdoor equipment with dozens of lawn rollers, dethatchers, fertilizer spreaders, and mowers with bagger attachments, all sort of useless now. The real find in that car was 6 pallets of Stihl chain saws and 4 more of chain saw accessories--spare bars and chains, air filters, spark plugs and the like. The second one was better, with an assortment of grass seeds and bagged fertilizers. Wes was really glad to see pallets of Urea nitrogen fertilizer.
After crawling around in those 2 cars for a couple hours, everybody was tired. They opened the next car and found it wrapped in plastic labeled Scott Paper, and the women cheered. There were paper towels by the truck load and over half the car was toilet paper. That was the first car that they immediately tore into and liberated some of the contents.
Wes said, "Whatever is in the next one is bound to be a let down after this. Toilet paper is a hard act to follow these days."
"Unless you find some feminine supplies," Ashley said.
That was not to be, however, as the next car was packed with treated lumber, mostly 4 X 4 posts and deck boards. The smell of it was strong in the car so they closed it up quickly. The men were happy with it, but the women were less than estatic. They perked up, though at the following car when they found "Joann Fabrics" on the destination label. Boxed on the pallets were many kinds of fabric. Each pallet box contained all the same type of fabric, but there were various printed patterns in one box. It was too dark to see deep inside the boxcars, and they didn't have a working flashlight, so learning for certain what all was in each car would be left until they could unload some of it for accessing the deeper reaches of them.
It was getting on toward lunch time when they opened one last car for the day and found it came from Pfizer Corporation. The stackable plastic totes inside had stickers on the outside. Gloria said, "We hit the mother lode here."
"What's that?" Ashley asked.
"Vet supplies. Lots of them. Electrolytes, vitamin and electrolyte powder, Sulfa, injectable iron, tetracycline. Enough to keep a lot of animals and probably people alive."
Larry pulled out an couple of the totes by the edge of the door and saw other names on the ones behind it. Gloria had a look and said, "It's not all from Pfizer. They are a drug company. The rest is something else. Pull out one of those, Larry."
He did and they found totes with vet wrap, syringes, packaged sterile sutures and vet bandage wrap in the next layer. They did some mixing and matching of contents and packed 2 totes of assorted items to take to the house along with the toilet paper.
"Did you get that all down, Ashley?" Wes asked.
"Yes. I started the list with the first car on the east end and used your lumber crayon to put numbers on the cars. This is number 21, vet supplies."
"Good. Let's go to the house and eat."
They had driven Wes' truck as close to the creek as they could get it, but it was still a long haul up the hill and through the woods before they could put their loads down. Wes volunteered to ride in the back, but Ashley said she could sit on his lap, to crawl in. It was a cramped ride to the house, but better than the sub-freezing temperature outside. _______________
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Post by idahobob on Oct 28, 2013 8:40:07 GMT -6
Over half a box car of TP.....what a find!
Bob III
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Post by patience on Oct 28, 2013 20:13:44 GMT -6
Chapter 65 cont'd.
As they were eating, Kate said, "How are we going to handle all this new found wealth?"
Gloria said, "That's simple enough. Keep plenty to be sure we have enough and sell the rest."
Larry had caught on immediately and said, "If we go to selling a bunch of stuff, the secret will be out in no time, and we'll have people all over us. They'll figure out where the stuff is and try to steal it. There's no way we can guard half a mile of train cars. And there'll be too many people trying for it. We'd likely get shot over all that stuff."
Ashley said, "Right now nobody knows about it. We need to keep it that way as long as we can."
Wes said, "That's right. And use whatever time we have before anybody finds out to haul as much as we need for ourselves up here and put it away. My pickup is pretty quiet. Let's use it and a farm wagon to haul stuff. It's cold enough now that nobody is out running around if they don't have to, so we maybe have another month to get it done before somebody will be wondering what we are up to from just hearing the truck if nothing else."
Larry said, "It's pretty well hidden down there in the creek bottom. It's deep enough you can't see down there except from the road where the tracks cross. As long as we work during the day and keep it quiet down there, we'll be okay I think. Might ought to cut a little firewood, too, just to let folks think they know what we are doing. You know how nibby country folks are."
Kate said, "The only ones close enough to see anything is Neal and Olivia Davis. I've known them all my life. I think I should bake some pies and go see Olivia pretty soon. Those two don't have much to do with other folks, but we've been friends since our school days. I know I can count on them keeping their mouths shut about this. I think we need some help, especially to watch out for us while we work on this."
