Julina of Blackstone - 077 - What Is The Point?

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Julina learns much and teaches some, in a matter of mere Bells.

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Julina of Blackstone
Her Chronicles, Book 2

by Julia Phillips

077 – What Is The Point?


Disclaimer:

The original characters and plot of this story are the property of the author. No infringement of pre-existing copyright is intended.
This story is copyright © 2013 - 2020 Julia Phillips. All rights reserved.

It uses some of the associated characters and situations that arise from the world called ‘Anmar’ created by Penny Lane, whose stories
are also copyright © 2010 - 2020 Penny Lane. All rights reserved.


Julina of Blackstone
Her Chronicles
077 – What Is The Point?

“And just what are you laughing at, Mistress Julina?” the Countess demanded in fierce and accusatory tones.

“You, Milady.”

“And is it your wont to mock the afflicted?”

“Not at all, Milady,” I replied, just barely managing to suppress further giggles.

“Well I find it most disrespectful.”

“As you say, Milady!”

Which was then followed by a sort of “Sssppplllllltttt” that I didn't quite manage to suppress entirely.

We were in the front family room at Em's. Our group consisted of Milady Merizel, the three maids, Davvy and I along with the healer, Mistress Twaite who had come with her assistant, Kanasta.

Mistress Twaite looked shocked and frowned somewhat disgustedly at me. Kanasta was bewildered, judging by her face. Davvy had gasped, and started to look worriedly at me, but experience brought about by her slowly getting to know me suggested that maybe I had something up my sleeve, so as to speak. The Einnlander maids remained neutral, there being no expression across their faces at all.

Everyone in other words doubted me - except for Tandra, who, like her mistress, had eyes that were sparkling with mirth, a look that all the others had not managed to detect.

The Countess tried to frown and glare at me all at the same time. I clamped my mouth shut, but a bubble of giggles made my lips quiver and produce a sound more often associated with animals' rear ends.

That was the final thing that broke through Countess Merizel's demeanour, and she laughed out loud – at last.

“Maker! 'Lina, I can no longer pretend to be annoyed. But I would fain understand what made you giggle so, when my wrist is now sorely damaged, liberally belotioned and so fastly bandaged. Maker! I can scarce bend it.”

When Davvy, Surtree and I were returning from the railroad workers place to the Salon, we saw the Countess and her maids inspecting the area that was to be rebuilt into the new VMS building. I told the bac driver to stop, we would dismount here and I called across to the party of women. In whirling round, the Countess somehow tripped over a stone or one of the marking sticks there. She fell, using her right hand to break her fall. In doing so, she hurt her wrist, for she immediately cried out and grasped it with her other hand. The tears were trembling on her lids as she sat there and the maids all fussed around her.

“Surtree, take the bac and find a healer. Quickly now! Davvy, go and prepare the family room at Em's for the Countess to be able to recline on the couch there. 'Tis the nearest room we can all fit into and have the healer work her wonders too.”

As my assistants were flying about their new tasks, I went over to the injured woman and persuaded her to show me the injury. It was already quite swollen and tender to touch, but I made her try to move her hand around – a task she managed, but with much grimacing.

“I deem you have but sprained that wrist, Merry – Milady, I mean. My brothers have done that often enough in their childhood. Come, let us away down the street to the Salon. There is a day bed in the family room there, upon which you may recline. 'Tis but five houses distant.”

I let Odgarda and Geska support her as we made our way slowly down the sidewalk of Main Street; more people clustered around her would just have engendered uncomfortable crowding, bumping and much other chaos. Quite quickly, surprisingly, Surtree and the bac returned. I dismissed the bac driver to other duties, knowing that he knew that he'd be paid by the company and get his coin from Kulyer. He respectfully saluted me as he pulled away. I worried about that, for he obviously recognised me but I could not reciprocate. Blackstone Wagons now employed more than two dozen drivers, counting them both up here and downvalley.

Just as I was about to ask, Surtree beat me to it: “We found Mistress Twaite just up by the Town Coal Quarry. She and her assistant shall be here ...” He broke off and gestured up Main Street. At that heartbeat we were just one house away from Em's so I could see these two familiar women approaching quickly, but in an unfamiliar fashion.

“Surtree, run over to the barracks to inform them that the Countess is in Em's, that she has been injured, but just a suspected sprained wrist. You had better make it clear 'twas an accident, and not some enemy attack. Then you had better see what you can do to help around the Salon.”

He gave me his funny little salute and scampered off. I turned my attention back to the approaching women, or at least some my attention. I required to make sure I did not fall off the boardwalk of course and I would soon also have to open the street door.

What was unfamiliar about the two oncoming women, though, was that they were both mounted on frayen! Given Mistress Lendra's complaints of the other day, this was a sensible move on the healers' parts, I wondered if they had all now learnt to ride. My thoughts flashed back to that Assembly Meeting.

Which is when I got the fit of the giggles.

And they carried on erupting all through Mistress Twaite's examination of the patient and the production of the lotion and the bandaging. And which led onto the Countess' mock anger.

“So then, wretched girl, out with it. What is quite so amusing?”

“I just thought of the last Assembly Meeting, and the complaints levelled by the Healers of this town. As a result of those, there is to be a Healers' House, a central office, if you like, for them. We should have just left you where you were, Milady. For all you had to do was wait a few weeks, and you would have been sitting upon the floor of the Healers' office.”

She laughed outright at that, and then everyone else at least smiled – even the Einnlander girls.

“And then I imagined us bringing you your meals there. And tucking you in at night ...”

Eight women laughing aloud was bound, I suppose, to bring someone else along to see what the fuss was about. And then we had to explain it all again to Kelly and Kassama.

By and by, the conversation moved on.

First we learnt why her Ladyship was walking around town on her own (the guards were all at a muster at the new barracks, the principals were there too, and the Countess wanted to have a small walk while it was relatively quiet in Town).

Then we learnt that indeed the Healers had all availed themselves of the riding lessons we had set up down at the Claw all those weeks or months ago; the demands the Healers were now receiving meant that indeed they had to be more mobile than earlier.

It soon became time for me to explain why we were travelling on a bac, rather than on frayen.

“... so Sookie took the animals down to the Claw. I had some conversations that were necessary about future staffing and also to reassure Davabet's mother who was of the impression that I, and now Davvy, work too hard.

“Knowing my schedule, which nowadays I must own seems to be some part of a wonder, I deemed we had just time to go along and see what those railroad people were doing behind their curtains, curtains they had erected to reduce the number of interruptions they got from passers-by. I had several good reasons for being there and I chose the explanation that I had heard there would be an influx of workers in their area soon and did they think they might need some sort of lunchtime catering? I will readily confess amongst us here that that wasn't really the truth, or at least not the whole truth, for I was simply curious to find out what they did in there all day – and I knew that young Surtree was consumed with inquisitiveness as well. “

They all laughed out loud at that.

“Well, we popped into that area, where they are doing some testing, ...”

“Hold just a second! Ah! The green curtains up near the head of the valley?”

'Second', Milady?” asked Mistress Twaite hurriedly, lest my reply should drag the conversation away from this new topic.

“Forgive me. I meant heartbeat. Down in the Palace we have these new clocks which show the time in both bells and in Earth measurements.”

I felt the need to swiftly tell them all that: “We also have one now in the Salon just across the corridor from here, and the Steward has one too. But I confess I had forgotten about 'seconds'. I have been having difficulties enough understanding the hours and minutes.”

“You have one here? How … oh, Senidet, I presume?”

“As you say Milady. With her assistant Sigsten.”

“Excuse me, Milady,” interrupted Mistress Twaite, “and you too Mistress Julina. Earth measurements? I fear I am floundering.”

“Ah, Mistress Twaite,” began the Countess, “you are aware that Her Highness does not come from …” she looked around at us and narrowed her eyes slightly as she thought furiously “... anywhere in Alaesia, but from somewhere else entirely, from an area called Kansas which is located on … er, in ... a place we now call Earth.”

Everyone seemed to nod affirmatively, so she continued: “Anyway, they measure the time differently there. Very differently. Most of our Questors, who by the way, since the beginning of the year, have now been called 'Scientists' or 'Professors', whenever anyone remembers to do so that is, and also many Guildmasters, or 'Engineers', actually now recommend that we adopt that time system here as it allows for more accuracy, which is very important to nearly all of them.”

Mistress Twaite turned to me: “And you know of this, Mistress Julina?”

“Not the full details, Mistress. I am but … Hold! May I suggest we go into the Salon itself and look at the clock? 'Twill make explanations easier with the very thing there in front of us.”

