"abbrail"
Akron, OHIO
July 4, 2007
| Founded
in December 2003 as the Figure Eight & Carpet Central, the WHBL
Railroad has quickly expanded to become a formidable 3-rail empire.
Measuring 20 x 6 and operating on more than 150 feet of tubular O gauge
track, the WHBL railroad runs three daily trains from Halo to Halo and
from Wingerter's Crossing to Wingerter's Crossing. Under the
watchful eye of the Wingerter's Crossing City Council, most trains are
operated with conventional control, but TMCC is starting to filter into
the railroad’s rooster. |
| The Traveling Boxcar arrived at Halo Yard by way of the Conrail local. The boxcar’s arrival came just moments before the Wingerter Halo Belt Line Biannual July 4th Shut Down. |
|
Biannual? Well, according
to the
WHBL employment contract, employees
are only permitted to take vacations during the week of July 4th.
To
meet the needs of the men and women who work for the WHBL (and to stick
it to the railroad for a derailment that released a shipment of wild
pigs into the downtown) Wingerter’s Crossing City Council voted
unanimously to change the name of January to July, thus ensuring that
employees of the railroad would receive two weeks of vacation.
This
also ensured that the railroad would think twice about routing live
animal trains through downtown.
This decision was, of course, challenged by the railroad brass. As with most disputes, the company was forced to agree when city council threatened to cut the electrical cords (which rest squarely on city property) that power the railroad’s transformers. Before shutting down for the holiday, the railroad set the Traveling Boxcar at the east end of Union Station. |
|
The Traveling Boxcar
created a
great deal of interest in both Wingerter’s Crossing and Halo.
After all, it’s not often that freight cars from outside the system
find their way onto the loop. Town’s folk from near and far
gathered for a look. City council, members of law enforcement and
a few select railroad employees gathered for a commemorative photo.
|
|
With the railroad sitting
idle,
Curtis Mathis decided to use the traveling box car as a stage for his
latest anti-asparagus protest. The Wingerter’s Crossing police
department arrived quickly to asses the situation. After
four hours of tough negotiations, the chief agreed to excuse Curtis’
recent parking tickets if the vegetable hating man would agree to get
off the boxcar.
|
|
That week, a steady stream
of
visitors came to see the famous boxcar. All told, nearly 90% of
the population took in the sight.
|
| Soon,
the weekend had arrived
and the railroad was back in full swing. |
|
Loaded with boxes of
military
secrets, the Traveling Boxcar was moved by the WHBL to a staging yard
outside Wingerter’s Crossing.
|
|
There, it was added to the
consist of a military equipment train bound for the 1943 war effort,
via Australia.
|