Ashley said, "That's a really good idea, Mom. I should have thought about them. I bet the train goes back on their place, too. I never really paid any attention, because you can't see it in the summer time when the trees are leafed out and hiding it."
Larry said, "I know there are cars that go past our line fence, but can't say how far. We better go look before you say anything to the Davises."
That afternoon Wes and Larry went to the back end of the farm where they joined Davis's land. They counted a total of 38 cars on their own property and 14 on Davis's property, where the siding ended, deep in woods on both sides of the tracks. With that information in mind and a couple of Kate's freshly baked pies in hand, Kate and Ashley took the pickup and drove over to visit Neal and Olivia.
"We brought you some pies for desert, Olivia, and some news," Kate said as the woman answered the door. Her husband was close behind with his hand on his old revolver stuck in his belt. Neal relaxed when he saw who it was and they were invited inside.
"I guess you could say we are here to celebrate," Kate said.
"What is there to celebrate these days?" Neal asked.
Ashley said, "I think we are all rich now. I'll let Mom tell the story."
When Kate was finished outlining the story, Neal said, "I think like you do, that this newfound wealth could be both a blessing and a curse. Everybody is going to be jealous and greedy and want some of it."
Olivia sat there thinking about it. All of a sudden they had more goods than they knew what to do with, and along with it, a major problem. She finally asked, "What all did you say was in the cars you opened?"
Ashley said, "There's all kinds of stuff. For one thing, none of us will ever run out of toilet paper again as long as we live!" And there's a whole shipping container full of ladies' shoes, and purses and coats. There's one with paint, some chainsaws, cases of motor oil, enough wire to fence in the county, and enough nails to build a town. There's whole tank car full of kerosene that can be used as diesel fuel! It just goes on and on. There's even a container of school supplies and a carload of vet supplies and medications. Wes was really glad to see all the batteries in one car, because our tractor battery is about a goner."
"Of course we'll share with you," Kate said. Anything in there you might need you're welcome to have it."
Neal said, "I saw those cars sitting back there behind our pasture and wondered if they'd ever get 'em out of there. There must be a dozen on our place. I wonder if there's anything in them?"
"Fourteen," Ashley said, "Our men went back and counted them all. And there are 38 on our place. I bet they are all full of something. We can show you how to get the doors open so you can find out what's there."
"What in the world are we gonna do with it all?" Neal asked.
Kate said, "For right now, we're thinking to keep REAL quiet about it and start hauling what we can use to the house and barn. Maybe we can sell some things later, but for now I'd suggest we put that off as long as we can, or we'll start having problems."
Olivia said, "Oh, I'm sure that's right. Why, people will do anything now if they think they can get by with it. Yes, yes, we won't say a word to anyone about this, not even our daughter. Of course we don't see them very often, because they live out the other side of town. That's good because she can't keep quiet about anything. We'll have to be sure she doesn't learn about this. It would only take one person, and the news would travel faster than lightning."
Neal said, "I just thought of something. I bet the government would want to tax this, or just steal it if they found out about it. We better be real careful what we do with it. If we sell anything, it had best be like the black market men do it, all real quiet like, and not close to home, either."
"Where are my manners?" Olivia said, "I'll cut those pies and we can have some now. I'll get some cold milk, too. I'm sorry I don't have any coffee."
Ashley grinned and said, "You do now! There's bunch of it in one of the cars!" She pulled 2 jars of Folger's Classic Instant out of her deep coat pockets.
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Post by nancy1340 on Oct 28, 2013 20:29:15 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by idahobob on Oct 29, 2013 1:26:36 GMT -6
Mmmmmm, coffee.
Even if it is instant.
Bob III
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mommasue
New Member
Only slightly strange .
Posts: 16
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Post by mommasue on Oct 29, 2013 10:21:28 GMT -6
Would be cool if one of those cars held at least one propane powered fork lift , and many mini filled tanks to go with it .
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Post by patience on Oct 29, 2013 17:08:46 GMT -6
CHAPTER 66 Late March, 2016
Four bays of Wes' new machine shed had filled up within less than 2 weeks. The pickup and farm wagon made at least one and sometimes 2 trips a day from the rail siding up to the machine shed. Larry spent three days building doors for that part of the shed, and a partition to block it off from the rest of the long building. The Ace Hardware car had boxes of hardware, but it was a lot of work getting it out of the car, across the creek and up the bank to the truck and wagon. the task of sorting through the car loads was a grueling job. Many cartons and pallets were unloaded, only to be loaded back again after finding what was wanted behind or beneath other things.