“Of course! What a sensible idea, Mistress Julina,” said Milady.

So we all trooped into the Salon, where Frowka and Venket were setting up the tables and the sideboards and so on.

“Don't worry girls, we will move out of here in just a moment or two. I simply wish to show them the clock dials.”

“You maids can go back to that other room, as you have all seen these already! Then we shall be fewer here in these girls' way!”

“If it please you, Milady, may we stay? For I, we, am un-so-sure of this subject, and Mistress Julina does gives very clear lessons.”

I blushed at that, but still made sure my eyes thanked the Einnlander girl.

“Very well,” said the Countess, “I find I must agree with you, Odgarda, regarding 'Lina's lessons. Mistress Julina, would you carry on?”

“If it pleases you, Milady.” I positioned myself below the clock, my heart thumping, for I knew I did not understand the subject properly; so I chose the Bells dial to start with. “This side of the display,” I said whilst pointing up at it, “this 'dial' as they name it, shows the current time in Bells. This little picture is of the sun, which tells us that we are in the day Bells period. The picture changes to a moon for the other period of the day, the night Bells that start at the Dusk announcement. This number … oh! I assume you can all read Palarandi numbers?”

I glanced around and all indicated that they could. I saw Frowka and Venket listening attentively too, and I suddenly realised that I had not explained this to all the girls either. I mentally slapped my wrist.

“This number tells us then which was the last Bell announcement we heard. And this little numbered thingy down the bottom tells us what quarter of the Bell we are in; see here, the pointer shows us 'tis betwixt the second and the third quarters. So we are coming up to the quarter before the seventh.” I paused then, before putting on a complaining voice. “No wonder my tummy is rumbling!”

As hoped, the others all laughed and I felt the mood lighten somewhat. But I also gulped a little, for I now had to explain that other dial, the one I was convinced I didn't understand, and I couldn't put it off any longer.

Nevertheless, my brain suggested a way I could gain a few more heartbeats.

“Now - do you all also know the Garian numbers Her Highness introduced to Palarand?”

Alas, I got no respite for they all indicated that they did, even the maids.

“So I must now tell you that, in the so-called Earth system, their day is divided into twenty four periods called 'hours', and all these hours are of equal lengths, twelve of them between midnight and noon, both of which match exactly to our midnight and noon. This first period of twelve hours, half of twenty four, of course, they call collectively the 'morning hours' (even the ones that occur in the dark!) and then there are the other twelve between noon and midnight. I deliberately chose to call the morning hours the first period, for their day starts actually at midnight; unlike our periods which start at dawn or dusk and which further means that the last Bell of one of our periods is sometimes not exactly the same length as the other Bells that there have been since that period started.”

I broke off to take a breath, aware that I was waffling slightly as my brain raced. And furthermore to attempt to give the lead of the conversation back to Countess Merizel, hopefully; but she waved a hand and nodded at me encouragingly to continue, so I couldn't escape my fate that way.

As I may have mentioned before, one sure way to learn about something is to try to explain it, or teach it, to someone else. I felt a big 'Ding!' in my head and abruptly I understood those 'Earth' times that I had up to now been struggling with. So, suddenly, I could continue my explanation with a lot more confidence in my voice. And with a big smile.

“So you will readily understand that each of these hours is shorter than one of our Bells, as there are more of them in a day. But, for that accuracy that Her Ladyship mentioned, these hours have to be divided into even shorter time periods. So the people from Earth chose the number sixty to do the division of the hour. I know not why they chose that number, I must confess ...” I flung a glance at the Countess but again she waved me on, “... but nevertheless that is what they do. So their hour is divided first by sixty to produce what they call 'minutes' and then these are divided for a second time by sixty, to produce what they call 'seconds'.”

“Ah!” breathed Her Ladyship, “that must be why they are called 'seconds'. Because of dividing for a second time. I had never thought of that, I had just accepted Her Highness' terminology! Fascinating – and annoying that I had not worked that out for myself. So, Mistress Twaite, a second is very close to what we call a 'heartbeat' and a 'minute' is very close to what we call a 'moment'. Mistress Julina, I'm sorry! I interrupted your lesson.”

With an acknowledging nod, I continued: “Now observe this other dial, the non-Bell dial, the Earth dial I suppose would be a good name for it. First you need to understand that the start position for these long things that point towards the numbers round the outside is straight up. The big indicator which is almost as long as the dial is wide from its centre, well that big indicator jerks forward like it does at the end of each second. You can see that indeed the jerks come just about each heartbeat. Now, one half of sixty is thirty, and one third is twenty and one quarter is fifteen ...” I had another 'Ding!' moment then. Maybe I DID understand why they chose the number sixty after all! “... so you can see that the seconds pointing thingy has just passed the twenty second mark and is approaching half way round the circle. You can also see that there are a hand of … divisions … between each of the twelve numbers that surround the dial. Twelve times five is sixty.”

“If I might briefly interrupt, Mistress Julina?”

“Of course, Milady.”

“When we wish to indicate something at some distance from us, then we use our fingers to point to the object. Like those bread sticks over there.”

Of course, we all followed her pointing finger and looked at the innocent and unmoving sticks of bread. Frowka frowned as she looked for something wrong with them.

“And we then move our hand to point to something else, like the bottles of that rather nice wine at the other end of the sideboard.”

We all murmured our agreements, all of us a little confusedly.

“Well I use my fingers to point, the fingers on my hand. The clock uses these pointer thingies to indicate the relevant number on the outside of the circle by pointing at the numbers. They move, these things, and so they have therefore been termed 'hands'. We have the 'second hand', look it is just about to get to the top, to the end of a minute, and the 'minute hand' is the middle-sized one, whilst the 'hour hand', the short but stubbier one, is the one that travels slowest around the dial.”

After murmurs of understanding from her audience she gestured for me to continue.

“Thank you Milady. I knew that not. Today is therefore not wasted, for I have learnt something. And now back to my explanation.

“So we can see the Earth time just by looking at the clock. The hour hand was pointing straight upwards at noon, but is now just between the first and the second mark on the outside of the dial. So we know immediately that it is between one and two hours later than noon. The minute hand, the middle one, is pointing down and a little bit to the left. So we know that it is just after the half hour, because the minute hand does one circle of the dial every hour. And the second hand does one circle of the dial every minute.

“And there we have it, the second hand goes round the quickest, the minute hand is the next quickest (but not quick enough for us to actually detect any movement) and the short, stubby hour hand is the slowest. I find it a pleasing simplicity of showing us the time. A quick reminder for you – the second hand goes round once every minute, the minute hand goes round once every hour and the hour hand goes round once every half-day. I hope that is now clear?”

“Indeed! Well presented Julina! Very clear, concise and eminently understandable.” Everyone there nodded their agreement with the Countess' words.

“Thank you, Milady.” (Wretched blushing!)

“So,” the Countess continued, “in Earth terms, we call this time one thirty two and seventeen seconds. Eighteen seconds. Nineteen seconds. Note that we don't bother saying the words for 'hours' or 'minutes' because everybody understands that is what we describe.”

“That has confused me, Milady,” said Mistress Twaite.

“We know from the hour hand, being between the one and two, that 'tis after the first hour has ended and before the second hour has ended, so the stated time starts with a one – meaning one completed hour. If the hand was pointing say here, then that would be after eight hours had been completed.”

She paused until everyone had nodded at her. “The minute hand is between the six and the seven down there, slightly nearer the six. So we know 'tis after the thirty minute mark – remember, sixty minutes in an hour so just thirty in half of that – and the second hand is now overtaking the minute hand. So it is now, one thirty two and thirty seven seconds.”

Everyone puzzled at that for a little while and then came the 'Ding!' heartbeat, starting with Mistress Twaite and soon reaching everyone.

“Come along you all. We must keep out of the way of these poor girls who have to work.” The Countess called for all of us to return to the family room, but I stopped them there.

“Hold for just a SECOND or two, if you would.” They all smiled at my usage. “Shall we have some pel? And who is hungry, should we perchance have some pastries, pies, honeycakes?”

“Would we be able to sample one of those peet-zer things?” enquired the Countess. I was astonished at the fervent nods that agreed with her.

“Indeed we could!” I turned to Frowka, one eyebrow raised. She nodded and raised her own eyebrow queryingly. I mouthed 'Cheese' at her and then added 'Two large'. She bobbed a quick curtsey in acknowledgement and we went back to the family room even as the two girls scurried off to the kitchens.

Once we were all settled, the Countess said: “I deem I recall correctly when I say you were about to tell us some more about the railroad works at the head of the valley. Hidden behind their green curtain there. That is where you went?”

“So is it, Milady. Anyway, we made our way towards there, and met Senidet and her maid returning from inspecting the underground lake. When I mentioned where we were going, she expressed a desire to accompany us. And so, eventually, we got there ...”

… … ...

“Well met, Goodman Hobil. I am here to discuss some things with your team leader and with Master Pyor. I promise I shall not disturb the work too much.”

Hobil returned my grin as he said: “Welcome Mistress Julina. As it happens, Master Pyor is even now discussing things with er ... Master Ryteet. I shall take you to them, but must warn you all to watch where you step. There is much loose wood lying around.”

I made the introductions of those who did not know all present and we set off across the work site, led by Hobil, with myself next to him.

He lowered his voice such that only I could hear. “I must tell you that the 'Master' is currently a courtesy title for Journeyman Ryteet, but he does a good job and I daresay he shall become a full and proper Master sooner rather than later.” I grunted a reply so he knew I had heard.

His voice rose once more: “If you would step this way, I shall guide you. When we get to the sample rails on the ground, please take care not to kick them or anything. They are mostly firmly secured, but some are just currently being positioned with an absolute precision so they are yet to be attached in the same fashion as all the others.”

Surtree scampered up on my other side. He said, in shocked tones in an aside to me, intending it for private consumption: “Look at all the wood they have here. They could build the whole town all over again, I deem!”

Hobil heard however – and fortunately he simply laughed: “Quite right, young Master. If not three times over.”

Surtree's face split into a wide grin as his boyish exaggerations were flung back at him. There was an instant respect from the lad to the man.

“Most of the wood you see here is split though, or crushed, or torn.”

We all looked at him in surprise.

He shrugged and simply said: “We break a lot here.”

I think all our mouths dropped open.

He laughed uproariously then. “In all truth, I must say that actually, because of some of the things we do, we have had a great number of broken and crushed bits of wood. We tried to find somewhere to get rid of this no-longer usable wood but 'twas most difficult. Then Master Torin, and later Master Haldik, made a highly sensible suggestion. We have soon the newly 'invented' Longest Day town feast. Master Torin had the idea to have a huge bonfire round which we can all dance and so on, a sort of 'good news' pyre if you like, rather than a sad occasion. And for that we shall require to burn wood. Which is better for that occasion? Freshly cut wood that could be used for building or wagon construction, or discarded, broken, crushed, split rejects? So this has now become the Town's waste wood depository.”

We all understood suddenly why there was quite so much wood around.

He led us across to 'Master' Ryteet who was indeed speaking with Pyor. Deeply and seriously.

Pyor had his back to us so whirled round in surprise when his opposite number broke off in the middle of a sentence, with widening eyes and a frown. He muttered something, inaudible to us, which made Pyor do his sudden about face. Then Pyor's face took on an even more surprised expression when he recognised us.

Pyor led the introductions of course, being the one who knew everyone. And, as we were the 'intruders' so as to speak, 'twas I who had to explain our presence as the first subject. Pyor's eyes were laughing at me as I used the excuse about possible future catering. He knew we were just being nosy.

“Mistress Julina, that is indeed a splendid thought, and I fully understand why you wish to have as much advanced notice as possible. We believe there shall be between a dozen and four hands of extra railroad workers arriving in the next week, so mayhap we will indeed require some catering facility here. Up to now, we have been repairing to the Miners' Hall which is not used so much of a lunch period, most workers being considerably farther away than ourselves or the dwelling builders ...”

I flashed a triumphant glare at Pyor, who just winked and twinkled back at me, showing he wasn't fooled for a heartbeat.

“... We are unaware of just how many shall arrive at this moment, but Master Bezan shall be able to inform us soon, just as soon as he receives the appropriate semaphore.”

“Does Master Bezan then also know about the railroad details?” I asked in some surprise.

“Indeed so, Mistress. Her Highness caused him to be sent a full and detailed description of all parts of this enterprise apparently as long ago as the turn of the year. 'Tis from him that we up here have our knowledge.”

“Maker! Do you tell me? That is near to a half-year!” Inside I was cursing myself for not asking him about this in all those intervening months and weeks.

“As you say, Mistress. But the works could not begin immediately, neither here nor down near Teldor. The last of the winter had to pass, and then various tests had first to be made. I am told that Master Pyor's idea for the sliding points works well, the design of which we both semaphored down AND sent a detailed letter with diagrams via the VMS.

“Let me be clear here, in the Exclusivity Licence, the name given was 'points' – presumably because Master Pyor here said that they point to the destination that the railroad train is to take. But some people prefer the term 'switch' or 'switches', since they switch the set of rails upon which the train is travelling. I personally have got used to hearing 'points' so this seems to be the word that springs most readily to my mind.

“Whatever 'tis to be called, this is something that has actually helped a lot with the works downvalley. Her Highness had specified a different way to split the paths of the rails, but everyone has found it, so far, to be beyond their skills. 'Tis one of the things we must test up here, in wood first, before the steel version can be made. The Pyor Points can be far more easily constructed in the metals, and they have been used extensively now.”

“Master Ryteet, you should be aware that Mistress Julina was present when I designed those simplified railroad 'points' as they have now been called up here. 'Twas she who made me take out the Exclusivity Licence.”

Surtree and Hobil both nodded their confirmations. Ryteet for some reason looked a little shocked.

“So Blackstone is not the only test centre for the railroad?” I continued.

“Indeed not, Mistress.” He slightly stammered his reply. “Much of what they now term 'industry' is being constructed and/or expanded down near Teldor. Most of it being on the west bank of the Palar 'twixt Teldor and Haligo. I was told only yestere'en that they have now successfully constructed a sturdy enough bridge across the Telar some three marks upstream of Teldor and can thus start laying railroad route and track between there and Dekarran, just as they have already started doing in the direction of Haligo.

“The three marks upstream was necessary in order to access a narrower stretch of the Telar, with high enough banks to allow the barges to still move on the water, so actually, once this railroad gets started, then traffic shall leave Teldor, travel for six marks and appear just across the river from Teldor once more! Now six marks is quite a long way for dranakh and not quite so long for frayen, but to this railroad traffic, 'twill be a half bell only, mayhap even less, if Her Highness' descriptions are accurate.”

“Kallisthena!” I said, really quite loudly. (By the way, I have come to the conclusion that that word I learnt was somehow more 'feminine' than the others.)

Pyor laughed out loud, while Master Ryteet looked again shocked at first, before grinning in a very attractive way.

“So what means all that for the development of the railroad as a whole?” I managed to ask him to bring him back on track, so as to speak.

“The rails on their beds shall be built from each end, rather than just from one end. From Teldor the rails extend both north and south, Haligo as well. And I daresay from Dekarran they shall also spread in both directions. We up here can only go in the one direction of course.

“We also have a problem up here in that the agreed lengths of steel rails are immensely difficult to transport, that rock face by the Forest Roadhouse and up to the Strettalm being the most awkward part. But the length of the rails upon which they have agreed are so much longer than a wagon that some alternative way of doing it must be found. Down near Teldor is where most of these rails are now being produced, so there they have far fewer difficulties, with the gentle slopes of the river bank being all they have to cope with. There they have now determined how best to attach the rails to the supports under them and so on. But here alas, we have none of the actual steel rails. We use wooden ones for our testing, and sometimes the weight of the load we test with has crushed the wood, or split it. Master Brydas has managed to provide some metal plates to help us reinforce crucial bits and he is struggling to produce reliable usable rails for us.”

I felt an idea start a'bubbling in my head.

Pyor took over from Master Ryteet at that moment, for Ryteet was struck silent by me, a female, asking such technical questions, and using wagoneers' expletives whilst doing so: “And as we have wagons, railroad wagons and barges all involved in transporting stuff, it occurred to me that maybe we should have a standard size of load. So a wagon would become simply a base for carrying around one unit of load, mayhap some wagons would also have seating available, but my vision is that all bellies shall be the same. Then a railroad wagon would have two or three standard sizes as its load capacity, and a barge say eight or so.

“The authorities down in Palarand have agreed and we have now established the exact dimension of one of these 'containers' as they now deem them. With load lengtheners and dranakh we have managed to lift a new standard unit up from one wagon, then draw another wagon up under the suspended load and lowered that load onto the fresh wagon. So it shall be almost child's play to do that with the use of steam engines, which get ever more powerful as more and more steel sheet is being produced.