Five medium size oak trees were cut, then dragged and shoved into position for supporting a temporary bridge across the little creek. Smaller poles were cut and laid crosswise of the oaks to begin the flooring, and finally, some of the treated deck lumber was used to make a reasonably flat bridge deck. There was a lot of trimming with chainsaws involved and much manual labor for all four of the younger family members. Kate said she would gladly forego the pleasure of seeing "all that plunder" until later, and stay at the house to babysit and provide meals.
What Larry had called log prongs, were actually forklift arms that had been adapted to Wes' loader for handling logs. The bridge had been built with that heavy tractor in mind for unloading the cars. Some fill work and grading with Larry's smaller tractor and front end loader bucket enabled the men to negotiate a long stretch of cars before they ran into heavily wooded rough ground farther to the west. Wes had a carryall platform for the rear of his tractor that mounted on the 3 point hitch. That was used to move some of the loads. It could be backed up to the truck or wagon and lifted a couple feet to allow easier transfer. The same was done in reverse at the machine shed.
After almost a month of hard work by all four people, they had filled the four enclosed bays of the machine shed, part of the barn loft, a spare room upstairs in the house, and a similar amount had been taken to the Davis farm. Treated lumber was hauled and stacked behind the barn, then covered with roofing metal discovered in car number 24.
Meanwhile, Neal Davis and his wife had not been idle. They had cleaned out their old hog farrowing house for storage and done some clearing in the woods to make a better trail to the bank above the creek on their farm. The 2 families agreed to make a gate in the property line fence near the back of the farms for moving goods back and forth between them, out of sight from the road. It was a simple matter to cut the woven wire fencing, staple a pole on the cut end, and provide a couple wire loops to fasten it back closed when not in use. They didn't want it to be obviously a gate to casual observation.
Neal and his wife had found a carload of tobacco products, mostly cigarettes from a Louisville maker, and some pipe tobacco that they split with Wes and his family. They also discovered a carload of bottled whiskey from a Kentucky distiller, one of small engines destined for Harbor Freight's warehouse, and another flat car with one container of imported tools, and the other headed for Rite Aid Drugs filled with over the counter medications, vitamins, makeup, shampoo, and hair coloring products they had found so far.
The shifting of goods back and forth between farms, then storing those things kept both families busy until the middle of March, and they just had a good start. It was becoming a burdensome job to do morning chores, then put in 8 to 10 hours a day hauling and storing things. The women were getting pretty tired of it until Wes opened a car full with a Wal Mart shipment of clothing. Inside the various boxes were literally tons of winter coats, ladies', men's, and children's underwear, heavy socks and insulated underwear, jeans, and sweatshirts and pants, all a seasonal shipment to fill a couple stores with winter clothing. The men unloaded palletized boxes and hauled them to the house, where the women began to sort out what would be useful sizes for the families. When a pallet had been sorted, it was marked with a big X and sent back to the rail car. They used the barn for a staging and sorting area, and kept the doors shut tight until this was all cleared out.
Wes and Larry had been turning away shop work, saying they had their own equipment to fix, but that story wore thin and the neighbors began to press them for repair work. Wes took on a few jobs, which complicated security matters for moving goods from the train cars. By having the stock gate at the end of the driveway, and a buzzer hooked to it, they avoided getting caught with any train goods exposed, but just barely a couple times.
Kate called a halt to looting the train cars. It wasn't worth the risk of having the secret let out as the weather warmed up and farmers were outside more, scattering manure on fields and moving livestock to other pastures. Larry cut a large red cedar tree and dropped it on their bridge to hide it somewhat, then cut a couple smaller trees to block and disguise their road into the woods. Anything they got out of the train now would have to be done very carefully to avoid discovery until next winter. _______________
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Post by patience on Oct 29, 2013 19:15:33 GMT -6
Chapter 66, cont'd.
The smokehouse was filled with the last hog butchering for a while, so Ronnie and Matthew had been helping Tara process dried herbs and package them for sale. It wasn't their favorite thing to do, but since the ground had thawed out and some early Spring rains came, the ground was too soft and muddy to do any logging. Ronnie had bought some salvaged metal roofing from Brent Collins, then with Matthew's help had erected a pole style shed to house lumber. It was open on the sides, which allowed free air movement to dry the lumber stacked with thin sticks between each layer.