“I am proud to say that my suggestion has been accepted, and that all wagons in Palarand shall be converted to accept the standard container. That conversion to Blackstone wagons shall be easy for I have selected a size that means most will already be able to accept the containers once simple guiding pins have been affixed.”

“There are many associated threads in those statements to be considered. So please don't think that I have selected just one and will not ask the others later!”

Pyor nodded while Ryteet still looked thunderstruck. Hobil grinned in appreciation as he accepted the evidence of his eyes and ears a lot more readily than his boss. Mind you, Hobil had met me before, so I deem that might well have helped. I inwardly grinned at what would happen with Ryteet when Senidet opened up; she was just observing, thinking and analysing at the moment.

“Her Highness specified a way for the rails to split, and yet you say Pyor's idea is the one that has been accepted?”

Ryteet shook himself and began again: “Indeed. Insofar as that goes. The reason is simple. Indeed simplicity is the watchword here since the splitting methods are very simple too – in theory. Her Highness' design requires some shaping of parts of the steel required. As we have yet to test it properly, we have yet to determine the exact lengths of steel required, thus we have no defined requirement for the shaping.

“One integral part of the design is something Her Highness declared was named a 'frog', I know not why she named it so, 'tis the first time I ever heard that word, but this is a triangular lump of steel. When we have attempted to test this with wooden samples, then our wooden 'frogs' have soon been crushed. Having the sharp point of the triangle is important for this design. So we are somewhat restricted at the moment. At least, with the Pyor Points, we have the ability to split rails and test curves and the like.”

“Hmmm. That seems quite logical, I suppose.”

Pyor responded, with only a little hint of sarcasm: “Why, thank you, Mistress!”

“So what about this problem you had with the gap in the rails, and wheels dropping into it?”

Another raise of the eyebrows from Ryteet as he yet again decided he needed to re-evaluate me. “Well Mistress, our wheels are made of two parts ...”

“Indeed, Master Ryteet. The wheel and the lap.”

“Maker! How know you that?”

I just gestured to Hobil who made a mock bow.

“Very well, I shall get a little more technical then. The width of the lap we very rapidly realised was a factor in our problem, and Master Pyor here confirmed that when he arrived to join us. The thicker the downhanging part, the lap, then the wider needs be the gap in the rail to be crossed.

“But the lap must be present and must be sturdy for at some point the entire weight of the wagon shall be brought to bear upon it. So we needed to come to a compromise 'twixt sturdiness and thinness.

“The wider the gap, then the more likelihood of the wheel dropping into it. So we need to minimise the gap, or find some other method of controlling this weakness in the system.”

“Excuse me Master Ryteet?”

His eyes went to Senidet, a person he appeared to have forgotten was present. “Mistress … Sendit?”

“Senidet. Surely then you just make the circumference …” Ryteet's eyebrows shot up at her use of that word, “... of the wheel larger, for then the outside portion of the wheel covers more length of rail?”

“Indeed, Mistress Senidet. Indeed. But ...”

He looked so shocked at that point that I jumped in again: “Ah! But Senidet dear, I deem the railroad wagons' bellies shall be wider than the spread of the wheels, which means such wheels will therefore be running UNDER the belly and so those wheels cannot be so very large.”

“Ah! Thank you, Julina. I was unaware of that part of the design.” She fell back to thinking.

Meanwhile Ryteets' eyes were out on stalks as he looked from me to her and back again. Often.

Pyor smothered a grin and took up the conversation again: “So you see we have many factors here to consider and try to test as best we might. We really need some of the steel rails, but only the Maker knows how to get them up here.”

“How many of these rails can be carried on a wagon and still be hauled?” asked my friend, a very calculating look on her face as well as in her tone.

“Well we need two wagons actually, Mistress Senidet, which adds to the complications and to the weight to be hauled. But on a normal road, with a normal slope then we could get over a hand underway, but not as many as two hands of them. But there are two other factors that are denying us as well. The steep slope up the rock face from the Forest Roadhouse, and the sharp turn at the top of that slope. We would needs reduce the load to maybe just a pair, which is wickedly wasteful for the transport of such a load all the way from Teldor. And then these rails are so long that, when the first wagon makes that turn, the second wagon is still sufficiently far behind it that the rails themselves would bang into the rock wall on the inside of the bend at the top.”

“How heavy are the rails? And how long are they?”

“Why they require maybe a hand of men for lifting just the one. And they are as long as about four wagons.”

“Then I may have a solution for you!”

“Maker, Mistress! Do you tell us?” The three railroad men were all staring at Senidet now, an excited interest in their eyes and faces.

“When we came up here, I saw some foresters dragging a felled tree. That giant tree was longer than your rails. They had one end of the trimmed trunk sticking up into the air above the driver's head, with the trunk itself resting on the tailgate of the wagon, firmly attached there; meanwhile, the other end of the trunk was riding on a little but sturdy metal trolley, a metal frame sitting atop a small axle. You could use one of those, or something at least similar. That would reduce the weight to be hauled from two wagons to a wagon and a trailer trolley. And would reduce the trailing length somewhat too.”

“Maker! Of course! That would work.”

The joy in the men's faces was short-lived though, as Ryteet realised something.

“But Mistress Senidet there remains the steep slope and the too-sharp turn.”

“Then I would suggest that you use your normal transport method all the way up to the foot of the rock face, and then take a smaller number of rails, maybe even single ones, up the rock face trail and stack them at the top. A hand or more of men could surely remove a single rail from the load and manhandle it round the turn? Then the normal transport method could once again be used to get from the Strettalm to here? You need reduce your loads only for that one stretch of road, not for the whole journey! You can even leave a stack of them at either end of the rock face stretch, for it is not as if anyone shall steal something that requires a hand of men to lift!”

DING! My bubbling idea sprang out into my consciousness, but I kept quiet for a moment as the men were all busy congratulating Senidet.

Before I could open my mouth, though, Senidet asked another question: “I see over there a pair of wheels fixed to a joint axle. Is that the size of the wheels that shall be used?”

“Indeed Mistress. The distance between the two wheels, or, more accurately, between the insides of the two rails, is set to be exactly one and a half strides. The wheels and axle assembly is fixed such that bearings support the axle and those bearings shall be fixed to the above structure, something for which we have yet to find an appropriate name. For now we refer to them as being 'tables'; they shall be fixed above the axle; the frame of said table being then attached to the wagon base.”

“I see,” said Senidet, “so there shall be one of these towards each end of each railroad wagon?”

“That is the idea, Mistress.”

“Let us say the wagon is less than a cast long then, fifteen or sixteen strides in other words. How far in from each end do you expect the axles to be set?”

By this time, the men had lost their awe of discussing such matters with a woman. I genuinely felt that they had been so taken up by the argumentations that they had forgotten the gender of those with whom they were discussing such matters.

“We thought that maybe four strides would be a sensible maximum. That would leave eight or so strides in the middle and four at each end.”

“What about having extra axles. Is that an option?”

“Not really, since we feel that that would make negotiating curves really difficult.”

“Talking of curves, why have you decided upon a fixed axle/wheel arrangement? On any curve, the outer side wheel would have to travel farther than the inner side wheel. How is this possible with a fixed axle? It would surely work only if the table to which the axle was attached was able to swivel? Or the outside of the curve, the rail on that side, would be under great pressure. Or maybe the inner wheel, upon which there is less pressure would actually have to zoom over its surface to compensate. I'm sorry. These things have only just occurred to me and I am really just thinking aloud.”

“Mistress, you amaze us. It took us far longer to see all that you have just seen in a matter of moments!”

“Well Master Ryteet, that is really what my job entails. I must see as complete a picture as possible as swiftly as possible. I am somewhat in demand for making technical drawings of others' ideas, or of translating such drawings into more plain speak ...”

“You, Mistress? How came this about?”

“If you will excuse me, Master Ryteet.” I stepped firmly into this conversation at this point. “I should draw your attention to this lady's chest area! For that is indeed a Guild brooch she is wearing. Guildswoman Senidet is the daughter of our Smith here in Blackstone and she travelled down with Her Highness when the Royal Party departed from here late last year. She has continued her education downvalley and has returned to us not only to see her father, but also to install some needed equipment along with her assistants. She has ...”

I stopped at the hand signal from the blushing Senidet. Ryteet's jaw had dropped open and again he was struck dumb.

I hastily continued with a small change of thread: “Now I too have a question for you all. Well several actually. I understand the problem with the long and heavy rails being delivered up here. And I understand that the lack of them is holding back a certain amount of development. But, as I understand it, you are up here to test some things out for the entire Palarand railroad system. And others are probably waiting upon your reports of your results. Do you require always full length rails for your tests? Could not some be of a shorter length – say a half, or a third or even a quarter? Then these could be used for some tests and if you really require a full length then they could be combined somehow to create one full length when you needed it? So you could actually have shorter lengths conveyed up here? Most of the wooden rails I see around me here are considerably shorter than a cast.”

Even Pyor was looking thunderstruck as well as the other two men. Senidet looked at me and then slapped herself before saying only just audibly: “You can be such a ked sometimes, Senidet!”

“Aye!” said Ryteet. “And so can we. Keds the lot of us. Such a simple solution had just never occurred, we were all taken up with fulfilling Her Highness' specifications exactly. Yes, eventually, when the railroad is built, then we shall require full length ones, but until then there is much we could do with shorter lengths. Thank you Mistress Julina! Are you too a Guildswoman?”

I laughed at that: “No Master Ryteet, I am merely a girl who cooks!”

“Now, Julina, that is unfair. You ...”

“Stop right there, if you would! I have no more time now, I must away to my kitchens. Come with me please, those who would travel with me. Senidet, you and Maid Molly may stay of course, but Davvy, Surtree and I are now late. We must depart.”

… … …

“... and that was why we were on that bac. And I caused you to stumble, Milady.”

She laughed and said: “You see, you really ARE to blame, you wretched child!”

We all smiled at that just as the door opened and Frowka poked her head around it. “Are you all finished with the peet-zers? And would anyone care for some more pel? Oh! Excuse me, Milady, I meant no disrespect when I failed to mention your title.”

The Countess waved an uncaring hand before she answered her: “More pel? Of course more pel. 'Tis impossible for there to be such a thing as too much pel. But the food was actually delicious in its simple way, although these two ...” she indicated the two Einnlander maids, “... did not find it to their tastes, the rest of us did. We thank you most heartily. The girls here will clear away, if you would be so kind as to show them where they should bring it. Perhaps we should all have a 'natural break' and then when we come back, I can tell you some more information about the railroad and also tell you where that strange word 'frog' comes from; you will scarce believe it, I deem.”

“I fear we must depart,” said Mistress Twaite of herself and Kanasta, “even though I deem I would dearly like to learn more.” Kanasta nodded her agreement. “There are several patients we must visit to check up upon. Milady, Mistress Julina, we thank you for a most informative and entertaining lunch pause, an extended lunch pause I deem. And also for the introduction to these peet-zer thingies.”

So there was a large kerfuffle as those two took their leave and we others went to take our relief.

Afterwards, when we regathered, it was more intimate somehow, even though two people had left the quite small room we were in, making the space seem larger.

The Countess settled in and we all attended for her to start with her explanations. She pondered for nearly a whole … minute, during which we all seemed to almost hold our breaths.

“Her Highness, as you are aware, comes from somewhere else entirely and in that place, for thousands of years, the preferred method of transport was something they called a horse. These horses are of differing sizes and different strengths, much as we humans are. Some of the most powerful were used for tilling, ploughing and so on, for drawing barges, wagons and coaches and for operating hoists and the like, much actually as we use our dranakh. And yet horses are also used for riding, as we use our frayen. Even the smaller horses are larger than frayen, though.

“And their feet are also very different. Look now at the ends of your fingers, your nails pointing to your eyes, like this.” She demonstrated. “You see that any one nail covers maybe a quarter of the distance all round a finger, maximally a third. However, on a horse, the nail goes almost all the way round, three quarters or more of the way. And that nail is very thick. In fact, horses' toenails are very important, for they bear the weight of the animal. By having quite long nails, the pads of their feet are protected from damage from the ground. The thickness and the sheer quantity of the nails mean they grow very slowly and they need trimming only every month, approximately.

“And now we get to the main point of my explanations. The pads of their feet, when looked at from below. These pads are just about circular, with an almost flat surface inside the nails. But in the gap between either end of the nail is a fold of more sensitive flesh which tapers towards the centre of the circle. This forms an elongated triangle. I hope you can all visualise this?”

Her description was so clear that I had no difficulty whatsoever picturing this part of the strange animal.

“Those triangular pieces of flesh are called frogs.

“The frogs are then elongated triangles – which is exactly the shape required to be made in steel for a part of Her Highness' design for the rail splitting, the points or switches as they are to be called on the railroad.

“I confess that this explanation may be a little rusty for 'tis almost a half-year since I sent all this stuff from the Palace up here to Master Bezan, but I deem I have the main topics here duly, and reasonably accurately, reported.”

I thanked her for her explanation, on behalf of the three of us. I had thought that now we would part, but she had more information to give us.

“Then there is the route of the railroad. This is almost as complicated as the design of the 'points' and so on, fraught as it is with all sorts of physical, geographical as well as political implications. Simple? Hah!” she snorted with a sort of frustration and a sort of indignation as well as a sort of amusement.

“Dekarran is Palarand's second city and sits on the west bank of the Palar; most of the new factories and so on are also on the west bank of the Palar, between Teldor and Haligo. So it makes sense to have a railroad line there. But Tranidor, the largest city in terms of area in Palarand at this moment in time sits on the east bank of the Palar. And downstream from Tranidor, there is one major river that pierces the west bank, the Sufen. 'Tis below the mouth of the Sufen that Palarand's principal steel works is planned, and indeed is being constructed as we speak. All the other steel works are far smaller enterprises.

“But that is not the only problem with Tranidor. For it sits on the WEST bank of the Bray. If any railroad was to actually be in Tranidor town itself, then there would needs be at least one more major bridge to be built. So the current thinking is as follows: The east bank of the Bray and Palar is unencumbered by tributary rivers, and thus makes building the solid railroad track far easier all the way down to Haligo. There are places at Haligo where the two cliff tops are quite close together and a bridge can be easily constructed to span the gap and still be high above other buildings. So that has been chosen as the 'crossover' point. Such a bridge COULD be used for traffic in both directions of course. But this high-level crossing is above the level of the planned west bank route. Eventually and somehow, the two tracks must come together.

“But nowadays we must add in another factor. The jointly-ruled region dubbed 'Ptuvilend'. This, as you are aware, is to be controlled by a sharing of administration 'twixt Palarand and Vardenale. There are no over-mountain routes to Ptuvilend from Brankane and so their best and easiest route is along their coast of the Sirrel estuary to the mouth of the Palar and then all the way up the east bank.

“The almost certain decision now is that Tranidor shall have two railroad connections, but that the main part of that town shall have no direct railroad routes through it, the castle part of the town that is. West and South Tranidor will be the hosts to the railroad 'line' (as Her Highness referred to them) that runs down the west bank of the Palar; possibly eventually arriving all the way from Tel Botro!

“There, in South Tranidor, to liken this railroad to a tree, the trunk of which is formed by the main lines down each side of the Palar, then a branch line that serves the Sufen valley can easily join in with this previously mentioned west bank line. A branch line in this context means a line that serves the Sufen Valley which branches off the main line, the trunk line if you prefer. Trains using that branch line would leave or join the trunk line in order to get to other destinations.

“Meanwhile, Blackstone shall provide a line down the east bank of the Bray and then the Palar valleys, which shall split at Haligo to cross the Palar there. The line will however also continue to the mouth of the Palar and sweep along the coast to first Viridor, the port, and then on from there to the capital at Brankane. As far as Tranidor is concerned, for them to use that line, then the connection shall be on the east bank, near the current Tranidor East semaphore tower. 'Twill be less than a mark for the citizens and transporters to get to it, and much coin shall be saved by keeping the railroad lines where fewer bridges have to be built. That same trunk line will continue north into Ptuvilend, making the Blackstone line become a branch line. This trunk line may, who knows, eventually reach as far as Chaarn.”

She paused then, just at the right moment for me to take all that in and chew it over a little in my head. When she remained silent, however, I determined to ask another question: “I thank you, Milady, and would ...”

“Come, 'Lina. We are effectively alone. Merry will do under these circumstances. 'Twas good enough down in the Retreat, 'tis good enough for now.”

“Thank you again.” I replied, as I shot warning glances to Davvy. “Merry, is there more you can tell me about this Ptuvilend? I am aware that the Vardenalers that came up here with all of you in the first instance have scarce slept here in all that time.”