By hot weather the lumber should be dry enough to build the farrowing house he wanted to put in the pasture below the barn, where he could run water from the spring by gravity flow. They were all tired of carrying water by the bucketful to water animals. Hogs drink a lot of water, which was one reason very few people raised very many of them.
He planned to have a cattle watering trough in that area, too, if he could find a way to make one. His metal water tanks all had been patched several times and would only last so long before they rusted out. He'd like to make one out of concrete. He could get sand and gravel from the river, even if it was a terrible job, but cement was impossible to find now. If he made a trough of wood, it would leak, no matter how careful he was. ______________
Christopher was busy in the storage building grinding chicken feed with his Dad. They had bought some young pullets and a few roosters from a woman last market day and had them in a small pen in the corner of the building. It was safer to keep them inside all the time, lest a coyote, raccoon, or stray dogs think they looked like lunch. Chris had a coyote hide on a stretcher now who was bold enough to try to get into this barn. The meat from him was drying in the sun today, and would soon make a good protein supplement for the chickens he had planned to eat. Chris was thinking that if he could find some steel traps like Mel had, he wouldn't have to go hunting so much for meat and hides. When they shut off the small engine that ran the feed grinder, Chris looked up to see Sophia.
She said, "When you guys are finished, we have lunch ready. We have ham, green beans, corn and I baked some apple turnovers for desert."
"Wow! That sounds good," Chris told her. Sophia beamed and said, "Hurry up before it all gets cold."
"I'd give you a kiss for those apple turnovers, but this is pretty dusty work and I wouldn't want to get your clean dress all dirty."
Sophia's heart thumped a couple times at the thought, but she tried not to let it show. She turned quickly and trotted to the house to get the meal on the table with her Mom. Everyone ate their share and said it was very good. After lunch, Chris went to wash up and found Sophia had put a kettle of hot water by the kitchen sink to add to the cold water from the hand pump there. He thanked her and was rewarded with another big smile.
Later that day later Sophia joined Chris when he went out to plant some early salad greens in the coldframes his Dad had made.
"Mom said to have you put in some onion seeds in there, too, so I brought them out."
"Okay, I guess there's room for some."
She lingered a minute watching him. She had to know, so she asked him.
"Do you like me Chris?" She couldn't help her face getting red when she said it.
Thankfully, or maybe not, he didn't look up from what he was doing. "Of course I like you! You're my sister, and you're really nice."
She was a little flustered, but she went on. "I don't mean like a sister. I mean do you like me as a girl?"
"You're the nicest girl I know, Sophia."
"I like you a lot Chris. Did you really mean it when you said you'd kiss me for the turnovers?"
"Sure I did. They were really good!"
He wiped his hands on the grass and stood up to give her a peck on the cheek. Sophia held his face between her hands and kissed him full on the mouth, then backed away quickly and blushed again. This time he saw it and stood there looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time.
She said, "Was that okay?"
Chris finally found his tongue and said, "Yeah, it was okay. It was nice."
Sophia had to get the idea across to him. "We're not really brother and sister, you know?"
"We just as well be. You're family, and we all love you Sophia."
"I know, but I like you better than a brother. Oooh!" She turned and ran around the house then went inside and hid in the bathroom until she got herself calmed down.
Chris stood there, wondering what that was all about. It was that night when he was getting ready for bed that she passed him in the hallway and gave him a slightly guilty looking smile. And then he knew. It took him a while to get to sleep that night, thinking about Sophia. _______________________
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Post by notchman on Oct 29, 2013 21:10:57 GMT -6
Ahhhh, young love......how sweet. Keep up the great work patience.
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Post by patience on Oct 30, 2013 9:45:20 GMT -6
CHAPTER 67, April, 2016
Two more brand new calves were up and nursing when Ed walked over to his farm to feed in the evening and check on the cows. The rest of the cows all looked to be ready to drop a calf any day, so he made sure the feeding area was clean, they had fresh bedding, and he gave the cows some extra ground feed. Ed was up to 15 brood cows now that all looked healthy and content. Last year's crop of calves were growing fast and eating enough that he began to hope for new pasture grass soon.
The Fescue had greened up as soon as the snow was gone, but the clover he had seeded with it was just starting to show enough green to be seen across the field behind the barn. He stayed long enough to see them all go to the pond to drink, then come back to the barn to get out of the misty rain. The cows with new calves were halfway to the barn when three coyotes came galloping out of the trees, then 2 more, encircling the cows with calves and half a dozen others. Ed ran for the barn driveway where he had left his old Springfield rifle.