“I can indeed give SOME information, but not everything – and that is not because of secrecy or anything. I know far less than the whole story myself. We shall all be departing here next week and I shall have my husband back again once we reach that Brayview place. For Terry is gone off with those from Vardenale once more, to look at Ptuvilend in some greater detail than the first scan they took soon after arriving here. They even looked down on it from the top of the Blackstone Vale during those 'Hunter Games'. It seems there is a wildlife track the other side ...”


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Maker

They have most of north Paraland planned out for the rail road, with obvious intent to extend to central Paraland as soon as they can cross the Palar at Dekarran, Tranidor will see the proffits of the steel industry VERY quickly once they compete the steel works

Einlander Tastes???

Why do the Einlanders not like "Italian"?

Simple

The ratio of animal protein to "other ingredients" is far too low. Now if it was say Pakh shank, that would be a different story.

To me that's giving upon a

To me that's giving upon a good opportunity for a well balanced meal.

Properly Prepared

What, they never heard of 'all-meat' pizza? Just load that sucker up with meat toppings, as the maker intended. ;-)


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Well, leave it to the guys

And the project would've been spiked before it could even start. Dumber than a pakh, they were. For a first attempt at a railroad it is certainly ambitious. So how will all this be paid for? I don't think even Garia has that kind of dosh for the amount of infrastructure that is involved. For Palarand, this is like a space program.

On more practical matter, so will there be noise problems along the line?

Its quite simple really, no

Its quite simple really, no one place will pay for all of it, out of Blackstone it will be coal and Limestone, Tranidor iron and steel, and so on, it's also important to remember, it doesn't have to happen all at once, and the roadbeds and bridges they make for the railroad are perfectly fine for wagon traffic for now in addition, any stretch of rails can help pay for itself. Also they are probably being aided by the crown. Besides Master Tanon has good reason to invest in the railroad as well with all these investors Garia, Tanon, the Royal Paraland Institute of Engineers, and the Crown, they probably figure that with one or two more big budget investors, they will be fine, and they would be right, as for noise, they will learn, but it could make incorporating zoning to old towns much easier, the real problem will be the wheel assembly of the locomotive itself needing to have lots of wheels

It all depends on time horizon

As you correctly point out. Currently the implied goal is for all this to happen within film years or so.

Steel capacity will have to ramp up a lot to make this happen etc. Tolls and such will offset the costs but this is a huge capital project involving the equivalent of at least 70 billion in our dollars or more. For a nation of only 400000, that is a lot.

They are just laying out the

They are just laying out the standard roads that will be under the rails and building the heavy bridges for now, the steel rails they are making are for experimental purposes and short strategic runs, most of the track laying is waiting for the Tranidor steelworks to be completed, as for paying for it, the export of coal, iron, steel, steam engines, paper, hand and machine tools, and associated products thereof as well as machine knitted wool, and clothing related items, and so forth, will be a major help, and add to that the aftermath of the war, that is lots of reconstruction, lots of private citizens with more money than they've had in the past, some properties no longer occupied and everyone wanting to catch up industrially with Paraland.

Then there's the fact that property anywhere near a planned train station businesses will happily pay a premium for, after all, its all about how quickly you can bring supplies in and send products out.

They also have an easier supply of specific quality coal and iron ore, which are major modern costs in production of new steel, on account of said ore and coal not having been extensively mined yet, by the end of the following year (steam barge) for them, the cost of steel will probably be the lowest it will ever be, or at least in terms of production, however the massive railroad plans actually stabilize that price and the connection to Viridor will stabilize it further and ensure continual profit, so in a way the massive plan is key for the whole thing to be economically viable. The essential detail is that at no point will ALL production go towards the railroad

Best of all, this creates a constant demand for steel as rails and trains need maintenance and replacing, so they should never be able to over saturate the steel market, once the infrastructure is in place.

The steel industry is going to be where the biggest financial supporters of the railroad will come from, because it is a case of where the suppliers can CREATE the demand, and be confident that demand will last quite a while, it is a rare occurrence, but one that nearly every major long lasting industry utilizes, paper (and printing) makes books cheaper and therefore more people can learn to read and write, which creates demand for paper, printing and writing implements, agriculture food enables population growth which requires more food, transportation enables economic growth which demands more transportation. Everything else that is a major long lasting industry is generally an associated industry to one that creates its own demand. So even when the major Tranidor connections are made, it's in Tranidor's best interest to expand the rail system (if not the administration's active interest, it will be in the interest of those running the steelworks, and it won't be long before a certain Count realizes that a certain punishment was one hell of a gift in disguise) I wouldn't be surprised if said Count decides to invest much of the resulting revenue on further infrastructure, which will help the profitability of businesses in and around Tranidor.

Avian and egg problem

The amount of steel problem will be bottlenecked by transportation as you do not have the infrastructure to push to market the coal needed for which the steel is needed. So first priority should be the diversion of as much capacity of steel production to completion of rail lines, bootstrapping the rapid production environment.

In the meantime there is still the domestic market to consider that will use steel for critical infrastructure needs. Palarand will not have its needs saturated for a good long time due to supply constraints

Until that happens, forget about the secondary markets such as exports or rail lines necessary to carry steel to other countries.

Consequently, a 5 year plan is still ambitious imho.

It will be lucky that Garia will bring back all that knowledge because steam engine development on earth took 83 years to produce an engine capable of 10HP.

bootstrapping

You would be right, except all the major ingredients for steel have a very handy water route they can take until they can build the rails, my guess is Five years for the Tranidor, Blackstone, Haligo, Suffen lines, those being the most important, as for engine power, our steam engine production started with the atmospheric steam engine which were horridly inefficient brick buildings that powered pumps used for mining, on Anmar that stage is being skipped completely and they have high pressure steam engines, actually if you want to get technical the first steam engine was made thousands of years ago, but the Romans dismissed that iteration as a toy.

Water route

Not for coal as far as I can see. Currently we are talking from mines to wagons and THEN to barges. That is the heart of the bottleneck and coal for fuel as well as for coke is the key of course. And the amount of coal needed will be ginormous.

that is why they are removing

that is why they are removing the nose of Kord's peak, so the wagons and later the trains will have a direct route to Bezlet's warf in any case the wagons will have a shorter distance to travel, yes the amount of coal needed will be ginormous, but taking an inference from WMD, how the waste of heat concerned Milsy, and the fact she came up with a means to significantly cut down on the use of coal (per unit of steel) in the blast furnaces, I am guessing she invented Hot Blast, which with the larger furnace being built in Tranidor will be even MORE beneficial being hotter and there being more blast furnace gas to light up for additional heat, my guess the order will be Blackstone- Bezlet, Tranidor-Haligo, Tranidor Sufen then finishing the stretch from Bezlet to Tranidor and Haligo, at least as far as steel production is concerned, but also remember, before they lay the rails the roads they make to place them on will be ideal for heavy freight wagon traffic, and with beam lanterns, they will be able to make better time, at least in the darker months, they might not make true night runs, as the beasts need to rest as well as the drivers, and they dont have enough beasts to have change beasts for freight loads. In addition with Sethan's experiment's and the experiments of others with gas, coal will be used more efficiently, also in and around Blackstone, I would not be surprised if a number of floating platforms are made to carry their standard unit (if not a whole wagon) down the drainage canals during the rains, in addition, the distance to Tranidor from Blackstone by wagon is a day and a half, and that is partially due to a hill that I believe can be circumvented via the southernmost exit onto/off of Loop Road, now while they can only load up a standard wagon 2/3rds of the way with coal or limestone, and still pull it with a single Dranak, they may be able to fill it a bit more by upgrading the bearings and suspensions on the wagons, perhaps even changing the wheels a bit, in addition the roads that they are making to the Railroad specs will help, as is the fact that via the newer roads, the route south from Blackstone is entirely a gentle downhill slope, based on the rivers, the only incline traffic going into Tranidor has to deal with is coming from Haligo, and that will be bringing coke as the main Coke plant is in Haligo, thus it will have the lightest loads, of course not all steel (or pig iron- as some of it will be used to directly make gray cast iron) will go towards making the rails being cheaper and stronger, it will replace brass in a number of applications, the demand for copper being so high, but this is a good thing, when it comes to coal usage, as not only can a steel boiler be more efficient then a brass one, but arc welding and electric motors can be far more efficient at accomplishing the same task than traditional methods of joining metal and conveying mechanical power, also if they are by a river, watermills can supplement the steam engines, some steel WILL be exported, iron and now steel have been stated as being Paraland's established principle exports, they need to continue to export it, not just for economic reasons, but political as well, in addition there are a number of resources Paraland needs that have to be imported, a known example being the wax from Pilf, but there are bound to be other established resources that they can't source domestically (or can't source domestically fast enough such as beasts), not including luxury resources such as spices like Iris beans, but as domestic economy improves, the demand for those will increase as well, however, this wont really hamper the construction of the railroad, as not only are those resources useful, but the luxury resources becoming more accessible and the resulting economic effects can do wonders for general morale (helping to improve efficiency), which among the people of Paraland is already high, and will help supplement and grow the local workforce, both through imported goods and the migrant populous of the Valley, the exports will not only help pay for the entire project, but will allow the other countries to improve the production of THEIR principle exports. I interpretted the time horizon as being 5 years for specific parts of the rail, namely, Blackstone to Bezlet, and much of the Teldor, Haligo, and Dekarran mainly Teldor and Haligo, however, in other words, the segments that aren't friendly to Barge traffic, no barge can get to north of Bezlet thanks to waterfalls, and no barge can travel downstream of Haligo for the same reason, all other industrially important destinations already have established and unimpeded water routes, Key word in Merry's description was eventually, by far the most important is the Blackstone to Bezlet line, now with gunpowder to help remove the nose of Kord's peak, and with the access to the relevant materials, I would say there is a good chance it will be operational by the time Garia returns to Blackstone, depending on the size of the first blast furnace they are building in Tranidor, it could be 5 years for the main domestic lines to be completed, or at least the main domestic destinations, that is to say it could be possible to board a train in Dekarran, and dissembark at Blackstone, Sufen and the Palar north of Tranidor are unlikely, Sufen more likely than the northern Palar, simply because that's where the iron mines are and despite the fact that it is planed as a branch line, it is also probable that Dekarran to Viridor could be at least halfway completed now note I would expect the number of trains at that point to still be relatively small, however looking at the map there is an ironic thing I noticed, If they build a bridge to cross the Palar at Dekarran (which is far easier than bridging the Sirrel at Dekarran), likely in the area where the tides cause it to dry up periodically, it will be easier to bring the railroad to Brikant (home of Count Marlin- the noble in Kerren and Garia's age group that opposes change and essentially South Paraland) than it will be to bring it into Central Paraland, in fact, they might need to bring it to Central Paraland FROM Brikant eventually. Viridor is important however, as (while locks could solve the problem) the ability for boats to travel between the Palar and Sirrel rivers is dictated by the tides, therefore, Viridor acts as the Sea and Sirrel River port for both Vardenale and North Paraland, and it is the only sea port Paraland's industrial production can get to with a constant throughput. Brankane through Ptuvilend reaching Blackstone is important as well as it will make Blackstone a trade city for when the market shifts.

My guess is Garia will be

My guess is Garia will be favorably impressed as to all the work that has been and is being done on her various ideas for her new adopted homeland and planet when she returns. Hoping one day that she will and be reunited with her "life love" the Prince.
I really miss her and hope to be reading about her adventures, both on her return to Earth and back on Palarand again soon.

Garia's Return

Since a whole year will have passed before she gets to Blackstone again Garia is going to be totally amazed. In the time that she will be away a lot of what she has mentioned will have been developed one way or another, if not necessarily in the ways she expects. After all, Anmar is not Earth and will develop in different ways, much as the US developed in different ways to Europe.

Fortunately, the materials she brings will accelerate development even further.

I'm sorry, I will write more about Garia, but it could be a considerable while before you see the final results. I do have an idea for a one-off to tide readers over, but even that will take some time before it appears. Even Milsy's story is suffering at the moment because there is just so much going on in Real Life.

Penny

One thing I think would be

One thing I think would be cool is if the Steam Locomotives of Anmar had something significant in common with the diesel locomotives of Earth, there are of course practical concerns with that, namely electrical equipment, but yeah already Blackstone is hardly recognizable, its a new city with the old landmarks and some new artificial ones, and if they work on mountaintop removal, at least one landmark will be very significantly altered.

Diesel--Electric powerplants

Most of them are Diesel-- Electric in the US and it was from a spinoff from submarine powerplants.

I believe that AMBITIOUS design concepts of steam--Electric would alone be impress Garia.

If they attempt it

They could actually use steam turbine locomotives effectively, as the load that made piston engines advantageous for rail would be spread out over the entire train and enable faster speeds, and greater speed variance, of course initially they will probably have to do something similar to what we used for steam locomotives

Rail transport

It occurs to me that there are a couple of things that might help in hauling those longer loads. The first would be changing the wheel location. Move the real wheels further forward, allowing the remaing length to hang out. This is what buses in the mountains do, saw that when I lived in Norway.

The second idea comes to me from the long ladder trucks used by some fire departments. The tiller(man). AKA steerable rear wheels. That would help getting long loads around corners.

I wouldn't think Garia would need to be there to suggest these ideas. I'm sure some moderately bright young person can conceive of these. ;-)


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Problem with moving the rear

Problem with moving the rear wheels forward on a train car or frieght wagon is that coupler system behind it has to bend more, and wagons could collide or jack knife.
If you are talking about standard wagons, there's weight distribution and the fact that they will have such limited utility once the roadbed the railroad from Blackstone is completed that it makes no sense to custom build any sufficient number of wagons to do the job, especially as the demand for new wagons is already straining the capability to supply them

Sorry

I was talking about the wagons. Before the trains can run they need to laydown track. That's their problem, getting the rails around the mountain. The rear wheels are not going to be so far forward that the wagon can't be used for normal hauling. After the need for specialized wagons is over, the wheels can be moved back to their normal position. In fact if they plan ahead the wheel assy. can be built as a one piece unit that can be moved where its needed. Modern trailers have just that sort of setup so the real wheel assy. can be easily positioned to adapt to whatever is being hauled. Anyway, its a matter of loading the wagons properly.

I think the situation with railroad is going to be different. Train just can't handle tight turns or uneven terrain. No doubt they will see the use of gunpowder to blast rock. Look at any map that shows the RR tracks. Wide, sweeping turns and tunnels going through rock. They (the railroads) have two choices, go around or go through. The locals are probably used to carving out a mountain using hammer and chisel, blasting is so much easier. The Transcontinental Railroad couldn't have been built without the ability to blast out tunnels. Just another little thing Garia's knowledge has brought about.


"Life is not measured by the breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.”
George Carlin

Ahh

The thing is, there is still a shortage of wagons and a problem with weight distribution, transporting the rails on ideal roads is currently severely limited by weight, every time, or nearly every time we see the journey to or from Tranidor, at least one wagon has had wheel troubles this is likely due to the weight of the freight being near the limit of what the wagons are physically capable of, moving the rear wheels forward puts added strain on those wheels, now all this was fine in the past where there would be a lot more empty space or lighter goods mixed in the freight, and you would rarely push the limit of a single Dranakh's pulling capability, now however as the requirement to do so is pretty much constant, its clear that the wheels they currently rely on are not sufficient for the job- with standard wheel assay configuration for normal hauling, they either have to double wheel it (which requires the standard wheel design to be modified) or completely change the wheel design, perhaps using metal instead of wood if they want to subjugate the wheels to additional strain.

Senidet' s ideas mixed withv Julina's

BRAVO!!!

Now all Julina needs to do is combine a few ideas like the trailling axle with the pivoting axle/carriage to get the pivoting or turning trailling axle.

Maybe, Julina can go with Senidet and party to Holeville where they see what havoc* they can render onto the good baron's works (LOL). Upon the party's departure Julina returns.

*Havoc as in another Meglina Inn, some take out (take away) food vending locations (peezer & Epp's). Contract with Tanon for accommodations plus Wender & BACs (if wender & bacs are there, then it slipped my mind). All important, healer offices.

Yes, she has a lot of businesses

At her growth rate she will need divisional managers to help her run them. She may be more hands on with the food thing as that is her first love.

Lemme see ... Blackstone Wagons railroad transport, Blackstone Wagons Bacs, Blackstone Wagons wenders, Blackstone Wagons shipping, Meglina Accommodations in many cities across Palarand and of course food and drink. She has bankers to help manage her financial portfolio.

She is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful women in Blackstone, possibly even in North Palarand, nobles aside.