He laid the rifle stock against the corner of the barn for a rest and sighted on one that was farther out from the herd. When the rifle boomed, the coyote dropped in a pile and the others took flight for the trees, headed north toward the old Duncan place. Ed swung the rifle at the departing coyotes and squeezed the trigger again. As that one fell, he moved on to the one closest to the tree line and hit it, but it struggled to it's feet and trotted on 3 legs out of sight. By the time he cycled the bolt again, they had all disappeared.
He looked at the cows that had circled the baby calves in a protective huddle, shaking their heads aggressively. They might have fought off the attack by themselves, he thought, but he'd thin out the coyotes every chance he got. He looked around and picked up his empty brass and pocketted it for reloading later. As he reloaded his rifle Ed heard another shot from the Duncan farm, then a second one. It sounded like the neighbor had got in some licks, too. Bob Clemmons kept a watchful eye on Ronnie's herd of hogs, and he hated coyotes as much as anyone. Mike had reloaded some shotgun shells for Bob with home made buckshot cushioned with sawdust, a very lethal load at up to 50 to 75 yards.
Ed slung his rifle over his back and walked out in the mist to gather up the dead coyotes. He dragged them to the driveway one at a time and left them in a pile. Ed started his walk back home. He would drive the truck back later to pick up the coyotes. The meat would be run through his cranked meat grinder then spread out to dry slowly in his home made dehydrator over the wood stove. He had more than enough to feed his chickens for now, so he'd probably trade it off to Ronnie to use in hog feed. The bones would be dried on the hen house roof and later ground in his hammermill to put on his garden. The pelts would be dried on stretchers and given to the tanner toward Ed's next leather purchase. All of the proceeds didn't amount to a lot, but it would pay for his rifle shells and some besides.
The neighborhood came to full alert when they heard the shooting. Ed knew this and stopped at Gerald's house to tell him what happened, then at his son's house on the way out with the truck to pick up the coyotes. Mike said he'd help him skin them out. Ed loaded the coyotes then drove over to Ronnie's place where he met Matthew at the driveway carrying a rifle and explained. The young man thanked him and walked back to the house.
Since he was close, Ed drove across the road to tell Bob what he shot at and to see if Bob had any luck. He had. There were 3 dead coyotes in his barn driveway, the first hung up and being skinned.
"How'd you get 3 with 2 shots?" Ed asked.
"You got one and he just made it over here to die. You take him. The hide belongs to you," Bob said.
"No, the two I've got is all I can handle tonight. You're welcome to the hide. Just wanted to let you know it wasn't outlaws I was shooting at."
Bob grinned and said, "They're outlaws as far as I'm concerned. They can make a mess out of a herd of hogs."
"Well," Ed said as he got back in his truck, "That's 5 of 'em we don't have to worry about now. See you later. It's getting dark and we both have work to do." _________________
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Post by kaijafon on Oct 30, 2013 16:56:12 GMT -6
thank you so much! I really enjoy this story. so glad they found those supplies!
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Post by patience on Oct 30, 2013 18:21:38 GMT -6
Chapter 67, cont'd.
Neal Davis didn't have the security problem that Wes and Larry did, since the back of his farm had steeper and higher banks above the creek, and he had always pretty much kept to himself, so they didn't have a lot of company. It would be a while before the ground dried enough for him to begin putting in crops, so he spent some time opening boxcars and containers. He was tickled pink with the next car he opened, it being a shipment to some big feed store, he supposed. There were pallets of the brown salt blocks he fed his cattle (he had run out of those), some blocks of molasses and magnesium to prevent grass tetany, and the rest of the car was filled with bags of dried pork meat scrap, which he knew as "tankage" from many years ago when he started farming. It was a protein supplement that was richer than soybean meal, and it would keep practically forever in the plastic lined bags. Neal wasn't young, but he was still fit. Even so, it took him a couple days to carry enough of the 50 pound bags up the steep bank to haul to the old grain bin he used to store such things. It was hard work, but it was all sorely needed things to feed his stock.
That had kept him occupied, but he was getting more curious all the time about the rest of the cars and opened a couple more containers on the next flatcar. He wasn't much of a fisherman, but he knew he had a fortune in fishing equipment when he got a look at the load addressed to Bass Pro in Clarksville. The shipping papers inside listed hundreds of fishing items, and almost as many clothing items. The prize, though, was cartons of archery equipment--compound bows, graphite arrows, hunting broadheads, and pages of accessories, all of it made in China and shipping direct to Bass Pro.