To complete the list

Julina's sources of income (so far known about! There will be others):

1) — the 'Salon', an exclusive restaurant in Em's house
2) — Private remuneration from Papa and Master Pocular, for hand mirrors and beam lanterns
3) — the Wender operation run by Master Tanon's company in Tranidor and who are also helping BW up in Blackstone. Also J gets a cut of these operations when Tanon opens them up in other cities.
4) — Bat Bacs; Blackstone and Tranidor Bacs — equivalent to a taxi company; operated by Master Tanon's Company down in Tranidor, operated by Julina up in Blackstone, using mostly Master Tanon's resources at first. Also J gets a cut of these operations when Tanon opens them up in other cities.
5) — Blackstone Wagons; in conjunction with Shemel, commissioned by the Blackstone Assembly, associated with Master Tanon's Company, particularly in the wender/bac/shipping areas
6) — Meglina Accommodation; in conjunction with Megrozen (hence the name); starts out as a B and B operation
7) — Hanging doors that slide on 'rails' a joint Exclusivity Licence with “Em, Uncle, Sookie, Sethan and we four girls”
8) — 1/20 of tall flat mirrors made in Tranidor and Blackstone
9) — Wheelwright services based in Brayview
10) (eventually) — The Consociation of Caterers
11) (eventually) — Blackstone Wagons rail operations

Yes and no hon

True, she has all of those income streams. But I was merely referring to businesses she has or will start to manage. Patent income I have lumped in with financial portfolio and her banker will help manage that.

There is alot of money involved else her banker would not waste the time to come by to brief her on her financial situation. If she is smart she should continue buying plots of land in Blackstone itself.

If she is smart

She will contribute money to the steelworks construction in Tranidor, for a proportionate share of the eventual profits, maybe even just under proportionate, to secure a small discount on steel being purchased by BW Rail. There literally couldn't be a safer large investment she could make, she KNOWS there is a going to be a HUGE demand for steel, and most of it is going to be made in Tranidor.

True, but

Don't know how investments work in Palarand. What is the entity that owns these plants? The guilds? Government/Guilds/Garia? The only opportunity to make an investment in this situation is if the current stakeholders actively solicit bids in an ipo-like way.

Investment opportunities in Palarand

No, this isn't a sales pitch... :)

We haven't yet decided the way in which such things will operate in the future.

The problem is that the existing system relies on the Crown, a few rich nobles, the guilds (to a certain extent) and some of the more prosperous merchants to fund any money-making developments. Before then it would mostly have been the Crown that drove major developments, like the two canals which join Crescent Lake to the Sirrel, usually via taxes. It looks like they might miss out completely the 17th-18th century phase we went through where this happened gradually and it led to the development of a rich upper-middle class (and the South Sea bubble!).

Garia has introduced banking, which will be essential to the way new schemes are funded. Following that must come, I would think, stocks and shares. I'm sure she will have a word or two to say about that, but her knowledge is probably slight.

It is something that needs to be thought through for the future but as you might imagine it isn't exactly a high priority.

Penny

Darn

There goes my opportunity to get in on the ground floor (or first floor for the Americans among us.)

BTW Jules, the period is in the right place above. I've been letting you slide on that in JOB. ^_~.

As for stocks and shares, Garia will need to learn. As Keren so aptly pointed out early in SEE, if the royal family did not keep up with the finances, they would be in trouble.

Cheers!

Well the word or two about

Well the word or two about stocks and shares has to be on the lines of "monitor it closely and crack down on any funny business with prejudice otherwise you can cause an economic crash." Once that risk is averted, it is actually a very useful tool, and technically Julina could use the framework she has for her other contracts (Wenders and BACs) as a basis for investing in the steelworks, it would be a rudimentary version of what we know today on Earth, as the ability to sell a portion might not be there, but on the same token, who in their right minds would sell part ownership of a strategically located steelworks? One could argue Julina now qualifies as a prosperous merchant, maybe not to the extent of say Tanon- yet, but the money she gets monthly is HUGE, if 50 crowns was the "small" quantity and could buy a number of building plots, then she must have much more that she has been accumulating over the months and she needs to do something with, otherwise her wealth is just sitting there helping no one, its time for a large investment.

Lend the money or....

Lend money for construction. Build fast-food (Epp's & Julina's) places and an Inn nearby (better yet a food court as a stop for wender & bacs. Morning pastries along with hot & cold sandwiches PLUS PEL. Lunch full fare. End of day Pel and pastries. Rigid roof about 1/2 enclosed eating area with available panels or curtain to enclose a side of the open area. Its 2nd use is like a protected 'bus stop'. Add parkijg for some bacs.)

Build a terminal/warehouse for coal, coke, charcoal, and firewood. For distribution in and around Tranidor. ALSO! Either buy the coke plant in Blackstone and/or build one near the ridge for both lime & coke. Further, by sending finished products into Blackstone, Julina can realize large savings in shipping.

I hope that Senidet can figure out how to produce coke, lime and hot water from a single plant. Imagine the Engineering coup that would be.

That's all good

Except most of the coke will be made in Haligo which serves the purpose of being between Tranidor and Teldor AND making sure that no major point on the route becomes deserted

Income is not the same as revenue

In short income is net corporate profit.

You identified Julina's revenue streams not income streams.

Now with the new taxes coming up in Blackstone, she needs to hire an accountant or she'll be buried in paperwork.

Google this==> 255 us 509 findlaw
Read for yourself the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on "income".

It is different here

Both Jules and I are Brits so your definition is not one that either of us would use.

In fact, even the use of the word "profit" can be suspect. A left-winger (by any definition) would assume that "profit" is the difference between receipts and expenses and also assume that it will all go on yachts, big cars, swimming pools etc. whereas in reality that doesn't account for overheads like R&D, capital equipment replacement and other intangibles. As someone who was self-employed for 10 years I speak from experience.

Still, this is all delving a little deeply into a subject that will probably be glossed over in the main. If anything is certain, it is that Palarandis will find a way to solve their problems that doesn't resemble what we do here on Earth.

Penny

Re: Definition oI 'Income'

Thank you Penny.

I'll leave it be.

Garia is of US orgin. Gary returned to the US for information (primaroly) so when Garia returns the USSC decisions will be in the law collection. It is understood that ALL the material will be for reference until released by the King, a council or commission (railroad). Goddess (that's you Penny) knows what will be released to the public.

I am certain that the UK can be instrumental in helping Gary gather information for Palarand.

True

But I am certain that Garia will bring back a book on economics, and I may be wrong on the economic terms but doesn't that overhead of capital equipment maintance and replacement costs as well as R&D count towards principle or calculated overhead, not proffit? After all, once they become familiar with the maintance and lifespan of their equipment, even if it lasts for years, it's average cost to maintain/replace barring accident can be calculated, and you add a bit extra to that amount to account for sudden equipment loss/ damage. Profit is what you have after setting aside the overhead, and more often than not it is to be reinvested as capital for the company unless we are talking about a small business

As it is the Wenders and BACs already serve as a precedent of multiple individuals owning and investing in a business, which is why I specified contributing to the construction of the steelworks, because the way the Paralandi system is set up people can pay for/earn money from physical things, but there is no system in place for paying for ideas, with a few exceptions like ELs and services that people like Senidet provide, knowing that the guilds are tight for funds, and the advantages of banks and checks, it is likely that the steelworks in Tranidor is NOT a project that is paid in full, so there are 2 ways that Julina can invest with the established current system, 1st she can buy part of the construction outright, 2nd she can offer a modified "loan" at high risk to her to be paid off proportionately to the value of the the costs she paid for, both of which happen to be the basis for investment schemes on Earth. They will pan out differently for certain but the core prospect of contributing money to a project and getting a porportionate payoff at a later date according to the project's success or lack thereof is something that is natural in any monetary system and will happen with the mid to large business owners whether there is a dedicated system for it or not, the dedicated system will enable it to be done more easily and the middle-middle class to participate, financially Julina is somewhere between upper class rich and upper middle class, but really she is of the "Newly Rich" (okay that's the English translation of the technical term) and she doesn't like her wealth sitting around, mind you her motives are to use it to help people but she invariably makes a lot more as a result of her efforts.

The problem of lap strength

Well for one it will mostly be part of the steel tire, but they already have an example of strong, thin steel, they could ask Haflin about how he tempered Garia's battle blades, as well as experiment with nickel steel aloys, the demand for pure copper has offset the demand for nickel in brass so it wouldn't be too much more expensive

From Pyor

Can Julina ask if there is a difference between between a standard wagon load unit in the flatlands and the mountains. If there is a difference then a fully loaded wagon coming from Blackstone can have how much more (fraction or percentage is good) added weight in Brayview?

Could Julina ask Senidet to design a scale for a wagon? (Using their innovative scale design)

Thanks