The other container didn't excite him much, although he knew it was worth a lot. It was a shipment of parts from Rednekk Trailer Supply to some trailer manufacturer in Kentucky. The shipping papers said it had hitches, stub axles, rims with tires, and springs. He figured somebody would want to make something out of all that, but he left it where it was for now, picked up his big pipe wrench and crowbar and went on to the next one, a boxcar.
He read the shipping papers twice and part of it again, before he began to believe it. The car had the yellow placard that said, HAZARDOUS MATERIAL, and sure enough, inside were boxes printed with "A. Uberti" and addressed from Accokeek, Maryland to a distributor. There was a separate shipping document from Remington Arms, a re-shipment from the Uberti comany to their distributor. It listed numerous calibers of ammunition he only vaguely remembered, like .44-40, .45 Long Colt, and .45-70. From what he could see reading the papers, this company must be a maker of old style guns, because it listed things like Trapdoor rifles and Colt single action revolvers. He used his belt knife to cut open a carton and found it full of 1873 Carbines, replicas of Winchester's fine lever action rifle chambered for .45 Colt.
Neal wasn't a "gun nut" as he called the people who bought one gun after another just to have them, but he knew what he had in that one car was worth as much or more than his farm. He struggled to get past that carton to the one just behind the car side by the door. it required that he cut away and half emptied the carton of rifles to get to the pallet labeled Remington Arms Company. It was full of boxes of ammunition. Neal put all the rifles back in the carton except the one he'd laid aside and took out several boxes of ammunition, then closed the car door. Having that many guns sitting there made him nervous. He'd heard on TV what some people had done to rob gun stores when the trouble all began. He decided that he'd seen enough for today and went to the house, after figuring out how to load and work the simple lever action rifle. ________________
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Post by patience on Oct 30, 2013 18:28:44 GMT -6
Help! Neal has 8 more cars to open. How about some more ideas for what is in there? Neal will get to his cars first, but Wes, Larry and family also have 13 more to open. Of course, then we have to figure out how they are going to sell, trade, or otherwise deal with all of it without getting killed as a consequence. They sort of have a tiger by the tail here.... Here's what they have found so far. Wes and Family: -Plywood -motor oil and grease, etc. -woven wire fencing -barbed wire -nails, screws, staples, etc. -instant coffee and teabags -2 dry hoppers of concrete cement -dry charge batteries -3 ft. diameter rolls of printing paper -Paint -school supplies -purses, fashion shoes, and leather coats. -bicycles -Harbor Freight solar panel kits (with a small charge controller and 2 light fixtures in each) -tanker of kerosene -tanker of naptha -Ace Hardware, lawn equipment, chain saws, grass seed, fertilizer bags -toilet paper and paper towels -treated 4 x 4's and deck lumber -JoAnn Fabrics, bolts of cloth and ?? -Vet supplies -steel roofing metal -Wal Mart winter clothing Neal Davis has found: -meat scrap, trace mineral salt, molasses-magnesium blocks -tobacco products, cigarettes and pipe tobacco. -whisky -small engines (harbor Freight) -container of tools -container for Rite Aid Drugs: hair coloring, over the counter meds, vitamins, etc. -container for Bass Pro: fishing gear, compound bows, arrows, broadheads, and accessories. -boxcar full of Uberti reproduction rifles and revolvers, with ammunition.
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Post by nancy1340 on Oct 30, 2013 22:05:08 GMT -6
Thanks
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Post by papaof2 on Oct 30, 2013 23:11:53 GMT -6
Among the Joann Fabrics items - patterns - thread - buttons - zippers - pins - needles - scissors - pinking shears - marking chalk Be nice to find a Singer treadle sewing machine, but more likely in someone's attic or barn than on the train. A container for Hobby Lobby: - premounted canvases of various sizes - brushes - oil, acrylic and other artists paints - model car/boat/aircraft kits and paints - craft supplies: cord, yarn, beads, jewelry making supplies - artificial flowers, vases - picture frames (maybe use to build cold frames?) - baskets (wicker, bamboo, ) - potholder weaving loom and loops Rite Aid or Dollar General or Big Lots container - kiddie pools (rainwater collection, animal watering, ) - laundry detergent - bar soap - suntan lotion - petroleum jelly - cotton balls - makeup - cold cream Any given random train will have some things that aren't useful in a specific place or situation - patio umbrellas aren't a big thing in the northenmost part of Alaska ;-) Sent from my IdeaTabA2109A using proboards
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